December 8: Zabergau Reinette

Wurttember, Germany
Raised from seed planted in 1885

I love how this apple looks. It’s big and squat with a light russeting on its skin over a mostly green ground color, sometimes with touches of red.

It’s a fine-grained apple: firm and dense with crunch and chew. Its flavors are subtle. Zabergau is a highly regarded eating and baking apple in Germany. I agree with both of those points and also think Zabergau is great in cider, as russets tend to be.

One of the neatest things about this apple, other than its beautifully consistent russet and its size, is that it is a triploid apple. Usually an apple blossom will require one pollenizer of a different variety to become an apple; but a triploid variety requires two different pollenizers. Triploid apples can not pollinate other apples. Weird, huh? Triploid apples also tend to be larger.

Read Adam’s Apples descriptions of Zabergau Reinette.

Growing Notes

Zabergau Reinette is relatively easy to grow and like most russets, isn’t particularly susceptible to disease or insect pressures. It crops annually and usually bears large fruits.