December 22: Black Oxford

Hunt Russet x Blue Pearmain
Oxford County, Maine, 1790
aka Black Apple, Rock

Black Oxford is one of the hardiest apples you’ve never heard of. Being from Maine, it has some serious cold weather bona fides. I’m absolutely smitten by its unique appearance, with its prominent white lenticels against the deepest red/purple/black backdrop.

Its texture is definitely typical of a storage heirloom variety (dense, hard), but its flavor is pretty good — it starts out a bit underwhelming and sweetens up in storage.

It also keeps well into the winter; it’s another one of those apples that claims its best flavor occurs from December to March.

With all of those fine points, it’s curious why it’s not grown more widely in Minnesota.

Growing Notes

By all accounts, Black Oxford is an easy apple to grow. Being from Maine, our winters aren’t really that challenging for it; and it has good pest and disease resistance.