ANNUAL TASTING OF ALASKA-GROWN APPLES

By Dwight Bradley

 

2006 Results

 

The annual apple tasting was held at Bradley’s in Peters Creek on Sept. 23, 2007.  About 30 people were there and 19 rated the apples.  Fifty-five different apple varieties were tasted along with nineteen duplicates.  Another dozen or so varieties were brought for display only, which weren’t ripe enough to bother tasting.  All in all, it was the usual crowded scene, with an amazing array of apples to taste.

 

Growers are identified by their initials:

 

BB = Bob Boyer

DB =  Dwight Bradley

DC = Dawn Cowan

DD = Dawn & Fred Deiser

DE = Dan Elliott

KI = Kevin Irvin

K = Kristiansen

NM = Nancy Moore

NN = Nicki & Bob Nielsen

MP = Mary Patania

DR = Dave Rankin

TS = Tami Schies

JY = Jim Yassick

MDY = Mario De Young

 

APPLES GROWN OUTDOORS

 

Variety	Grower	Sugar (°Brix)	Mean score
Zestar	DE	13	7.77
Prairie Magic	DE	11.5	7.40
Prairie Magic	TS	12.5	7.25
Novosibirski Sweet	TS	14	6.78
Sunrise	DR	12	6.57
Parkland	DB	12.5	6.50
September Ruby	DE	12.5	6.50
Ginger Gold	DE	17	6.40
State Fair	GRM	11.5	6.29
Quinte BB	BB	14	6.29
Elliott’s Mystery	DE	12.5	6.22
Noret	DB	13.5	6.17
Carrol	DE	12	6.15
Silken	TS	12.5	6.11
Simonet	DE	13	6.08
Centennial	DB	13.5	6.00
Unknown	NM	14	6.00
State Fair	MDY	11	6.00
Carroll	TS	13.5	5.88
Parkland	TS	11.5	5.86
Ranger	BB	11.5	5.75
8th & M	JY	11	5.67
Norland	K	11	5.67
Oriole	DR	12	5.67
Drew Brook	TS	11.5	5.63
Prairie Sun	KI	12.5	5.63
Oriole	TS	12	5.63
Oriole	DE	10.5	5.60
Battleford	DD	11	5.50
Yellow Jay	DB	10	5.44
Summer Red	TS	11	5.44
Lee 21	DE	12	5.43
Norquay Delight	BB	11	5.43
Rescue	TS	14	5.38
Russian unknown	DD	12.5	5.33
Norland	TS	11.5	5.33
Lee 21	NM	13	5.30
Norkent	DE		5.29
Liveland Raspberry	GRM	12	5.25
Norland	DB	11	5.00
Ginger Gold	JY	12	5.00
Mantet	NM	12	5.00
1497	GRM	12	5.00
Liveland Raspberry	DB	11	4.92
Beacon	NM	12.5	4.92
Yellow Transparent	DD	11.5	4.90
PF12	DE	11	4.90
Prairie Sun	DB	12	4.80
Yellow Transparent	NN	12.5	4.78
Goodland	MW	10	4.75
Hazen	NM	11	4.73
H12	JAP?	11	4.63
Lobo	NM	11	4.63
Unknown (little green)	DD		4.50
Goodland	DC	12	4.50
Haralred	KI	12	4.50
Sweet 16?	JY	10	4.29
Oriole	JY	11.5	4.20
Unknown Russian	DD	11.5	4.20
Norland	JY	11	4.00
Golden Uralian	JY	12.5	3.92
Mantet	JY	12	3.83
Dawn Crab	TS	13	3.63
Yellow Transparent	DB	12	3.50
Wealthy	GRM	9	3.00

 

APPLES GROWN IN GREENHOUSE

Together, Bob Boyer and Kevin Irvin submitted enough greenhouse-grown apples to warrant separate ratings.  By my tally there were nine greenhouse entries but I might have missed a few more.  The winners were Silken and Cox Orange Pippin, both grown by Kevin.  Several of Bob’s entries were enormous, including Shizuka (22 ounces, 14.5 inch circumference!), with Honeycrisp and Molly’s Delicious barely smaller.  The tasting scores were similar to those of the better outdoor apples.

