Red Wood

Why you should be excited

Red Wood is a mystery apple variety to us, about which we're looking forward to learning more.

The story of Red Wood

What can we say about an apple that we've never seen, let alone tasted? More importantly, an apple about which we can find no references online? Zero. Zilch. Nada.

What we can say is that Red Wood is a variety that was brought to us by Salt Spring Island's Captain Apple, Harry Burton, who has dedicated himself to maximizing the number of different apple varieties being grown on Salt Spring, especially those with red-coloured flesh. As he sometimes does, in early 2015, Harry brought us several sticks of scionwood from a gathering of apple fanatics in Oregon. Each came with a handwritten label and nothing more. One of them was marked as 'Red Wood.’

Naturally, we grafted it and waited to see what we were getting. And so we continue to wait.

We imagine that this is a red-fleshed variety. We imagine that the colouring may be deep enough to be obvious in the colour of the tree's leaves and -- yes -- the wood of the tree. Another variety we first got from Harry -- Winekist -- definitely delivers on both of those scores, with deep purplish wood and foliage.

So, we await apples from the young Red Wood trees we have grafted and will report back on the variety when we know more. Thanks, Harry!

Red Wood Facts

Its origins

We have no idea.

Flavour, aroma, texture

We're waiting for some fruit so we can determine this.

Appearance

Remains to be seen.

When they’re available

We're not sure yet which season.

Quality for fresh eating

We'll let you know when we find out.

Quality for cider

We will need to get some fruit to see, but odds are it’s useful in cider.

Quality for cooking

Red flesh usually means high acid and a good cooking apple. We will see.

Keeping ability

Ditto again.