Continuing this thread from the old forum ( http://www.homeorchardsociety......038;t=5392 )
The tree is about to bloom:
Hi Folks,
I saw a bin with a few 'Miss Jessamine' scions in it at the HOS Propagation Show when my wife and I were there this spring, but because I was so busy focusing on getting the "pre-determined Wants" on my priorities list for this year I forced myself to pass them by; I thought that I should leave the scions for those who had sampled the cultivar. I'm certainly eager to get a chance to taste this apple. Does it ripen late enough that there could be a few at the "All About Fruit Show" coming this autumn?
Tim.
Reinettes said
Does it ripen late enough that there could be a few at the "All About Fruit Show" coming this autumn?
Yes it certainly does! I've brought some for the last four years, and I plan to do the same this year. Although I don't see a lot of blossoms this year for some reason. In years past I have lost some of them to squirrels and late summer wind storms. Last year I only had one pristine apple to bring to the show, mostly because I pruned it heavily last winter.
Hopefully I will also have some from the other seedling tree that I planted at the same time (http://forums.homeorchardsocie.....ing-apple/). That one has been much slower to come to maturity. It looks like maybe I'll get a dozen or so from that one this year. Of course if it turns out to be a "spitter" I will leave them at home 🙂
A couple of years ago I grafted a scion onto a root stock. That tree produced it's first apple this year, and it was huge (7" diameter). I was going to bring it to the show but alas, while I was gone some creature took it.
However I will be bringing a few from the original tree. They don't look to be completely ripe though.
I had my first crop of maybe a dozen of them this year. I wanted to let them hang as long as possible. Something stripped the tree which also had a bunch of Golden Russet. A tree 20 feet away still has some Goldrush on it (or at least did on Tuesday). I'm playing chicken with those ones. They do taste good already, but still have some starchiness. I should probably pick them, but I'd really love to let them develop.
Hi davem,
Sadly, my wife and I were unable to attend the October fruit tasting this past year, which I always look forward to in order to assess apple qualities, although I realize that in order to have all those fruit tastings on one weekend or day some of the cultivars will be pre- or past-peak of taste.
Anyway, although I missed the October fruit tasting, this spring at the fruit propagation fair and after getting scions for those clones that were on my priorities list, I circled back (having seen it earlier) and got a scion of "Miss Jessamine" because some of my "wants" were not available this year and -- to be honest -- I like to try the apples are actually a selected seedling that someone thought was a worthy clone. I currently have 3 clones that I've grafted that are un-named, though I've given them my own parenthetical names.
I wish that I had tasted the fruits of "Miss Jessamine" before-hand, but I'm willing to trust you on it's being a tasty one. I must say, though, your description of Oct. 13, 2016, of one of the apples being 7 inches in diameter has me a little worried. I've seen enough descriptions in catalogs that in "real-world" situations are undoubtedly exaggerated. I'm willing to trust you on this one, but I often find that some of the tastiest apples are not so large, and some of the apples that are known for being quite large tend to be somewhat bland.
Assuming that my grafting skills are sufficient to successfully get a productive tree, what can I expect? Have you formulated a description of the taste relative to other apples? Does it tend toward sweet, tart, a complex mixture? Like I say, I'm willing to trust you that it's a tasty apple. I'm willing to be patient to taste it for myself. Davem: what kind of apples do you like? Is it OK it I ask you to list a few of your favorite apples, which would at least give me a sense of your tastes in apples? Personally, I grew up liking tart apples, even to the point of picking and eating apples from just about any apple tree whether the fruits were ripe or not. In my experience as a kid, the sweet apples tended to turn mushy and mealy far too suddenly. It wasn't until my wife and I joined HOS and I had a chance to taste an amazing diversity of apples that my eyes were opened. That's when I was awakened to the wonderfully complex flavors that can be found in a single apple. I sampled some that were apparently tannin-rich cider apples and at first didn't comprehend their purpose. Now I do. There's a place for virtually every apple variety.
OK. Anyone will tell you, I have a tendency toward being unnecessarily verbose. my apologies.
What am I actually asking? Having missed my chance to taste a "Miss Jessamine" apple, I guess I'm just wondering how you would describe its taste, the best way you can. It's a sadly general question, and I apologize in advance. I just wish that my wife and I could have gotten to the October meeting.
Hoping all your apples are coming into beautiful bloom like mine are...
Tim.
Hi Tim, thanks for the note.
I am not good at describing apple flavors. Here's how I described it in the old forums: "it is more sweet than tart, juicy, firm flesh, with medium thick skin. Color is yellow-green with a blush of pink, and a little russeting on the top by the stem. Flesh is cream colored." I think it would be best for you to just try one at the show this fall, or stop by sometime after mid October. I am in Camas.
Re: the large apple, that was the very first fruit on a grafted tree so perhaps it was big because it had the whole tree to itself? Unfortunately some creature made off with the apple before I could try it. Hopefully this year it will produce more fruit. This tree is in a much better location (more sun) so I think it will produce more than the original, which is quite shaded.
