The apple tree is perhaps the most common variety of fruit culture in our country. Almost all summer residents grow such trees. The fruits of the apple tree can be eaten both fresh and processed. Varieties of this culture bred a lot. And all of them can be divided into three main types: summer, winter and autumn. The first group is represented by early sweet and fragrant apples. Varieties of this variety ripen in the middle zone of the Russian Federation in late July - mid-September.
The most popular summer apple trees
The early varieties of this traditional horticultural culture are particularly appreciated by summer residents. Although such fruits, if desired, can be used including for processing for the winter, most often they are nevertheless eaten fresh or added to baked goods.
The earliest apple varieties grown in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia are:
- Close.
- Helena.
- Early sweet.
- Red earlier.
All these apples ripen in late July. Their distinctive features are rather loose juicy pulp and a very delicate taste in comparison with autumn and winter varieties.
In early August, summer residents collect a crop of the most popular Papirovki and White filling. There are also late summer early apples. Varieties Melba and Julie Red, for example, produce crops sometime in mid-September.
Apple Tree Close: description and reviews
The fruits of this variety in the garden ripen the very first. This happens at the end of July. The advantages of apple trees Close, in addition to early ripening, summer residents include:
- good transportability;
- attractive appearance of the fruit.
Apples of the Close variety are of medium size, and have a round-conical shape (with some ribbing at the top). The color of these fruits is creamy yellow with a blurry dark raspberry blush. Their flesh is white, characterized by medium density and a wine-sweet taste (with sourness). These apples ripen early, but, unfortunately, judging by the reviews of summer residents, it is very uneven. The tree itself of this variety has a luxurious dense crown.
Apple trees earned good reviews from gardeners mainly for their earlier ripening and good transportability. The disadvantages of this variety are summer residents include not too high productivity and relatively low winter hardiness.
Early sweet
This variety is appreciated by gardeners primarily for resistance to scab and the ability to tolerate very severe frosts without harm to themselves. Apple tree harvests Early sweet begins already 3-4 years after planting. Its fruits are small - 90-100 g, have a flat-rounded shape. The peel of apples of this variety is light yellow, and the flesh is white and very sweet. Hence, in fact, the name of the variety.
Variety of apples Early sweet differs by smallness. Crohn's neat, compact, flat-rounded.
Reviews about apple Elena
This popular variety was bred in Belarus in 2001. Its fruits are small (120-150 g), flat-round. The color apples Elena are light green, with a blurry bright raspberry blush. Their flesh is white, medium density, has a fine-grained structure.
This variety has earned good reviews by gardeners primarily for the sweet and sour and delicate taste of fruits, which, in addition, have a very pleasant aroma. Helena apples ripen from the end of June to the second decade of August. Fruiting occurs for 2-3 years of planting. Trees of this variety are not too tall. The crown of them is round-pyramidal, slightly elevated, moderately thickened.
The disadvantages of apple trees Elena summer residents include not too high resistance to scab and a tendency to congestion in the crop. Caring for this variety, among other things, includes such a procedure as regular thinning of the ovaries.
Carpet and White filling: description
These two types are perhaps the most popular apples among the Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian summer residents. Varieties Papirovka and White filling were bred at the end of the XIX century. Their biological characteristics are almost identical. Many breeders even consider this to be the same species. However, in most cases, the distinction between these two varieties by biologists is still drawn. The fact is that there are some differences between them. So, for example, the fruits of the White filling have no distinctive seams in the middle characteristic of Papiroka. Moreover, these apples ripen later ten days later - at the end of the first ten days of August.
Gardeners appreciate these varieties primarily for their magnificent fruits. The light flesh of these apples has a very sweet taste, a coarse-grained structure and has a pleasant strong aroma. The skin color of these fruits is white, a shade of ivory. They are large in size - 150-170 g. Like Elena, Papirovka and White filling are prone to congestion in crops. Both varieties enter fruiting for 4-5 years after planting. At first, apple trees give very large fruits, but in small quantities.
The crown in the trees of both of these varieties is widely pyramidal. With age, it gradually becomes rounded. White filling and Papirovka belong to the group of medium-high varieties. There are practically no bad reviews about these two varieties on the forums of gardeners.
