Today in the orchard
I made what will be the last batch of Charlamoff sauce of the year. I picked the crop on September 1st and made a very decent pie a few days later. The fruit I cooked today was in the cooler for a month or so at about 38F and then in the root cellar for another month at 50F. Amazingly they are still in decent shape. The sauce is still flavorful; the fruit is on the acidic side as all good sauce apples are; cooks quickly.
Charlamoff is a Duchess-type, of Russian origin, medium-sized, roundish and rather distinctly red-striped. If you saw one, you might think “Duchess”; but if you see them side by side, you know they are distinct cultivars. I first came across Charlamoff in the northern Maine town of Bridgewater about ten years ago. There were two old trees on the farm. Unlike Duchess, the stripes and blush are more lavender than red. I was able to identify the Bridgewater trees and have since also obtained scionwood from the Geneva, NY collection. We now have trees grafted from both locations. It’s beautiful, productive, cooks well and is delicious.