Pomme d'Or

Late Summer. Unknown parentage, probably originating in Quebec. We consider this apple to be one the major discoveries in our fruit exploration to date. Located in the fall of 1998 near St. Agatha, ME, with the assistance of Gloria Seigars who has logged hundreds of hours searching for old varieties in Aroostook County. Many thanks also to Edwich Michaud and her cousin Phil Roy for their generosity in taking us to their family orchard overlooking Long Lake and for letting us cut scionwood. Edwich believes their grandfather brought the apple to Maine from Canada in 1870. The large faint yellow fruit is rectangular in shape. The unusually large hollow core is partially filled with a sweet nectar you can actually drink after cutting the fruit in half. Called Pomme d'Or (Golden Apple) because as the fruit reaches peak ripeness the faint yellow coloring deepens to a rich gold. Used mostly as a summer cooking apple decades ago, it also tastes quite good out of hand. Uniquely shaped, beautiful, quite rare and extremely hardy.