Gravenstein All Red apples harvested today
One of the very first apples to grace the new season in New Zealand is the Gravenstein. It is so welcome after the three month 'apple gap' that stretches from October or November (when the last of the good-eating stored apples have gone, and the next season's apples are just small green golfballs on the trees) until February. That is, unless you have planted a Gravenstein (or its sport, the Gravenstein All Red) in which case you will have apples ready to eat now.
I became aware that the Gravenstein ripens early when I was only eight or nine years old, and used to camp out under our Gravenstein (one of five or six apple trees in our home orchard), waiting for windfalls. (I was not allowed to pick the apples without explicit permission.) The Gravenstein is a tart, juicy, crunchy apple, and is good for everything you can use an apple for, from dessert to cider.
It is believed to have originated in southern Denmark, and to be named for the castle of Graasten. In 2005 the Danish government named it the 'national apple' of Denmark. It used to be grown widely in California, but because it is not as easy to grow or harvest as the much duller Red Delicious apple it is now so rare that the Slow Food Movement in California has created a Sebastopol Gravenstein Presidium (the Slow Food Movement's name for a grower's group) to protect it. It is no longer a commercial apple in New Zealand either, but to my taste it is still a better apple than similar commercial apples like the Oratia Beauty. Hence it was one of the first apple trees I planted at Te Kaawa Valley Gardens, three and a half years ago, and it is now fruiting well.
Like most early apples is not a good keeper, so you have to enjoy it in season. The tree also needs a pollinator. Apart from these minor quibbles, it has no downsides, and well deserves its place in the home orchard for those who fret during the apple gap.
Gravenstein All Red apple tree, planted August 2007
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