Golden Russet

For generations, Golden Russet has been revered for its winter dessert quality and its cider. It probably originated in the eastern US before 1800. Unfortunately old-timers typically referred to russeted varieties simply as “Russet”. Consequently many unique apples have been confused, mixed up and lumped into one “variety”. In fact there are russets of many sizes, shapes, seasons and qualities. Golden Russet is probably the most confused of them all. In the last few years we have begun to sort out the Maine russets using DNA profiling techniques. Most of our old Golden Russets fall into two groups, currently referred to as GR1 and GR2. Old trees of both can be found in old Maine orchards, sometimes only a few miles apart. We suspect that even today, commercial nurseries and orchards are growing both without knowing it. Both GR1 and GR2 are good apples, and they are phenotypically extremely difficult to tell apart. Although we are not yet certain, we suspect that GR1 is what was known in historical literature as English Russet or Pougkeepsie Russet (but not English Golden Russet!) GR2 is probably what was known as Golden Russet of Western New York (a mouthful). We hope to sort out the true Golden Russet sometime in the next decade.

Both of the apples referred to as Golden Russet have long been esteemed for cider and dessert. The dense, sharp flavor seems almost effervescent.  Golden Russets ripens late in fall when the root cellar has finally cooled off and the best cider is ready to be made. It makes what has been called the Champagne of sweet cider: balanced, thick and smooth, and it also makes a delicious hard cider.  Golden Russet makes excellent eating, and it keeps all winter and well into spring. The round, medium-sized, hard fruit which is uniform in size and shape, softens as winter progresses but maintains its superior tart-sweet flavor.