DESSERT APPLES

WELCOME

A very early apple, hence the name. It is a colourful sweet good early apple that will be finished by early January. Like all early apples they are best eaten within a few days of picking. From an old Auckland tree.

DEVONSHIRE QUARENDON

This classic toffee apple has a bright, shiny red skin, doughnut shape, very soft flesh and is a reliable prolific cropper. Sweet good flavour. The older the tree, the earlier the fruit, the original tree's fruit ripens in November. It was gifted to the Collection by Jim Cox from Tangiteroria in 1989 and came from a 200 year old tree at Ohaewai orchard of Bishop Williams.

VAILE EARLY

A small to medium sized apple, early ripening Dec - Feb. Yellow skin red streaks. Reliable cropper of medium vigour. Crunchy, tasty sweet/acid flavour. This is one of the varieties that was common 150 years ago around the North and ripe well before today’s commercial apples. Excellent one for summer road side stalls. Ours came from an old orchard in Paparoa.

EARLY STRAWBERRY

A small flattish, very sweet, early apple ripening Christmas to late Feb. Green - yellow skin with bright red streaks when ripe. Golden Delicious type flavour and texture. A very old variety coming to us from an old tree in Birkdale Auckland, and previous to that Papakura (Mr Tom Shepherd since 1896).

HAYWARD WRIGHT

This is an apple that was sent to us by an old friend of Hayward Wrights (One of NZ’s most famous plant breeders of Kiwi fruit fame). Apparently one of his favourite early apples. Ripe after Vaile Early and Early Strawberry, before Freyburg and is an excellent second early apple. The skin is dark red, with golden russet, the flesh is white with a lot of red streaking through it. The flavour is full and sweet.

FREYBURG 

Ripe after the early apples, before the mid season Captain Kidd ripens. One of my personal favourites, Freyburg is very sweet, beautiful flavour yellow flesh, light green skin changing to honey yellow when ripe, and an excellent dessert apple. I’ve been growing this apple for 30 years in the North and it’s one of the most disease resistant in our conditions, bred in NZ by JH Kidd and is cross between Golden Delicious and Cox’s Orange Pippin.

LOBO

This high quality dessert and cooking variety has a bright, solid deep maroon/red skin and cream flesh. It is large flat round, excellent jucey, very sweet with an old fashioned winey flavour, fluffy when cooked and a good keeper. Strong healthy tree in Northland. In the Collection since 1983, a Don Mackenzie selection from Havelock North research station in the 1970's. Ripe early March.

MAXWELL QUIRK

This is an apple sent in to us 10 years ago by a member. I would guess it’s a seedling applethat happens to be a particularly good one, as the gentleman (Maxwell Quirk) realized. It has Golden Delicious as one parent I would say and it is a very good dessert apple similar to Golden Delicious in texture sweetness and flavour but with a very different shape. It is pointy and irregular. I really like it and think it will become popular with home gardeners for its flavour and disease resistance. Ripe mid March.

KOANGA RED DELICIOUS

Most of us remember the “old” Red Delicious apples, outstanding flavour, sweet, large, rich and very red/russetted .This tree was given to me years ago by an unknown donor and I suspect it is anoriginal type Red Delicious The original ‘delicious’ apples came from the U.S.A  and are superior to the later versions. Large healthy trees and fruit. Ripe late March.

CAPTAIN KIDD

Another NZ bred apple by JH Kidd. This has also been grown in the north for long time and has proved it’s disease resistance and excellent quality. Superb flavour and colour. Deep apple with bright red steaks all over. Ours came from Tom and Robyn Morrison near Warkworth, descendants of Red Bluffs Nursery “Morrison” one ofthe old nursery families in the north. Ripe March.

JONATHON

A well remembered commercial variety after the war and a predecessor of some of our more modern cultivars. It is a crisp juicy, sub acid large round green skinned apple with a red streaky patch when ripe.

NORTHLAND GOLDEN RUSSET

This is another of those old varieties that once used to be very common around the North, and in fact all over the country. All of the early orchards had a russet and they have been well remembered. I trialled all the russets here years ago from thevarious South Island collections and none of them grew well up here. It hasonly been in the last ten years that several Northland Russets have come into the collection and they grow well, taste fantastic and are disease resistant (that was the problem with the South Island varieties). The skin is totally covered in a golden russet, the flavour is very rich and full, and it develops more if the apples are picked for a week or two before eating. This one is from the garden of the late Ham Worsfold of Kaiwaka, a very special man, one of the old gardeners I’m really missing. A very special apple with wine and cheese! Ripe March.

GOLDEN DELICIOUS

These old ones taste far better than the modern selections of Golden Delicious. It is a large golden skinned and golden fleshed conical apple with a sweet, crisp rich aromatic flavour with great depth. Ripe March.

LADY FINGER

This is an apple that was given to me as a specific cider apple. I grew it so I could make cider one day and have been so excited about it as a dessert apple I doubt it would ever get to the cider press! It is a mid season, bright red with a golden russet on the skin and it is sweet and rich and full of flavour with a tang of it’s own. Ripe mid season.

