Hello Claude - As we’ve talked about evaluating seedlings, looking for ‘outliers’ has always been mentioned - breeding with parents that we consider the best desert apples produce a lot of ‘pretty good’ progeny and very few seedlings that lie outside the parameters of the parents - but there are a handful we’ve identified that now exist in multiple locations as second test trees - I doubt there will be enough fruit associated with them next season for a lot of study tho -
one of my biggest horticultural regrets is losing a cultivar from my grandfather’s orchard - it was in the row next to the property line, had shiny, distinctive, hard apples that looked like they should be delicious but were unpalatable for fresh eating - 45 years ago I didn’t know (and grandfather and cousin Jim who had ran that orchard were gone and couldn’t tell me) but I am now confident that tree was a hard cider apple variety with a lot of the cider making qualities that are lacking in desert varieties - all gone now tho - I’ve forwarded your email to Diane and Amy in case they are not monitoring this list - thanks for your observations and positive thoughts - David > On Dec 15, 2016, at 11:45 AM, Claude Jolicoeur <cjolip...@gmail.com> wrote: > > David, > I was most interested to see in this newsletter that you are initiating > effort to develop genuine cider apples. As far as I know, this would be the > first program in modern era in North America to explicitely search for cider > apples. There has been one in France and one in England, but none on this > continent. > > Most interesting is that you will be searching for them within seedlings that > have NOT been selected for table apples. In effect, a seedling that has been > selected as a good dessert apple stands very little chances of being > excellent for cider making purposes because the selection criteria are > fundamentally different when we talk cider... For example: > Everything related to visual aspect is of prime importance for a table apple, > but not at all for a cider apple. > For the flavor, we are looking for entirely different profiles. For a table > apple, we want freshness (medium to high acidity) medium sugar (we don't want > a cloying sweet apple) and no bitterness - a slight astringency would be > acceptable however. For a cider apple, tannins in general and bitterness will > be welcome, and we would be seeking lower acidity and higher sugar. Actually > a "bland" and a cloying sweet apple could make a good cider apples... > On flesh texture, we want the dessert apple to be firm and crisp. For the > cider apple, we rather want an apple which will release its juice easily. > Most of the selection criteria for tree would however be similar, relating to > productivity, resistance, etc. > I any case, sure you have much better chances to find a great cider apple > from the rejects of the dessert apple program! > > I wish you best success - we badly need it! > > Claude Jolicoeur > > Author, The New Cider Maker's Handbook > <http://www.chelseagreen.com/the-new-cider-makers-handbook/> > http://www.cjoliprsf.ca/ <http://www.cjoliprsf.ca/> > > > > Le 2016.12.15 00:19, David Doud a écrit : >> Volume 2 of the ‘Ortet’ has been published and is available at the Midwest >> Apple Improvement Association website - http://midwestapple.com/index.php >> <http://midwestapple.com/index.php> >> >> Here is a direct link to it - >> http://midwestapple.com/_PDF/_Newsletters/ORTET2016.pdf >> <http://midwestapple.com/_PDF/_Newsletters/ORTET2016.pdf> >> >> If anyone has any questions, I’ll be happy to answer or find the answer. >> >> Last years edition is currently unavailable online as we had to change a >> couple of phrases to help with international trademark protection efforts - >> it will be back on the site next month. >> >> David Doud - grower, Indiana >> this past season’s crop was not the finest for which I’ve been responsible, >> but there is a home for every piece of fruit - > > _______________________________________________ > apple-crop mailing list > apple-crop@virtualorchard.com > http://virtualorchard.com/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop
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