Author: Derek Mills
www.hockinghillsorchard.com www.fourseasonscabinrental.com
Contact me via email or through Facebook for further information or about scions.
Here at our orchard, Hocking Hills Orchard, located at Four Seasons Cabins in the beautiful Hocking Hills of SE Ohio, we grow 1,200 varieties of apples. Of those, about 200 are true hard cider varieties and 200 are red-fleshed varieties. This orchard consists of a mix of mainly heirloom varieties with unusual and newer varieties in the mix.
Typically we have let family and friends come pick apples by word of mouth advertising only. But this year, 2017, with an overabundance of produce, I opened it up the public as a U-Pic and we were surprised and pleased at the visitors coming to buy apples. Some came from as far away as South Carolina, Maryland, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
Now, not all 1,200 varieties have fruited yet, but around 200 varieties had enough fruit this year so apples could be picked from them. Below are a few varieties that to me taste exceptionally delicious and are not well known to the public:
Allington Pippin
England – 1894, King of the Pippins x Cox’s Orange Pippin. Large, pale greenish-yellow with a little red. Cream colored flesh mellowing to intense fruit drop or pineapple taste. Sharp and good for cooking as it holds its shape. Sometimes added to cider for extra flavor. Spur bearing.
Ananas Reinette
Netherlands – 1821. Russet freckles over gold skin. Crisp and juicy with intense sweet, sharp flavor, developing the pineapple flavor late in the season (its name means “pineapple russet”). Medium to small fruit. Spur bearing.
Benoni
Massachusetts – 1830, mid season, medium-size fruit is yellow with red blush and patches of russet. Yellowish flesh is very tender, sweet, brisk with pineapple-like flavor.
Brownlee’s Russet
England – 1848, Medium, late, crisp, juicy with a rich sweet sharp acid drop flavor. Greenish gold, flushed orange, with fine russeting. Spur bearing.
Champagne Reinette
France – 1667. Light yellow reinette-type skin, medium-sized, slight pink blush and some russeting at the calyx. The skin is slightly greasy and tough, enclosing white flesh with a transparent light green hue. Flesh is a very juicy and highly flavored. On the tangy side but with plenty of sweetness, with hints of pineapple. Spur bearing.
Coe’s Golden Drop
UK – 1700’s, late, medium yellow fruit with crimson blush and small patches of thin russet.
Delicious fruit has greenish flesh that is firm, crisp, very juicy, brisk and vinous. Spur bearing.
Cornish Aromatic
Cornwall – 1500, small, late, excellent, dull scarlet, netted pattern on skin, russeted, very crisp and aromatic. keeps until about March, old Cornish apple, light but regular cropper.
Court of Wick
England – late 1700’s, medium, late, crisp, with rich, sweet, yellow flesh. The ripe apples have a complex acid drop flavor. The skin is splashed red, with gold russeting. Thought to be a Golden Pippin seedling.
Golden Nugget
Canada – 1932. Cox’s Orange Pippin x Golden Russet. Sugary-sweet, with a rich mellow flavor. Crisp and juicy, with a pineapple like tang. A small, often-russeted yellow apple with orange streaks, splashes and russet.
Hawaii
USA – 1945. Golden Delicious x Gravenstein. Gourmet dessert apple with a flavor and aroma like pineapple. Large, yellow fruit with light pinkish orange striping gives overall orange appearance. Exceptionally sweet flavor is largely influenced by Gravenstein. Spur bearing.
Lucombe’s Pine
A late dessert apple, raised by Lucombe’s Nursery of Exeter in Devon around 1800. Golden skinned with russet spots, it has firm and juicy flesh and a strong flavor of pineapples. Light crops that store until Christmas. Spur bearing and recommended for espaliers.
Pine Golden Pippin
England – mid 1800’s, small to medium fruit are russeted over greenish yellow. The fruits are sweet, crisp and juicy, often said to be reminiscent of pineapple.
Pitmaston Pine Apple
England – 1785, medium fruits are a golden color with firm, juicy flesh. The flavor is variously referred to as honeyed, nutty, musky, sweet and rich. Golden Pippin x cross. Spur bearing.