Julie Red
The fruits of apple trees of this variety also ripen in late July. This interesting variety was bred in the Czech Republic. Julie Red's apples have a light green color with a raspberry tint over the entire surface. Their sizes are quite large (from 160 g), and the shape is thickened, round-conical. The taste of the fruit is rich, sweet. By its characteristics, Julie Red strongly resembles Melbu, well known to all gardeners of the post-Soviet space, the description of which will be given below.
Variety of apples Red early: characteristics
This variety was developed by NIIS to them. I.V. Michurina and is zoned in the Central Black Earth region. Apple trees of the early Krasnoye variety grow low, and their fruits are quite small (90-120 g). The apples in maturity are light yellow with a bright raspberry blush. The pulp of the fruit is creamy, medium density, juicy. Her taste is pleasant sweet and sour, dessert.
Melba: the opinion of gardeners
In addition to Papirovki and White filling, there are other varieties of apples of early ripening, familiar to almost all summer residents. Such, for example, can be attributed to Melba. This popular variety, which deserved a lot of good reviews by gardeners, was bred in Canada in 1889. Summer residents consider it to be a good yield, as well as excellent fruit transportability (which is rare for early-ripening varieties).
Melba apples are also stored for a very long time. Many gardeners advise tearing them greenish and putting them in the refrigerator. With this storage method, the fruits of this variety can remain fresh until January.
The color of the Melba apples is light green with a striped blush. Their sweet flesh has a distinctive coffee aroma. The Melba tree itself is medium-sized, forming a rather neat rounded crown. During the fruiting period, these apple trees enter for 4-5 years after planting. Among the positive characteristics of the variety, among other things, summer residents include resistance to scab and the ability to tolerate low temperatures quite easily.
What to cook from early varieties of apples?
The fruits of the summer varieties of this garden crop usually have a very delicate taste. Therefore, they are often used for the preparation of summer pies, cakes, pies, compotes. In the latter case, the fruits are usually laid in a pan along with berries (most often with raspberries and currants).
Of the apple pies, the most popular is, perhaps, charlotte. Sourish fruits with dense pulp are suitable for it (you can even take a little immature). The dough for such a pie is usually prepared from 2-5 beaten eggs, 1 tbsp. sugar and 1 tbsp. flour. For splendor, baking powder and a little starch are added to it. Unripe sliced apples are pre-sprinkled with a small amount of sugar and allowed to stand for 10 minutes. Charlotte is baked in the oven for 20-30 minutes.
Ways of processing for the winter
Thus, apples of early ripe varieties are usually consumed fresh. For canning, the fruits of autumn varieties are most often used. For storage without processing, in most cases, some late or early winter variety of apples is laid. In a cool place, such fruits can lie until April-May of next year.
However, in the event that the garden, for example, is new and only summer varieties of apple trees are growing in it, of course, winter harvests can also be made from their fruits. For example, a delicious jam from early varieties of apples is prepared according to this recipe:
- Ripe fruits should be washed, removed from their core and cut into slices.
- Apples prepared in this way should be filled with sugar and a little citric acid added.
Cook the fruits for about two hours. For 1 kg of apples, 2 kg of sugar and 1 tsp are taken. citric acid. While the jam is being cooked on the stove, you need to prepare cans (0.5-1 l) for it. They should be thoroughly washed and dried. Ready cooled jam is put in jars and covered with nylon covers.
A tasty compote for the winter is also something for which you can use early apples. Varieties with sour flesh are just fine for this purpose.
In the process of making compote from such fruits, you need to make sure that they do not boil. Indeed, the pulp in apples of early varieties is in most cases not too dense. A winter compote is made from such fruits as follows:
- The apples are washed, removed from their core and cut in half.
- Prepared fruits are placed in slightly salted or acidified cold water for 20-30 minutes (you can not hold longer).
- Thoroughly washed and scalded three-liter jars.
- They put apples in them and pour hot liquid syrup inside (250-300 g of sugar per 1 liter of water).
- The syrup is kept in a jar for 5-7 minutes and poured back into the pan.
- Bring it to a boil again and pour it into a jar again.
- Roll up the finished compote with a metal lid.
A jar with hot compote, so that it does not open later, you need to put down the lid in a warm place, wrapping a thick blanket. In this form, the compote should cool to room temperature. Then it must be stored in the pantry or in the cellar.
Conclusion
Thus, we examined in detail what varieties of early apples exist (with name and photo). As you can see, the summer varieties of this culture are characterized by good productivity and simply excellent taste qualities of the fruits. The latter can be used in food both fresh and canned. Such apples are also great for baking.