Doesn't this apple sound incredible?

[Jenise]

A friend just ordered it for his orchard, I've never seen or heard of anything like it:

Minnesota 447: Seedling from the University of Minnesota, 1936, but never introduced. A massively flavored dessert apple but not for the faint of heart. A whole new level of culinary experience. Likely the most unusual and distinctive apple you'll ever taste. Astonished people who try it have described the flavor as strange, molasses, olives, fabulous, sweet, complex and sugar cane. The roundish fruit is medium size and entirely covered with dark bluish-purple stripes. The aromatic crisp crystalline flesh is apricot orange in color with occasional red staining, so juicy it will run down your hand. The university did not release it because it did not taste like an apple. But they have released some scion wood for grafting. A limited quantity of trees are available to experiment with. Grow it where it gets cold as it has been reported to have no flavor in the south. It may receive a name next year or two if demand is sufficient. Speculation is it may be called "Sugarcane". Blossoms midseason. zone 4-6.....

This is a really old apple, Jenise -- I remember tasting it in the 1950s [my dad taught vocational ag and got lots of different types of apples for his students to taste], and it was around for at least 30 years at that time. It was used to breed some other nice apples that have been patented by UMinn.

I remember it being very sweet, but of course my taste buds have changed over the years. People tried to commercialize it several times over the years, but it has a few negatives:

It’s a small apple,it only about 2 to 2-1/2 inches in diameter. It is prone to cracking along the stem so storage and shipping is a real problem. And people either love or hate the taste.

For a home orchard, it's certainly worth growing, but I would be really surprised to see it in markets.

Regards, Bob

PS: I checked the UMinn site to be sure my memory of this apple was accurate, Jenise; they mention the aroma which is off putting to some people -- not before eating, but while you are eating it, you get a sharp aroma "like Vics Vapor Rub". I don't really remember that aroma -- but I do remember the sweetness. They don't expect great sales, just "a niche apple for cold climates". B.

Wow guys...never heard of this before. It does sound good from your description Jenise, but not from Bob's LOL! I still would like to taste one though.