We just moved to a house with a couple of fruit trees in the yard, one seems to be some sort of apple tree. The fruit is about the size of a cherry, but otherwise looks very similar in shape and color to a Red Delicious. The tree itself is about 10-12 feet tall. Can anyone help me identify it or point me to a helpful resource?
Thanks, Laura
How do they taste? Are they coral pink in the middle, or white? (it's unlikely you will ever find a definitive variety name for it)
My guess is it's a flowering crabapple.
Bob
Apple-y, a little tart. Kind of cream-to-yellow on the inside
That's probably it. It has a lot of fruit on it -- is there anything to "do" with the fruit?
Thanks, Laura
Jelly, pickles, or use them to flavor a batch of mead (which would actually make it a cyser)
Bob
Sounds like a crabapple tree to me.
Pat
Jelly. Crabapple jelly is great. No pectin required either: they've got lots of natural pectin.
I suppose you could make applesauce too.
Pat
if you use them to flavor table apple cider, then it will make an acceptable hard cider (1/4 or so crabapples, less if you can put some tart apple in the mix). but, you have to have a press, cider mills will not let you press your own for fear of bacterial contamination. the pomace of crabapples is also a lot gummier than apple pomace, and fouls their piping. if you don't have a press, flowering crabapples are best used for spring displays, and winter bird attractors.
This does not sound like a crabapple to me. I grew up on a place that had about 8 huge crabapple trees on it and the fruit on them was red inside and out.
OTOH, I have eaten crabapples with fruit that was red on the outside and white on the inside. So I guess they come in at least two types regarding fruit color.
Pat
A crabapple is any apple tree that bears fruit less than 2" in diameter. I read that somewhere.
My employer has flowering crabapple trees that have kind of large single white flowers with just a tint of pink, and the apples are hard, sour (but not unplesantly so), and white fleshed. The largest are about an inch in diameter. I pick a few and eat them sometimes in the morning on my way in to work.
I've picked some other crabapples around town that had coral colored flesh. Those trees had dark pink blooms; I never got up close when they were blooming to see if they were double or single flowers.
The local orchard sells a crabapple that I think is named "Chestnut" (or maybe it's "Whitney"), and those are sweet and tasty little apples about
1.5" to 2" on diameter.I think the color of the crabapple flesh has more to do with just how much red pigment the tree produces, and the color of the blooms is a good indicator for that.
Best regards, Bob
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