NORTHERN SPY

Delicious, juicy, rich sub acid aromatic, white flesh, fine grained and tender. Green pale yellow skin in shade, streaky red purple in sun. A very well known and loved heritage variety. Ours came from the old Bert Davies orchard in Wellsford. Plant only with other apples for cross pollination. Ripe March/April.

RED SPY

A large round flattish, red, juicy sweet apple with an old-fashioned winey flavour. Very similar to Northern Spy. An excellent dessert and cooking apple ripening in March. Only plant a Red Spy if you have several other apples in the orchard as they crop better with cross pollination. From an old tree in Paparoa. Ripe March/April.

MAYFLOWER          

A late apple of medium to large, round, flat size, with green russeted skin. A beautiful dessert apple, good for drying, cooking and juicing. Excellent old fashioned full flavour. I’m told this apple came into the Hokianga Harbour in a barrel of pips in the 1850’s.with the Rev Mr. Knaggs who planted his barrel of pips and chose this one as his favourite Ripe Mar/April.

GRANNY SMITH

Another well remembered apple by those lucky enough to have been able to have a tree ripened version! These apples taste so good when they have been left on the trees to tree ripen, when the skin goes yellow with a browny tinge, and the flesh goes super sweet and juicy. These apples were bred originally in Australia and they grow well in Northland. Large round bright green skin, crisp, sweet tasty/acid tangy flavour.

WINESAP

Sweet, good flavour, solid flesh with pink colouring through flesh. An early apple from the Wharehine, Port Albert area.

MONTY'S SURPRISE

Discovered by Tree Crops Association member Mark Christensen in the 1990's, this is a unique New Zealand seedling variety. It has good natural disease resistance (in the lower North Island), so can be grown without chemical sprays. It is a wonderful cooking and eating apple, and, combined with its pips and flowers, has wonderful disease inhibiting ability. This is to the best of our knowledge, the best anti-cancer eating apple in the world. The majority of anti-cancer compounds in apples are found in the skin. The Monty’s Surprise apples mature over a long period and are ready to eat in about mid-April.

GIANT GENITON

This variety is an outstanding heavy reliable cropper and keeps well. It has green skin turning very pale yellow with red streaks when ripe. It can be eaten as a dessert apple when harvested April onwards or used for cooking in February. Looks and tastes a lot like a beautiful tree ripened Granny Smith but smaller and redder when ripe. Very healthy tree, the fruit needs to be removed in early years so the tree can get some size. It came to the Koanga Collection in 1987, originally from Phil Evans fromKohukohu, but also from Cloon Eavin from Pahi and was one of the very early apples planted around the North that have been taken care of because they did so well.

BILL ROGERS

This variety is small to medium size and round with a streaky skin and white flesh. Some fruit has pink inside the skin going into the flesh. It has an average flavour, is crisp and hard and really good when there are no other fresh apples around. Skin and flesh are too hard for birds to get through so it hangs on the tree for a long time.Healthy tree and huge crops. Good keeper.It came from an old commercial orchard in Whitianga, Coromandel, and was gifted to the Koanga Collection by Bill Rogers in the early 1990's.

COOKING APPLES

PEASGOOD NON SUCH

This is a very large round flat apple that is at its best as a cooking apple. If you like tart apples they are good for desert. I like to stuff the core and bake them. Late ripening with a streaky green and red striped skin. Mid March.

LORD NELSON

One of our original cooking apples, popular because of it’s excellent cooking apple and had good disease resistance in the North, having been selected and grown here for over 150 years now!

STURMER

This is a large green skinned variety with a red blush, excellent cooker. Ripe Mid season.

WILSON'S OWN

This excellent cooker is also great for eating, similar to Ohinemuri. It is round and flattish with a green skin turning yellow when ripe, red blush and a full flavour, sharp but still sweet when fully ripe. Heavy reliable cropper, fruit has to be removed until tree gets some size. Gifted to the Koanga Collection by Lorna Cliff around 1987. It was planted by her father 1914 and still remains beside the historic places trust family home in Paparoa. Ripe Mid season.

OHINEMURI aka Munroe's Favourite

This full flavoured old fashioned cooking variety is also a great dessert apple (if you like tart apples) and can be used for juicing and drying. It is round (easy to peel for processing), has yellow skin and is a prolific bearer and very healthy tree. Fruit must be taken off until tree gets some size. It was gifted to the Koanga Collection in 1989 by Jim Cox Tangiteroria, ex Te Puke - originally from the Ohinemuri area, Hauraki. Mid-late season.

WORCESTER PEARMAIN

Large, round green skinned fruit, maroon blush on sunny side when fuly ripe. Heavy reliable cropper with outstanding health. Fluffy when cooked, with a great flavour. In the Koanga Collection since 1987, origin unknown. Ripe Mid-late season.

BRAMLEY'S SEEDLING

A large irregular, ugly but very famous apple for its outstanding cooking qualities. March/April.

CIDER APPLES

JACK HUM CRAB APPLE

This is a commercial pollinator variety which has heavy, reliable crops in Northland. It is red and used for making cider and vinegar.

LADY FINGER

See cooking apples above .