The rose and the apple tree

The Pacific Rose Apple Tree

If you are a gourmet apple enthusiast, you’ve probably already heard of the delicious Pacific Rose Apple tree. Often called “the pink beauty,” Pacific Rose apples are a natural cross between Splendour apples and Gala apples. Splendour apples are heirloom apples that are native to New Zealand.

Pacific Rose apple.

People who love to have apples on hand enjoy the Pacific Rose apple because of its sweet taste with minimal acidity. These apples also keep well in cold storage, so they’re handy to have around when you want a delicious sweet crunch. Let’s dive in and learn all about this wonderful fruit.

History of the Pacific Rose Apple Tree

Pacific Rose apples are also called Sciros and they are a natural cultivar of apples that are domesticated. These apples were first developed in New Zealand in 1990. The first imports of this apple arrived in North America in 1996 and they’re now commercially grown in Washington State and New Zealand.

The tree is named for its beautiful rose color and the Pacific Ocean that surrounds the gorgeous island where it was created.

The Pacific Rose apple is a trademark that is administered by the New Zealand Apple and Pear Marketing Board (ENZA). For more than 50 years, ENZA has been a leading apple innovator and they’re known for developing apples that quickly become favorites.

ENZA successfully grows and exports premium apples from New Zealand that are raised and harvested under very high standards. Moreover, the apples are picked at the precisely correct time to ensure consistent quality.

You will sometimes find these apples under the name New Zealand Rose Apple.

Pacific Rose Apple Fruit Characteristics

Pacific Rose apples have a distinctive blush that is rosy-red. Because they’re a cross between the Gala and Splendour apples, they have a gorgeous pink hue (from Splendour).

These apples are super sweet and have nearly no acidity, and that’s what makes them a favorite with people who enjoy gourmet fruit.

The flesh of the Pacific Rose apple is white, crisp, sweet, and juicy.

These apples are available for purchase in markets through April in Washington State. In New Zealand, they’re available in stores from late May through October.

Planting Zones

When you get ready to plant your apple trees, you will need to know which trees grow well in your USDA Hardiness Zone.

Since home growers can’t grow Pacific Rose Apple trees, it’s important to understand that you will need to choose other varieties of apple trees for your home orchard. However, if it ever becomes available to home growers, the Pacific Rose Apple tree will thrive in Zones 4-8.

For more information on growing apple trees, reference our guide: “How to Plant Apple Trees.”

Pollination

Apple trees are pollinated by bees on sunny spring days. Many apple trees are self-fertile and don’t require other trees for pollinators. Nevertheless, if you plant more than one tree, you will yield a better harvest.

However, other apple trees will need two trees to bear fruit. In these cases, one of the trees must be a male tree, while the other will have to be a female tree. A female tree produces female flowers with ovaries, whereas a male tree produces pollen that needs to meet with the female tree’s egg.

Tree Care

Since home growers can’t yet grow Pacific Rose Apple trees, we encourage you to try your hand at some other popular varieties of apple trees that can be grown in your yard or orchard.

One great option is the Gala Apple tree, which is one of the parent fruits of the Pacific Rose Apple.

Gala Apple tree apples.

Soil

Pacific Rose Apple trees are grown in the rich, fertile soil that is found in the Pacific Northwest.

Sunlight

Like other apple trees, Pacific Rose Apple trees thrive in full sunlight and produce the best harvest if they receive at least six hours of sunlight per day in full sun.

Pruning

To learn more about pruning apple trees that you’re growing in your yard or home orchard, read “Pruning Apple Trees: The Home Grower’s Complete Guide” on our website.

Diseases & Care

Pacific Rose Apple trees are typically disease-resistant.

For information about disease-resistant apples you can grow at home, reference “Disease Resistant Apple Trees” on our website.

Common Uses For Pacific Rose Apples

Pacific Rose apples are primarily dessert apples that are delicious eaten raw.

What Do Pacific Rose Apples Taste Like?

Pacific Rose apples are sweet with minimal acidity. Since they are derived from Gala and Splendour apples, they’re a high-quality dessert apple. Some enthusiasts compare the taste of the Pacific Rose apple to the Fuji apple.

Cooking

Any recipe that calls for apples will benefit from delicious Pacific Rose apples. These apples make wonderful applesauce. You don’t need to add sugar because these apples are so naturally sweet.

Here’s an interesting recipe on the official Pacific Rose Apple website. The recipe is “Pacific Apple Braised Chicken Thighs” and it sounds simple and wonderful.

Eating Raw

As we’ve already mentioned, Pacific Rose apples are delicious when they’re eaten raw. However, their delicate sweetness also adds wonderful flavor to sandwiches, salads, and desserts.

An amazing way to serve Pacific Rose apples is on a cheese and meat tray. Simply slice your apples into thin wedges and serve them with smoked meats, decadent cheese, and other fruits such as grapes. Add crackers so that you and your guests can enjoy an appetizer that is nearly a full meal.

You can also cut up Pacific Rose apples into chicken salad or tuna salad. They’re wonderful in green salads. These apples give your salads a sweet, tasty crunch that is divine.

There are several delicious ways to enjoy raw Pacific Rose apples in salads. You can try Apple Cabbage Coleslaw or Apple Chicken Salad. Another favorite is Creamy and Sweet Cinnamon Apple Salad.

One great idea is to dust Pacific Rose apples with cinnamon and tuck the slices between two slices of French toast.

