The Great Apple Hunt

I've just written an article for the Ozaukee Master Gardener's newsletter, The Best Dirt. I thought that I would post it here as well.

"Wisconsin is a new home for Gary and me and this has been our second autumn here. We have spent several Saturdays and Sundays driving around and admiring the beautiful fall colors. During those drives, we have discovered another Wisconsin wonder, apple orchards. And that discovery, as so many new discoveries do, prompted ar question—how many varieties of apples grow in Wisconsin?
With over a hundred apple orchards in Wisconsin, the state is ranked 12th in annual apple production with over 1.5 million bushels produced a year. Many of those apples are the common ones found in the grocery stores, such as Delicious, Golden Delicious, Fuji, Honeycrisp, and MacIntosh. We knew about those and decidedly have our favorites. Now our search focused on finding apples we have never tasted. What we found were hundreds we had never heard of. We quickly realized that this was a multi-year project.
A quick search of the internet provided us with list of apple orchards of over forty orchards in southeastern Wisconsin. Where to start? We decided to explore antique varieties.
An antique apple is generally defined as a variety that is over fifty years old. That magic number is related to the advent of refrigerated box cars which arrived on the scene in the 1940s. Refrigerated box cars allowed apples to shipped great distances and doomed many apple varieties that didn’t travel well. Another common characteristic of an antique apple is that it has a historical record of someone first recognizing it as a distinct variety.
We located a very famous apple, Calville Blanc d’Hiver. This French apple was first recognized in the early 1600s growing in Normandy and was served as a dessert on a special plate to Louis XIII. Thomas Jefferson fell in love with this apple when he was ambassador to France and had several trees shipped to Monticello. The apple is pale green with light red freckles on the side that faced the sun. It has a lovely crisp bite with a distinctive spicy flavor. It stores well and is excellent for both cooking and eating.
Another apple that has become a favorite is Cox’ Orange Pippin. An English variety originating in the early 1800s, this apple is perfect for eating, juicy and intensely flavored. Ripening here in late September, it is a very delicate apple that makes outstanding cider. Often this variety is cited as one of the finest apples ever grown.
Arkansas Black, as the name implies, has a dark red skin, with crisp light green flesh. It originated in Benton County, Arkansas and was first described in 1886. This smaller apple stores very well and is good for cooking and eating.
Our collection has grown during the fall. We have focused on apples that store well. We’ve carefully wrapped our prizes individually in newspaper and are storing them in a cool part of the basement to tide us over the winter.
When you select apples to store, choose only the apples that have a stem and have no bruises, nicks, or cuts. Also, don’t store apples with potatoes, as potatoes emit a harmless gas that causes apples to ripen more quickly.
Those apples that do have a bruise or nick are prime candidates for applesauce, canned apple pie filling, or cider.
We’ve started building our “to taste” list for next year, noting the time of year that they ripen (from July to November) and which orchards have them. With so many to try, we simply get fascinated with the names: Chenanago Strawberry, Duchess of Oldenberg, Egremont Russet, Esopus Spitzenberg, Karminj De Sonnavile, Orleans Reinette, Swaar, and Yellow Bellflower.
As for the number of apple varieties grown in Wisconsin, we still can’t give you a solid number. It looks like it is well over 150. Hum, how many years is it going to take for us to taste all those varieties?"