Re: what kind of apples do I like? You lucked out with that question. I actually have a spreadsheet of everything I have tasted at the fruit shows for the last few years. Last year I focused on grapes. I tasted every single one, just under 100 varieties. Here is my apple list. My scale is: 10 = best apple in the universe 1 = spitter
| Name | Score | Notes |
| Golden Russet | 9 | very tasty! |
| Gravenstein | 9 | |
| King of Tompkins County (Tompkins King) | 9 | |
| Zestar | 9 | Grafted 3/20/2016 |
| Akane | 8 | |
| Calville Rouge of Autumn | 8 | |
| Cox’s Orange Pippin | 8 | Already grafted onto Jessamine |
| Freedom | 8 | big, healthy |
| Fuji | 8 | |
| Glockenapfel | 8 | big, tart Not available |
| Kandil Sinap | 8 | cool shape |
| Mendocino Cox | 8 | Grafted 3/20/2016 |
| Queen Cox | 8 | juicy |
| Sansa | 8 | |
| Wheelers Gold | 8 | Grafted 3/20/2016 |
| Wolf River | 8 | |
| Ashmead’s Kernal | 7 | |
| Davey | 7 | Grafted 3/20/2016 |
| Golden Sentinel | 7 | |
| Hatsuaki | 7 | big, red |
| Holstein | 7 | |
| Pinata | 7 | |
| Scarlet Sentinel | 7 | |
| Spartan | 7 | |
| Spitzenberg | 7 | |
| Calville Blanc D’Hiver | 6 | |
| Liberty | 6 | |
| Tollgate Alexander | 6 | |
| Wolf River | 6 | |
| Kingston Black | 5 | Pollinator for Frequin Audievre |
| North Pole | 5 | |
| Twenty Ounce | 5 | |
| Doux Normandie | 4 | Pollinator for Frequin Audievre. Small. |
| Enterprise | 4 | |
| Harry Masters' Jersey | 4 | Pollinator for Frequin Audievre |
I have grafted most of my 8's & 9's, plus some of the others that I need for pollinators. I guess I need to add Miss Jessamine to the list. It would probably get a 7 or 8.
I would love to see the lists of "favorite apples" of others in this group. I think I will focus on apples at the show this year.
Dave
New
davem said
Hi Tim, thanks for the note.I am not good at describing apple flavors. Here's how I described it in the old forums: "it is more sweet than tart, juicy, firm flesh, with medium thick skin. Color is yellow-green with a blush of pink, and a little russeting on the top by the stem. Flesh is cream colored." I think it would be best for you to just try one at the show this fall, or stop by sometime after mid October. I am in Camas.
Re: the large apple, that was the very first fruit on a grafted tree so perhaps it was big because it had the whole tree to itself? Unfortunately some creature made off with the apple before I could try it. Hopefully this year it will produce more fruit. This tree is in a much better location (more sun) so I think it will produce more than the original, which is quite shaded.
Re: what kind of apples do I like? You lucked out with that question. I actually have a spreadsheet of everything I have tasted at the fruit shows for the last few years. Last year I focused on grapes. I tasted every single one, just under 100 varieties. Here is my apple list. My scale is: 10 = best apple in the universe 1 = spitter
Name Score Notes Golden Russet 9 very tasty! Gravenstein 9 King of Tompkins County (Tompkins King) 9 Zestar 9 Grafted 3/20/2016 Akane 8 Calville Rouge of Autumn 8 Cox’s Orange Pippin 8 Already grafted onto Jessamine Freedom 8 big, healthy Fuji 8 Glockenapfel 8 big, tart Not available Kandil Sinap 8 cool shape Mendocino Cox 8 Grafted 3/20/2016 Queen Cox 8 juicy Sansa 8 Wheelers Gold 8 Grafted 3/20/2016 Wolf River 8 Ashmead’s Kernal 7 Davey 7 Grafted 3/20/2016 Golden Sentinel 7 Hatsuaki 7 big, red Holstein 7 Pinata 7 Scarlet Sentinel 7 Spartan 7 Spitzenberg 7 Calville Blanc D’Hiver 6 Liberty 6 Tollgate Alexander 6 Wolf River 6 Kingston Black 5 Pollinator for Frequin Audievre North Pole 5 Twenty Ounce 5 Doux Normandie 4 Pollinator for Frequin Audievre. Small. Enterprise 4 Harry Masters' Jersey 4 Pollinator for Frequin Audievre I have grafted most of my 8's & 9's, plus some of the others that I need for pollinators. I guess I need to add Miss Jessamine to the list. It would probably get a 7 or 8.
I would love to see the lists of "favorite apples" of others in this group. I think I will focus on apples at the show this year.
Dave
New to the forum, this chart is amazing!
They vary a lot year to year. I'll rate them at their best, unless I've had them many times and the best are an aberration.
I'm judging these for fresh eating. Others, like Bramley's Seedling, are great but I won't eat them straight.
