First reaction to a bite of the core while preparing to bake the apple is that it does indeed taste a bit like a pear.

After baking, there was some disintegrated apple in the bottom of the ramekin, this apple does break down considerably. Curiously the individual grains were still firm, so while the apple as a whole was kind of soft and mushy, I could still feel texture between your teeth as I chewed. slight tartness.

Having made them together, this and the Ambrosia actually mix well together. I suspect if I were using this apple in a pie though, I would dice it pretty small and look for it to break down between the other apple slices and provide some binding apple sauce.

Which reminds me, I need to start finding out the relative pectin levels of all these apples. I made a pie for thanksgiving last week with Mutsu, Gala and Fiji, and while the mixture tasted and textured very nicely it lacked the binding material that helps keep a pie slice together.

This post is one of a group that relates to a chart I’m building, about the nature of baked apples.