A Quick History of America’s ‘Surprise Apple’
Chances are you’ll find some great ones in the Pacific Northwest
For those of us who revel in the sensualities of life, fall is a wonderfully bountiful time of year. Trees are adorned in the vibrant autumn hues of deep reds and golden yellows. Much-needed rains replenish depleted aquifers and awaken the slumbering wild mushroom spores. Soon chanterelles, boletes, and matsutake will poke their curious heads through the forest humus. Coho salmon leave the Pacific Ocean to return to their ancestral spawning grounds up several rivers in the Pacific Northwest. And a refreshing crispness fills the air, stimulating our appetites for more comforting and often heartier dishes.
Undisputedly, the most exciting fall harbinger is the arrival of the much loved Mountain Rose, that gorgeous red-fleshed apple that tastes just like a strawberry Jolly Rancher.
I set those scions, and for many a year made pilgrimage to the tree and opened the green fruits to be surprised again and again at the pink flesh ‘stained with red’ as the original The Fruit and Fruit Trees of America has it. Charles Downing, The Garden Lover, 1928
Portland Monthly wrote an interesting article called “The Curious Case of the Hidden Rose” in which they detailed the shared ancestry of three…
