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Fruit & Orchards

What are the best apples for espalier & applesauce

12 years ago

I love this forum and the generous people who share their knowledge. I've searched and can't find answers to my questions.

Next year I want to espalier apple trees on the south-facing wall of my garage under the solar collectors on the roof. I have never grown apples nor espaliered but I love to prune and am experienced in other aspects of gardening.

I would prefer to grow a variety or two that make killer applesauce. People here don't seem to focus on sauce, but I remember my grandmother gowing Yellow Transparent and Gravenstein. This site faces south southeast and is near my front door. The espalier will need to look good and the trees be disease-resistant. House and garage are new construction - not even done yet - so building good soil quickly is my first task this year.

I would appreciate tips from the experiences of others. I'm even willing to change plans. For example, would pears be a better choice or grapes for this very sunny site? Thank you all for any help you can give.

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Comments (4)

alan haigh
12 years ago
I didn't answer this because I thought a midwesterner could provide the most relevant advice. The best apple sauce is usually made with a blend of apples but a perfect espalier variety for you is Goldrush, although the disease, cedar apple rust, would need to be controlled with a couple of sprays.
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MrClint
12 years ago
I can't speak to your climate challenges, nor do I have a recommendation for sauce apples. If all else fails, I would grow an apple that I really like eating fresh and then make sauce with any overage or to extend the harvest.

My family prefers apple fruit leather to sauce, which I make from Trader Joes applesauce. They'll eat the fruit leather and not the sauce (go figure). Grapes and figs are thriving, as expected, in the hottest spots in my yard --if that helps. :)
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There's only one state that I know of in the US that differentiates between juice and cider. They say juice is filtered clear, cider is cloudy. You don't have to filter to get clear, a little pectic enzyme will clear cider quickly but there's a lot of waste and you are removing some of the healthy stuff (the pectin for one). Europe has the difference between juice and cider as unfermented and fermented. Fermented is "hard cider" in the US. So here it's up to you what you call it. To me "better" for applesauce is a little tart and cooks down easy. My niece likes my Arkansas Black sauce for taste but you could cook them forever and they'd never turn to sauce without a stick blender. She hates tart which is why she started giving me the apples from her old tree. So flavor is in the eye of the beholder. I think any apple that softens readily in storage would be a good candidate for cooking down easily. I've done Cortland (stays white as sauce) and McIntosh and they do good. Yellow Transparent and Lodi are said to be good sauce apples.
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I'd run with something with the vigor from M9 to M26 and go with 4 tiers just because your sun and heat is so intense there- but also consider the vigor of the cultivars, which is equally important. My brother lives in the "horse capitol of the world" as well and I've been trying to convince him to plant some fruit trees for years. If I was there I think I'd espalier some Fuyu persimmons. They'd look beautiful in that kind of display. The trees in the photo look great.
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Thanks everyone for your input. I use a lot of Granny Smith for fresh eating and use to make pies with them or Jonathons. Looks like I need to go back to them. I'll have to try the Northern Spy. I think we've had some of the Pink Lady for fresh eating, too. Your Apple Pie Jam was the first jam I made after many years of not canning, linda lou. I think I used the Granny Smiths for it and DH and I really liked it a lot. Need to make another batch of it. We are both diabetic so I made it with Splenda and Pomona's and it turned out perfect. Gee, I wonder if the Lodis would work for it. I've still got half a peck minus five so I need to use them for something. They really do have great flavor.
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I think actually any apple will make good applesauce. My grandmother always used Rome apples because they are so mealy but I actually prefer a crisper, more tart apple. I have a yellow delicious and a red delicious in my back yard garden and both are good for all kinds of things, including applesauce. I think the kind of apple you pick for applesauce is just a matter of personal taste. And yes, freezing is fine if you're cooking the apples to soften them and not just whirring the raw apples around in a food processor. I freeze apple slices and the way I keep them from darkening in the freezer is that I slice them into water that has about a tablespoon of canning salt to about a gallon of water. Before I freeze I strain off the water and then I pack them in gallon freezer bags. They are great for cooking or for eating frozen. They do turn light brown and watery if thawed completely, but the water is apple juice, so if you had an abundance of apples and wanted to make juice, you could probably freeze apples and then thaw them and get juice quite easily that way.
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tedgrowsit
12 years ago
I am growing an apple fence with three tiers in my front yard. Some trees have responded very well to the pruning and training and others not. My winners are Winesap, Pitsmaston Pineapple, Golden Russet, Grimes Golden. Several others are being trained the same way, but are not nearly so cooperative as these. I would imagine that many varieties would respond well. Ted
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nhardy
12 years ago
I'm up hwy 55 from you in StL. For best all around apple I love Jonathan. They eat, cook and freeze well. I like them sweet tart, so I pick them half red and green. But it get Cedar apple rust among other things. So they are out. I put a link for G6026, but there are other publications to be read too, G6022, G6005, G6010. They are a GOOD source of info. I also wrote to my local extension person about what are the biggest problem in my area.

I have figs but I have to overwinter in the garage here. There are some that are more cold hardy like Chicago Hardy. You could winter wrap it if you plant it in the ground. The fig forum people can help you. Blackberries, grapes, pear or plums might work too.

Here is a link that might be useful: MU-Disease-Resistant Apple Cultivars
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