TWANG

SKILLCULT APPLE BREEDING PROJECT

THIS PAGE IS FOR INFORMATION ABOUT MY SEEDLING APPLE TWANG.

Twang is a cross between Williams’ Pride and Vixen. It is a tart summer cooking apple of uncommon density that holds its shape when cooked.

Twang was fruited and named a number of years before I decided to release it. It is not a very good eating apple in my experience, but might be better under some growing conditions or in some other climate. Classic early apples are thin, acidic and soft. Twang is very dense, relatively richly flavored when compared to most of its seasonal peers and holds its shape when cooked. The flavor and feel when cooked are very similar to Integrity, another Williams’ Pride x Vixen cross that ripens just after Twang, with an overlapping period. You could see some Twang ripe enough in Late July, but the bulk will likely come in August.

Twang is quite sharp and makes a good pie with no lemon juice needed to sharpen it up. It is quite peppy on its own, thus the name. Fresh, it can have some odd flavors, but not when cooked. It far surpases anything I have in that early summer season when it comes to pies. At the end of the season, you can blend the last of them with Integrity. It is pretty cool to have a good pie apple so early, followed by another very similar fruit.

Twang is a very pretty apple too. Very nice blended, blushy and streaky pastel pinks, yellows and reds. Size is medium.

Like most apples, most of us don’t need a whole tree of an apple like this. It is primarily a niche apple for summer cooking and maybe fresh juicing. No doubt some will disagree and find its tart bite appealing for eating out of hand, but probably not many. Most people don’t even bake anymore, so I don’t expect Twang or Integrity to spread far and wide. But for those small holders and homesteaders who still spend that time in the kitchen making real traditional food, an early summer pie apple can be a blessing. I don’t think either apple will disappoint in that department.

BTW, I know it is hard to find time to bake for many people, but it is a lot easier to make a crisp than a pie. I just throw some salt, cinnamon, sugar, ginger powder and clove in a bowl of oats, grate in some butter with a cheese grater, mix that up well with my hands, put it over apple pie filling and bake it. I don’t measure anything and it always turns out good. That is the only way I’ve found that I can keep up with bake tests.