The CRFG received the following email from a man in Hillsboro, Oregon
asking for help in identifying an apple:
Can you help me? I need help identifying an
apple tree. About a year ago my Mom's friend gave us some apples from
their tree. They were red on the outside, and tasted very much like a Red
Gravenstein apple on the inside. The only difference with this apple was
that the meat of the apple was a very deep pink. Even when made into
applesauce it came out with a deep pink color. The tree was planted about
100 years ago. By the Parents of my Mom's friend. They have know idea
what kind of apple tree it was that their parents had planted.
Just for the heck of it during the last week of February 2003, I decided
to graft a few small branches onto my Mom's Granny Smith Tree and I
grafted one small branch onto my Gravenstein (just for the fun of it) All
grafts have taken.
In the mean time I thought I would try and track down what type of tree
it is. Any ideas?
I told him that my guess would be Pink Pearl but that this apple
was not introduced by Albert Etter until 1944 (per the Seed Savers Fruit,
Berry and Nut Inventory, Third Edition). Perhaps the 100 years is a
red herring (no pun intended). Can anyone else think of other
possibilities?
Bill Grimes
Golden Gate Chapter, CRFG
golden_gate@crfg.org