Apple of the Week: Golden Russet

Starting this week, I plan to highlight a different apple variety each week.  There are so many different delicious apples available right now, I thought why not go through each type so we can learn more about them!  We'll start with a Nova Scotia (and my) favourite: the Golden Russet

Golden Russet is usually considered as one of the best-flavored of the American russet apples.  "Russet" actually refers to the russeting of the skin, and there are many different varieties of russet apples, at Noggins we grow the Golden Russet.  This apple is a classic, great for fresh eating, cooking, and cider.

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More info about the Russet Apple:

Golden Russet is a cultivar of long standing, noted for its high eating quality. Its distinct appearance gives it a special market niche. In early settlement days it was favoured for its ability to retain full flavour and juiciness (even though somewhat shriveled) in unheated cellar storage. Highly valued as a sweet cider apple since as little as 10% will provide a distinctive flavour to the juice. 

Many apple cultivars have some natural russeting, but some are almost entirely covered in it.  Russet apples often exhibit a scent and flavour reminiscent of nuts, and are often very sweet. Despite this, modern apple breeders rarely accept russeting in new apple cultivars. The amount of russeting can be affected by various factors including, weather, disease or pest damage and agrochemical applications.

Russet apples also go under the name "rusticoat", "russeting" and "leathercoat". The last name was known in Shakespeare's time; for instance, in Henry IV, part 2, Davy says to Bardolph, "there's a dish of leathercoats for you".