Russet Apples

Russet Apples
© Denzil Green

Russet Apples are not a single kind of apple, but rather a group of apples in which there are many, very different cultivars.

The term “Russet Apples” is used to describe apples that have “russeting” on them. Russeting is a patch of the apple’s skin that is a different colour from the rest of the apple, and that has a sandpapery, furry texture. The colour of the russeting can be golden brown, burnt umber, silvery or grey. Some russeting will be a small area at the top or the bottom of the apple, or just a patch or two elsewhere on the apple. It may even cover almost all the entire apple. Some russeting will feel like a very fine web; other russeting will feel very coarse.

Apple enthusiasts feel that Russets are the best tasting apples. However, Russet Apples never make it to the grocery stores anymore. Faced with pictures of perfect, blemish-free apples in food magazines, consumers may have come to believe that russeting on the skin indicates something is wrong with the apple. Others are so used to more insipid apples with a uniform skin texture such as the McIntosh that they don’t like the thought of biting into a patch of skin that feels different.

Consequently, any russeting on apples is seen as a bad sign by producers, because they can’t sell the apples on as fresh-eating apples, which command higher prices.

Apple aficionados, however, continue to hunt Russets out at farmer’s markets. As government researchers bred perfect skin into apples, distinctive flavour got filed in their out-boxes. Russets, neglected and untouched by clinical standards, tend to have still a spicy, pronounced flavour that reminds you why our ancestors wrote poems about apples. To be fair, it’s ourselves we have to blame, because we’re the ones who walked by displays of Russet Apples at the stores until their shelf-space dwindled and disappeared.

Storage Hints

Russets need humid storage because the pores that make up the russeting are large and let moisture out. In a dry environment, they will quickly shrivel.

History Notes

The Victorians, as you can tell from Victorian artwork, preferred the look, and taste, of russet apples.

Literature & Lore

In the 1500s, Russets were also known as “leather-coats”.

“There’s a dish of leather-coats for you.”
— Davy, in Henry IV, ACT V, Scene III. Shakespeare.

Types of russet apples

Adam's Pearmain

The Adam's Pearmain apple has dull-red streaks on a yellow or orange flushed background, with greyish-brown russetting making the skin slightly rough. The finely-textured flesh is crisp, tender and slightly dry, with a nutty, sugary flavour. The apples...

Ard Cairn Russet Apple

Ard Cairn Russet are medium-sized apples with golden-yellow skin with orange or red blushes, entirely covered with brown russeting. The flesh is creamy-yellow, sweet and firm. Some think these apples taste like a banana. Storage Hints Stores well....

Ashmead's Kernel

Connoisseurs say this is a real apple lover's apple -- 'Not for sissies'. It's not attractive, but they rave about the flavour, which is mouth-puckering at first before the harvested apple has had a change to age. Ashmeads have a strong apple flavour,...

Carpentin Apple

A small fragrant apple, about the size of Lady apples. The thick skin has cinnamon or yellow-coloured net russeting with a shiny bright red flush. The flesh is highly juicy and crisp, with a taste that has tones of liquorice or anise. History Notes...

Champlain Apple

A medium-sized apple with smooth, greenish-yellow, tender skin that ripens slowly. Sometimes there will be light russeting on the skin. The apple is round but not always regularly so. The white, fine-grained flesh is tender and juicy, sometimes...

Claygate Pearmain

Claygate Pearmain is a medium-sized apple with dull greenish-yellow, bumpy skin with a grey-orange or crimson flush on one side. Over it all is scaly russeting that has a pinkish, silver tinge to it. The flesh is greeny-white or yellowish, firm,...

Cox's Orange Pippin Apple

Cox's Orange Pippin is a medium-sized, fresh-eating apple. Its thin skin is yellow, with a reddish-orange blush on it and some russeting. Its flesh is yellow, fine-grained, firm, and very juicy. To some people, the taste is almost spicy. The apples...

Egremont Russet Apple

Egremont Russet apples were popular with the Victorians. The flavour, which improves in storage, has a good balance between sweet and tart.

Irish Peach Apple

The Irish Peach Apple is a round, slightly flattened, fresh-eating apple. It has smooth, thin skin that is pale yellow or yellowish-green with stripes of a darker red with some flecks of dull-grey russeting. The side that gets the sun will develop...

Ribston Pippin

Ribston Pippin are medium to large-sized apples with an irregular, ribbed shape. The greenish-yellow skin has brownish-orange blushes and red stripes. It is often russetted at the top and bottom. Inside, the pale, cream-coloured flesh is very...

Saint Edmund's Pippin

Saint Edmund's Pippins apples have greeny-yellow or greeny-gold skin, with large orangey-brown russet patches. Inside, they have a cream-coloured flesh which is juicy, sweet and fragrant. The tree needs thinning or the apples will grow small....

Widows Friend Apple

Widows Friend Apples are small and evenly round. The skin is a pale yellowy-orange with minor patches of russeting. Inside, the white flesh is juicy and sweet, with an almost berry-like flavour. In the spring, the blossoms are white with a pink...

Winesap Apples

Winesap Apples range from small to medium-sized to large apples. The tough, coarse skin is yellow on the shaded side, deep red elsewhere, with almost a violet hue. Sometimes there is some russeting. Inside, the crisp, juicy flesh is yellow with...