Summer Apples

They’re delicious! And don’t miss the recipe at the end of the post!

Look for these apples now and in the coming weeks. Every apple variety has a story. We turn now to some of our friends in the apple industry to hear their delicious versions.

Summer Rambo

Trees of Antiquity, LLC. “Summer Rambo apples are crisp, juicy, yellow, breaking flesh, a great apple for early season eating out of hand and also perfect for sauce. The Summer Rambo apple tree produces large red fruit, often bright striped. Precocious, vigorous, hardy and productive tree.”

Albemarle Ciderworks“[The] Summer Rambo... is thought to have come from the town Rambure, near Abbeville, France, and was recorded in 1535. Large in size and truncate-conic in shape, it is lightly ribbed on the body and prominently ribbed at the eye. Usually, it is asymmetrical in shape. The pale greenish-yellow skin is flushed pale-red and streaked carmine, and scattered with russet patches. The yellowish flesh is fine-grained and firm with a subacid, slightly sweet flavor. When well- ripened, it has a vinous taste. It was growing as early as 1767 in colonial America as a dessert apple, and there is a red cultivar called Red Sumbo.”

Early Honeycrisp

Good Fruit Grower “It was a grand day in August four years ago when Steve Slaybaugh and his wife found ripe Honeycrisp apples in their Pennsylvania orchard. It was August 11, and apples on one tree were ripe—three weeks early.

‘Why is that tree ripe?” Slaybaugh recalls saying to his wife, who was with him on a four-wheeler looking over the crop. They tasted it. ‘It’s ripe. It’s ready to pick,’ he said.

Both quite excited about it, they took an apple home for son Dave to taste. They told their neighbor and good friend, Mark Rice, about it and asked his advice. He suggested they call Phil Baugher.”

They did and that started the process of introducing it to the world.

“‘We had to propagate it and prove it would be true to type in the second generation. We saw the first fruit from the first second-generation trees August 11, 2012, and applied for a patent the next month.’”

The only ‘improvement’ in this Honeycrisp is that it’s early, he said. Are there other differences?

‘Not really,’ he said. ‘It’s not redder, nor does it have less bitter pit or fewer production problems, as far as we know.’

‘We had it tested and it’s a true Honey,’ Slaybaugh said, ‘no less, no more, all the qualities of a regular Honey. There may be less breakdown, at least so far for us.’ For the rest of this story, go to the original article here.

Ginger Gold

Orange Pippin “Ginger Gold was discovered as a chance seedling growing near a Golden Delicious orchard in Virginia in the 1960s. The color, shape, and distinctive long stalk all identify it as a relation of Golden Delicious, yet it has a much earlier season - ripening in mid/late August. Unusually for an early apple, but again reflecting a Golden Delicious parentage, it is a good keeper and will last several weeks in the fridge.

The flavor is fairly mild, and a bit sharper than Golden Delicious but still sweet for an early variety. It is equally good for eating fresh or processing.

Ginger Gold is generally considered one of the best early-season apples.”

Sansa

Orange Pippin “Sansa was developed in the 1970s by the Morioka Research Station in Japan, in collaboration with researchers in New Zealand, as a straightforward cross between Akane and Gala varieties.

Sansa appears to have good disease resistance, although it was not developed specifically for this purpose. The disease resistance is likely to come from the Akane parentage, since Akane is itself naturally disease resistant whereas Gala is susceptible to several common apple diseases.

In terms of flavor, Sansa is essentially an early-ripening Gala. It inherits Gala's inherent sweetness, but with more acidity - as might be expected given its earlier ripening season.”

Zestar!®

Minnesota Hardy

“Zestar!® was introduced in 1999 from a hybridization of State Fair x MN 1691. We're confident that you will be pleased with this flavorful, crisp apple.

The most outstanding feature of a Zestar!® Apple is its sprightly sweet-tart taste with a hint of brown sugar. And, unlike other early season apples that are often soft or mealy, Zestar!® is juicy with a light, crisp texture. Just one bite, and you will savor the zesty flavor and crunch.

Zestar!® Apples maintain their great taste and crunch for 2 months in refrigeration. For consumers, this means an apple that will give them a zesty crunch after hours in a lunchbox, days in a fruit bowl, or even weeks in a refrigerator.

Zestar!® Apples are nice and round, with an average diameter of approximately 3 inches. Their color is 60-85 percent red depending on exposure to the sun. Where the sun shines on the fruit, a bright rosy-red blush develops. Shaded areas are often creamy yellow. One Minnesota grower, who usually sees [a] nice red color on at least half of each fruit, pointed out, ‘My customers don't care what it looks like, once it passes their lips!’”

Apple Recipe

And as promised, here’s a healthy apple recipe. It doesn’t specify which apples to use, but why not make it a few times and see which apples you like best in it. Could be fun!

HEALTHY APPLE MUFFINS
Courtesy of Apple Holler

Ingredients:

3 cups old-fashioned oats 1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 medium apple, finely diced
2 eggs
2/3 cup unsweetened almond milk (plain or vanilla works)!
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup maple syrup
3 tablespoons melted coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line 12 cup muffin pan with parchment paper or cupcake liners or lightly grease with cooking spray.

Puree oats in blender until they reach a flour-like consistency. Add in the pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and sea salt, and pulse until the mixture is evenly combined. With the power turned off, add the diced apple. Then use a spoon to toss until the apple is completely coated in the flour mixture. Set aside.

In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, applesauce, maple syrup, coconut oil and vanilla extract until evenly combined. Fold the dry ingredients in with the wet ingredient mixture, and stir until the mixture is just combined.

Portion the batter evenly between the baking cups in your muffin tin.

Bake for 15-18 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes.

Enjoy!