North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Scott Smith <scott@cs.jhu.edu>]

Alan, the Abbondanza and Rambour d'Hiver had the last picking a week or so 
ago and I am eating them now.  The Pigeonnet Rouge ripened about a month ago.

I should probably briefly mention why I am growing all these unusual French 
varieties.  Basically I saw many people growing old English varieties, but 
the French seemed to greatly prefer their own heirlooms so I thought they 
were worth a trial.  So, I put in a row of about 50 old French varieties.  I 
got nearly all of them from either Botner or ARS.  Overall I have enjoyed 
growing them, primarily for the unusual sorts of apples I have found amongst 
the 50.

In terms of the taste of these three, Abbondanza is my favorite.  It has a 
unique rose-petal hint to the flavor, and it also has a great sweet/sour 
balance (for me that means ample quantities of both without seeming like a 
"sour").  The apple flesh is unusually dense, like Goldrush but not as crisp. 
 I don't think it would be popular with most modern apple eaters however 
since it is not crunchy and the skin is not thin.  It requires a very late 
picking, the background will whiten when they are ready, and they are bad 
(tannic) if picked too early so multiple pickings are required.  This apple 
is in fact an Italian heirloom but is well-liked in France today.  Rambour 
d'Hiver on the other hand is a very crunchy apple.  It is traditionally known 
as a cooking apple but it is also perfectly fine for eating; it is lacking in 
flavor overall however.  Pigeonnet Rouge is similar to Abbondanza in having 
white flesh and striped red skin, but its taste is more on the savory side.  
I also like it a lot; it is somewhat similar to Black Gilliflower in flavor 
(the shape is also similar).  The savory type of apple flavor isn't very 
popular today, something I attribute to fashion rather than anything 
inherently good or bad in the flavor.

In terms of bugginess, I should add a disclaimer that I have only one tree in 
one spot of each, and the position could in theory be a factor or some other 
detail of my climate etc.  But they certainly qualify as candidates for a 
successful low-spray program.

Scott


> Scott, when do those funny french sounding apples ripen and how do you like
> them?  I love that you explore so many unusual varieties, by-the-way.
>