Apples mackintosh

Mackintosh apples or otherwise Mekintosh apples are considered a fairly popular variety in North American countries. As you know, this variety of apples, which began to spread in 1870, got its name after its creator - J. Mackintosh). By 1910, Mackintosh apples were popular in not only the northern United States, but also British Columbia.

It is noteworthy that in Russia Mackintosh apples are better known by other names, including Autumn excellent, Autumn red-sided and Khoroshovka autumn. So, in 1928, in our country, with the help of hybridization of apple varieties Mackintosh and Papirovka, a new variety was bred - Glory to the winners. This event took place at the Mlievskaya experimental gardening station.

Outwardly, Mackintosh apples are quite attractive in color. Symmetrical fruits of medium size or large have a flattened-conical shape, with barely noticeable wide ribs that pass through the entire apple. The thin, elastic pale green-yellow skin is almost completely covered with a blurry-striped blush of dark red color with a bluish coating. The skin surface of Mackintosh apples is shiny and smooth, densely covered by small light subcutaneous dots.

The white flesh of Mackintosh apples in its mature state is characterized by juiciness and tenderness. In texture, it is fine-grained, with a sweet and sour taste and a rich pleasant aroma. These indicators put Mackintosh apples on a par with other high-quality varieties. Basically, Mackintosh apples are usually used as food in fresh form, although they are often subjected to heat treatment and harvested for future use.

In the southern zones, the fruits are usually removed, starting in mid-September. At the same time, the consumer maturity of Mackintosh apples comes after 2 weeks. The shelf life of the removed fruits continues until the second half of December.

Among the clear advantages of Mackintosh apples, experts attribute the high taste and commodity qualities of fruits along with their high transportability and slightness. Among the disadvantages of this variety are the low winter hardiness of trees, as well as a strong susceptibility to scab of leaves and fruits.

Mackintosh apples are a very valuable initial form in selection. So, with their participation, more than sixty new varieties were obtained, more than 40 of which were abroad. For example, Mackintosh apples served as material for creating such popular varieties in Russia as Melba, Spartan, Olympic and Glory to the winners. In addition, when creating a Priscilla variety immune to scab (with the Vf gene) in America, this variety was also used as one of the original forms.