TODAY IN THE ORCHARD
South Dakota Ben and sauce
Today I begin to put several late apples to the “sauce test.” The first is South Dakota Ben, an oddly-named apple that attracted the attention of Cammy and me when we were exploring the Geneva collection in 2016. We liked it enough to topwork it into our test orchard the following spring. South Dakota Ben is a 1938 introduction of Niels Hansen. Although I don’t think its parentage has been confirmed via DNA, according to Bulletin 339, “New Hardy Fruits for the Northwest”, June 1940, it’s a cross of Jonathan and Tony crab. Tony crab is thought to be a cross of M. baccata and McMahan White (aka McMahon etc). South Dakota Ben has fruited for us annually for the past few years, and the fruit quality has been excellent. It ripens late in the fall and keeps quite well in the rootcellar. Supermarkets will not be clammering for them in the foreseeable future as they they are about the size of a Chestnut Crab, but the desert quality is good, as is the vigor, productivity and the storability (is that a word?). The sauce—I can now attest—is decent with good texture, an apricot color and interesting flavor. The fruit is also beautiful. So far the tree appears to be hardy. What a combination. In fact, I’m eating a bowl of the sauce mixed with my morning oatmeal as I write this report.