Golden Russet 9, these get over 20 brix with a unique flavor that stands out. (critters seem to get these before they ripen)
Freyberg 9, very sweet, enough acid, great crisp texture, pronounced anise flavor
Rubinette 9, like Freyberg, a Cox's/Gold Delicious offspring that won my homegrown taste test of 20 or so varieties a few years ago.
Goldrush 8+ Hard, crisp, firm, dense, high sugar, high acid, great keeper, disease resistant. I haven't found a commercial source of properly ripened ones. The few from my tree that got yellow before I picked were an 8, showing promise for better.
Orin 7+ One of the better sweet apples.
Honeycrisp 6+ Years ago I had outstanding ones from the farmer's market. Current retail ones are around 12 brix, I need at least 14 for most apples to be worth eating. Great texture for a light apple. I prefer denser. My home grown apples develop better sugar if I let them hang, at the expense of some of the texture.
Commercial apples worth eating:
Opal 9, great texture, interesting flavor, keeps me wanting more. Good balance of lots of sugar and plenty of acid.
Lady Alice 9 great texture, cherry and other interesting fruity flavor. sugar/acid 🙂 sell into spring
Envy 8 good keeper, great texture, hard, crisp very sweet, can get insipid, especially if the texture isn't there. Good one for people (like my wife) who don't like sour fruit (meaning tartness regardless of how much sugar)
Great posts Dave M and Jafar,
Welcome to the forum, phileros.
Second how much they vary from year to year.
Goldrush is probably my favorite overall apple.
Karmijn da Sonnaville and Belle da Boskoop are both explosive high sugar high acid apples. I love them 9.
Topaz is probably my best tasting apple related to Cox but easier to grow. Not an amazing keeper, so maybe second to Goldrush.9
McIntosh is really great new from home garden. No longer special after a week. 8.
Calville Blanc D'hiver great flavor and texture. Super high vit C 8.
King David has amazing flavor and is very productive 8
Liberty is solid all around except not much of a keeper 7.
The others I haven't been growing consistently long enough to say.
John S
PDX OR
Sorry for delay in responding... I ended up spending a couple of unplanned days in hospital. Bummer.
Excellent list, davem. Have you ever met anyone else with an actual spreadsheet of favorite apples? When I've been to the tastings I tend to have a little spiral-bound pocket notebook to make notes on those apples sampled that really leave an impression. Those that REALLY wow me may get an asterisk. I'll try to make a little basic taste description. From year to year I end up with a diversity of notes and sometimes find that certain ones accumulate more than one asterisk and are therefore definite priorities for acquisition.
Last year I grafted quite a few apples including some of my taste favorites onto MM111 rootstocks for specific places around the parcel. These included Ashmead's Kernel, Belle de Boskoop, Egremont Russet, Golden Russet, Peck's Pleasant, Pomme Gris, Ribston Pippin, Roxbury Russet, Zabergau Reinette, and St. Edmunds Pippin. I also grafted duplicates onto EMLA 26 or, if the clone is triploid, onto G30 rootstocks. My wife will tell you I've gone "apple crazy". I have quite a few taste favorites, but I'll just throw in a couple of my English favorites, Claygate Pearmain and Lamb Abbey Pearmain. Just somethin' about them.... And yes, I know how difficult it can be to TRY to describe flavors.
I grafted plenty of other apples too, but normally I graft onto EMLA 26 semidwarf rootstock so that I can have more clonal diversity but without talking up too much space. I've gotten very interested in cider apples in the last couple of years as well, so have begun trialing a number of traditional French and British cider apples.
On your list you have the Swiss variety Glockenapfel. This is supposed to be a great traditional one for apple streudel in Switzerland. I got scion material from Nick Botner about 3-4 years ago but I didn't get a good graft and lost it. I'm hoping to reacquire it this summer (bud graft). Another apple that I noticed on your list is "Wheeler's Gold". Any idea whether that might be the same clone as "Wheeler's Golden Russet"? I got the latter from Nick in 2015. Some of the lesser known apples seem to show up under similar names, so it can be a little confusing at times.
Anyway, thanks for posting your interesting list of faves. Would that I were so well organized.
Tim
Do they have green lenticels?
I think I just had one tonight, a windfall that sat on the counter for several days. It was better than I remembered and I liked it significantly better than the Honeycrisp from the same tree. Of course the label is long gone, and I suppose it could have been Freyberg, or whatever the original tree was before I grafted it over. But I think it was Miss Jessamine and I really enjoyed it.
It had some damage, so may be riper than than the others. My daughter ate most of it. I'm looking forward to picking some more tomorrow. I have limbs of it on more than one tree, so it should be pretty easy for me to confirm if its really this.
Just had another yellow one straight from the tree, also bird-pecked. The grafts aren't labeled. I'm thinking it actually is Freyberg. It has that anise flavor and rich sweetness.
I wish I'd kept better records. I'll have to pay more attention next year and figure out which branches match each other.
NW Lady said
I have been getting apples from my Miss Jessamine. They are very good! Thanks Dave!
Awesome, glad you like them! I still have a handful on the tree. It is interesting that the birds have pretty much left them alone. The birds have destroyed all my other varieties.
Idyllwild
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