 

Variety	Grower	Sugar (°Brix)	Mean score
Silken	KI	12	8.14
Cox Orange Pippin	KI	13.5	7.00
Boyer Cortland	BB	11.5	6.83
Shizuka	BB	15	6.70
Molly’s Delicious	BB	12.5	6.56
Sweet 16	KI	10.5	6.25
Stark Ultra Spire	KI	11	5.71
Honeycrisp	BB	10	5.67
North Pole Columnar	KI	10	5.57

 

 

THIRTEEN-YEAR RESULTS

 

The next table ranks the Alaskan-grown varieties that have been tasted over the past thirteen years, since I’ve had the job of keeping track.  The main goal is to identify the best eating varieties.  The rankings are somewhat subjective, based on number of first-place, second-place, third-place, and top-ten finishes.  This is pretty easy for me to keep track of: I just update the list from last year and see if any changes in rank are indicated.  The ranking system favors apples that have been with us for all 13 years, and especially those (like Norland or Parkland) that are grown by lots of people and therefore have more than one entry in each annual tasting.  If there are four Norlands being tasted and they score 5, 6, 7, and 8, the “8” is what would count in the long-term ranking—an obvious flaw.  What about Mantet, Red Duchess, and Viking, each of which has finished first?  The problem with these three, and to a lesser extent State Fair, is that there are many off years when they rank near the bottom of a list of 30 to 50 varieties, generally because they are still unripe at the tasting.  It should be remembered that this is a ranking of eating quality during the last week of September.  The tastings are held at this time of year to maximize the number of apples in their prime: any earlier and not enough will be ripe (especially the more interesting kinds); any later and winter will have set in.  Chinese Golden Early, Geneva Early, Norland and Parkland would all be favored by an earlier tasting.  This year I’ve added a “Comments” column that helps explain some of my reasoning for the rankings.

 

And the new leader is …..

Zestar, which has moved into first, bumping Oriole down to number 2.

 

 

 

Variety (in order of rank)	Years 1st	Years 2nd	Years 3rd	Years in top 10	Comments
Zestar	4			4	A new variety with four straight first-place finishes
Oriole	2	1	4	9	Bumped from #1 by Zestar
Carroll	1	2		5	Moving up the list with several recent great years
Ginger Gold	2			6	Great when it ripens; poor in a cool year
September Ruby	1	1		6	Great when it ripens; poor in a cool year
Parkland		2	2	11	Absolutely reliable
State Fair		2	1	7	Great when it ripens; poor in a cool year
Norland		2	1	6	Absolutely reliable
Mantet	1			3	A great apple in a good year but seldom even in top ten
Prairie Magic		1		4	Moving up the list with several recent great years
Viking	1			2	One great year; many mediocre ones
Red Duchess	1			1	One great year; many mediocre ones
Golden Sentinel			1	4
15th Street Mystery			1	4
Roda Mantet		1		2
Geneva Early		1		2
Breaky		1		1
8th & M  mystery			1	2
Novosibirski Sweet			1	2
Vista Bella			1	1
Sunrise				4
Rescue				3
Simonet				3
Lodi				2
Harris				2
Elliott Mystery				2
Karmijn de Sonnaville				2
Summerred				2
Karl Franke mystery				1
Golden Transparent				1
Canada Red				1
Arvid Miller mystery				1
Whitney				1
Joyce				1
Red Mantet				1
Pristine				1
Patrick #3				1
Jersey Mac				1
Harolds				1
Goodland				1
Lowland Raspberry				1
Sweet Sixteen				1
Stark Ultraspire				1
Garland				1
Quinte				1
Antonovka				1