Bramblings: An apple by any other name

By Becky Nelson
The last apple has been plucked from the trees in our orchard. It is later than usual for the final pick, but the mild fall has been a delight for picking. We didn’t have to rush to pick them all before a hard freeze or a snowfall, so we are blessed with pleasant conditions and a relatively relaxed harvest.

The national apple community is in a dither. The Trump tariffs have destroyed or at least greatly damaged the export markets, making for a hard harvest for many big orchards that depend on these markets. Always introducing new varieties to the domestic market, orchardists are again touting the newest and brightest variety that is predicted to take over the market. Honeycrisp was the big hit in the last few years, so we chopped down some varieties declining in popularity and invited Honeycrisp into the mix. We are just getting full production this year, so I am looking at this new “must have” with some trepidation.

We planted some 35 years ago with the standards for the time and a mix of varieties that we had found most tasty in our cider mix. The majority of the orchard is Macintosh and Cortland with a few trees each of Red Rome, Empire, Red Delicious, Northern Spy, Macoun. Granny, Baldwin and Gala. Over the years, we listened to customer preferences and bent to a few new introductions and added Mutsu (also known as Crispin), which, though introduced in the 1940’s in Japan, was the trendiest shortly after we planted. I dare you to find Mutsu on store shelves today.

We culled some varieties that never sold, Roxbury Russet being my personal favorite. But, because of its rough, russeted skin and unattractive yellow-brown color, they rarely left our store in a customer’s bag. Our Blue Pearmain from an original tree on the farm from the pre-1900 era, is a novelty to some, but rarely leaves the store as well, and may hit the chopping block at some point unless I decide the history is more important than the sales.

We get calls from folks who have moved south or west to ship their favorites on occasion, usually Macintosh or Cortland, sometimes Macoun. But these fancy new varieties are not usually something we will plant until we know they are going to last. Space is too valuable in our small orchard to let varieties like Roxbury Russet and Mutsu clog up room that could be used for ever-populars like Macintosh, Cortland and Macoun…and maybe Honeycrisp at this point in apple history.

An article I recently read in fruit grower publication said there was some fear that customer confusion about apples and the many, many varieties available was actually leading to a decline in apple purchases. It is hard to see the forest for all the trees, I suppose.

Also, it takes a long time for a fruit tree to start bearing fruit. With some of the new dwarf varieties, it is down to just a handful of years instead of the decade or so of a semi-dwarf tree, but even if grafted, it takes several years for new branches to produce. These are not decisions to be taken without some history of success behind them for us, so I think we are going to take a while to monitor the sales of Super Colossal Crispiest Best Apple Ever or whatever it is called before we put spade to dirt and plant a few trees.

So many choices, so little time. The apple of my eye may just be one of the oldy moldy varieties that is already growing in my orchard. An apple a day keeps the doctor away. I don’t need fifty gazillion apples a day to do the trick. Sometimes the old timer is just as good as the newest shiniest toy. For today, Macoun still holds my heart, though the very first batch of any apple picked fresh off the tree is pretty tasty, if you ask me. And if you mix them all into cider, well… even better.

Becky is co-owner of Beaver Pond Farm in Newport, New Hampshire. [email protected].