MUSKETEER

SKILLCULT APPLE BREEDING PROJECT

This page is for housing information on my seedling apple Musketeer

Musketeer is a new apple with an unusual flavor that I can only describe as musky. It is a cross between Rubaiyat and Pink Parfait, (Rubaiyat x Pink Parfait 15/6). It is not just musky though, it has a delicious complex fruity flavor that blends well with the more unusual musk component. The first year it fruited it had a taste like Watermelon candy and I was going to call it Muskmelon. Turns out that name is already taken by an heirloom apple. Too bad, that really was the best name, but Musketeer is pretty dope too.

The second year, and again the third year, it was distinctly musky, a flavor component I hadn’t really noticed in apples, or hadn’t put a term to anyway. Once I really picked it out and had a name for it, I tasted it more subtly in other apples, including an etter red fleshed apple called Christmas Pink. Interesting, since this apple is a cross between two Etter red fleshed apples, so it is basically kind of a back cross to the original RF parent genes. (Oddly enough though, it has no red flesh at all so far.). So maybe this musk trait is lurking in those Etter lines and will express more in the future.

I guess it took a strong enough apple with this flavor to get me to really notice it to the point where I had to think about what it was. It is quite dominant in a good specimen of Musketeer. I find it delicious and intriguing. I’m very curious to eventually find out what others think of it. With or without that component though, it has been a very good apple otherwise, so it is not a one trick pony. I would say it tastes of fruit candy, but with the musky component coming off as part of that flavor. It harmonizes well and doesn’t seem like the musky component is just added in on top of the existing flavors. The texture as I recall has always been pretty dense and crisp.

Musketeer is very susceptible to scab. That is not surprising, given that both parents are total scab magnets. I don’t know much else about it yet. The original tree is in horrid condition, ravaged by bark borers and sunburned bark, with most of the roots broken off. I have it grafted elswhere, but it will be a while until one matures enough to fruit. I imagine the fruit will only get better. I have really enjoyed the suboptimal fruit I’ve eaten so far, so I have high hopes for this unique variety as it grows into its own. Most of my new apples have gotten better as they mature and fruit more.