Apple of the Week – White Transparent (also known as Yellow Transparent in the USA)

September 10, 2015 at 5:00 AM | Posted in Apple of the Week | 3 Comments
Tags: Apple of the Week, Apples, Baking, Cooking, Food, Fruit, recipes, White Transparent Apples

White Transparent (also known as Yellow Transparent in the USA) is an early-season cultivar of apple which is usually used for cooking due to its sharp taste. Well-known early summer apple, good for drying, freezing, sauce, juice and wine. Transparent pale yellow skin. Crisp, light-textured, juicy flesh. Very sweet flavor. Not a good storer (Use / keeping: 1 week).

 

 

 

White Transparent is a chance seedling which was found in the Wagner nursery in Riga around 1850. The cultivar was widely grown during the 19th century in Europe. It was introduced to France in 1852. It was introduced to North America in 1870 where it was grown commercially as an early dual purpose variety and picked up the name ‘Yellow Transparent’. The specimen is still widely grown in Poland, Russia and Sweden where it is sometimes referred to as the Baltic Sea apple. The cultivar was significant because it was an early-season apple in most places. Because of its harsh flavor and hard texture, the apples were often baked in ashes.

 

 

The tree is very hardy and the fruit has a good resistance to scabs, but is at risk of developing canker caused by the Nectria fungi and fireblight. The tree is known to be a good and regular cropper of a medium-sized fruit, which has a very pale green skin which turns to pale yellow with ripening. It is usually harvested while still greenish, since it tends to deteriorate fast while yellow.

It is named “transparent” because it is almost luminescent in colour and has a white flesh, that is very juicy and has a sharp, refreshing taste.

The fruit is good for cooking into a cream colored puree and is usually harvested for this purpose.