This year I was excited to see one of my Williams’ Pride x Vixen apple crosses flowering and setting fruit. Two of them actually flowered and only 5 years from seed, which is unusually fast, so this seems to be a precocious cross. One of the trees ripened 4 apples on a stunted, un-watered 5 foot high scrawny seedling. It is a drought year too, so producing 4 very handsome and perfectly clean, medium sized apples in it’s very first flowering is pretty impressive! The apples had dead smooth skin consisting of a pretty shade of pink blush over a yellow background. The first were ripe in late July and the last in mid August.
Twang is tangy, thus the name. It is not particularly lacking in sugar, but it is decidedly sharp. The flesh is rather dense and firm, which is unusual for an early apple, most of which suffer from thin foamy flesh. That alone is something of a triumph. It doesn’t seem likely to hold up well either on or off the tree however, which is also typical of early apples.
The flavor seems to vary from slightly complex, maybe a bit tropical with some nuance at it’s best, to a pretty generic apple flavor when over ripe. Most early apples are ready and then a few days later, they’re over-ready. I think Twang will not be an exception to that trend, but would not be surprised it it will hold for a week or two if picked significantly ahead of ripening. I found the flavor of the best specimen to be pleasant and somewhat interesting and would happily eat them if that was the best apple fruiting at the time.
As the tree is grafted out onto established orchard trees and the seedling itself matures and develops more, it may produce better and different fruit, especially with better culture. I don’t think the basic character will change a lot though. Likely it will be an apple that ripens over an extended season of about 3 weeks in early to mid august, with a few early specimens in late July. Given the sharpness and density, it will probably be a very good cooking apple for that season, and should fill the spot right before the Gravenstiens come in nicely. It does not have Gravenstein’s special aromatics, but it’s hard to compete with an apple that has been one of the most famous early pie and sauce apples for hundreds of years, if not the most famous. It will be best for all uses right off the tree or soon after.
I saw not one spec of scab on any of the fruits. That trait is probably inherited from William’s Pride, which is pretty well scab immune here. Vixen is related to Wickson and is the closest thing to a large Wickson. Wickson is also scab resistant, so maybe Vixen also carries that resistance, but I don’t know the scab status of Vixen itself.
While Twang shows traits of both parents, not so much in the flavor department, where it seems to resemble neither. Neither parent is particularly sharp and Twang’s level of sharpness is somewhat uncommon in my apple seedling trials. In some ways, it is a ho hum, mediocre apple. But as an apple enthusiast/collector/breeder, my bar is set pretty high. I have a feeling it will have a place in the seasonal parade of apples, quite possibly filling the important niche of an early tart cooking apple that actually has some density. While people may be cooking with unripe Gravenstein in August (I am!), Twang will actually be dead ripe in that season and probably available for early, under-ripe cooking in late July.
Only time will tell how this apple performs and impresses going forward. This winter it will be grafted out onto a couple of established trees in good sun. Then it’s wait, eat, wait, eat, wait, eat, maybe make a few pies and some sauce in there… Then, someday, I’ll decide if I want to send it out into the world or use it in further breeding. In the meantime, it has a cool name so we can talk about it and keep track of it. I’m hoping for more of the Williams’ Pride x Vixen crosses to produce fruit in the next couple of years. The real goal with that cross is to get the Wicksony maltiness flavor of Vixen to express in a new apple, with the general quality, performance and disease resistance of Williams’ Pride, so fingers crossed.
