 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. |
