Dandeneau

The seedling cider apple known as Dandeneau has become one of our favorites. It was discovered in about 2012 on a hillside in Rowe, MA by Steve Gougeon of Bear Swamp Orchard. In November, 2013 Steve took me to a magical hillside which was sprinkled with dozens of seedling apples. The Dandeneau family allowed him free-reign of the “orchard”, and there he collected many apples for Bear Swamp’s cider. Steve initially called his discovery “Henry’s Green Russet” but later changed the name to Dandeneau in honor of the owner, Henry Dandeneau (1924-2013). It is possible that Steve has other selections from the hillside grafted into the Bear Swamp orchard in Ashfield, MA. I have one other of his discoveries from the site - a small-fruiting and red-leafed apple that Steve called “Rowe Crab.”

At our farm in central Maine, Dandeneau is precocious. prolific, annual, beautiful and ripens late in the fall. The fruit is round-conic, small (1.75"- 2"), long-stemmed, with an occasional pinkish blush around the stem, a small, russet, stem splash, and russet patches and netting. The flesh is very dense, slightly juicy, mild flavored, moderately bitter, slightly astringent, tart and lemony. We pick them towards the end of October and press them late. We obtained our scionwood from Steve. We highly recommend Dandeneau for trial in colder districts. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.