Canning / Freezing / Drying

Pacific Rose apples keep well in cold storage, so they are good choices if you want to can or freeze apples for future use.

Canning

One popular way to can Pacific Rose apples is to make apple butter. Gorgeous jars of homemade apple butter are well received as holiday gifts. It is also great to offer with a breakfast buffet during the holidays.

Chutneys are another favorite apple recipe. You can try our Spicy Apple Ginger Chutney recipe, for example. This interesting recipe uses onions, ginger, orange juice, ground mustard, and chile flakes to create a surprising flavor to meat dishes.

Freezing

Did you know that apples are great for freezing? Frozen apples are ideal for applesauce or baking.

You can freeze apples whole if you are pressed for time. Simply wash your apples well and put them on a cookie sheet in your freezer. Leave plenty of space between the apples. Once they are frozen, transfer them to freezer bags. Then you can pull them out to make quick recipes as needed.

Alternatively, you can freeze apple slices to have on hand.

Apple Pie Filling

Imagine the joy of apple pie filling made from Pacific Rose apples. The good news is that apple pie filling doesn’t have to be processed in canning jars. You can freeze apple pie filling and it will be just as delicious as canned varieties.

Since some spices lose their flavor when frozen, we recommend adding the spices just before baking your apple pie.

The Spruce Eats has a detailed guide to various apple freezing methods.

Drying

Dehydrating apples is easy and you will have some quick healthy snacks on hand. When you have dried apples in the pantry, you have a healthy alternative to junk food like granola bars, potato chips, and other generally unhealthy and sugar-laden snacks.

You can make either dried apples or apple chips. The difference between them is how the apples are sliced and how long you dry them.

Oven-Dried Apples

If you have a food dehydrator, you’re all set for dehydrating apple slices. You can also use your oven to dehydrate your apples

For example, you can make simple Oven Baked Apple Chips. Set your oven’s temperature to 225 degrees Fahrenheit and dry your Pacific Rose apples for an hour on each side. For extra flavor, you can even sprinkle your apple slices with cinnamon before drying them.

Recipes for Pacific Rose Apples

Cooks and home chefs enjoy using Pacific Rose apples in main dishes like White Cheddar Stuffed Apple Pork Chops. Pacific Rose apples hold up nicely in most recipes that call for apples.

Try your hand at Old Fashioned Apple Crisp that is chock-full of hearty rolled oats, brown sugar, and apple pie spices like nutmeg and cinnamon. Other favorite recipes include Caramel Stuffed Apples, Apple Dump Cake, and Apple Oatmeal Cookies.

We have lots more delicious apple recipes on our website. Here are some of our favorites.

• Homemade Apple Fritters
• Apple Bread Pudding with Bourbon Caramel – Upside Down Style
• Apple Waffles
• Perfect Apple Dumplings
• Caramel Apple Crumble
• Apple Pancakes

Savory Apple Onion Tart (click for the recipe).

Health Benefits of the Pacific Rose Apple

Like all apples, Pacific Rose apples give you a powerful nutritional punch in a small package. For example, one medium-sized Pacific Rose apple has just 100 calories, and apples contain no fat, sodium, or cholesterol.

Most importantly, apples are an excellent source of dietary fiber, which softens stool and increases its weight and size. This is essential for helping you maintain a healthy digestive system. In fact, one apple contains about four grams of fiber, which provides 17% of the recommended daily intake for most individuals.

In addition to the beneficial fiber you get from apples, eating an apple a day will also provide these important nutrients.

• Vitamin C: 14% of the Reference Daily Intake (RDI)
• Vitamin K: 5% of the RDI
• Potassium: 6% of the RDI
• Copper
• Manganese
• Vitamins A, E, B1, B2, B6

Additionally, studies show that apples help with the following health issues.

For more information on the many benefits of Pacific Rose apples and other apples, read “10 Amazing Health Benefits of Apples.”

Where To Buy The Pacific Rose Apple Tree

Currently, Pacific Rose Apple trees are only grown by private growers in Washington state and New Zealand. However, if you’re interested in growing apple trees, we encourage you to check out the wide selection of apple trees that are offered by Nature Hills Nursery.

Where To Buy Pacific Rose Apples

In Washington State, you can buy Pacific Rose apples in markets through April. In New Zealand, these sweet apples are available in stores from late May through October.

You can often find Pacific Rose apples for sale online at specialty fruit and produce companies such as The Fruit Company. If you’re lucky enough to find them, be sure to grab them up because they’re not often in stock.

Wrapping up the Pacific Rose Apple

When it comes to flavor, uniqueness, and beauty, it’s hard to beat the delicious Pacific Rose apple. If you can find them, grab these up and enjoy them fresh and preserved.

Here is an excellent video that explains how the apples make their way from orchard to store.

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The rose and the apple tree

An integral part of the American experience, “As American as Apple Pie” (which in truth is not American), the apple is nevertheless ubiquitous in U.S. culture. We put it in desserts, give it to our favorite teachers, wash our hair with its essence and put it in our lunches. So common, it’s easy to take the simple apple for granted, but it actually has a rather interesting history.

A Member of the Rose Family

Otherwise known as Malus domestica, the apple is a member of the Rosaceae family, and its siblings include the strawberry (Fraaria L.), the plum (Prunus L.), the pear (Pyrus L.), the blackberry (Rubus L.) and the rose (Rosa L.).

Common characteristics of this family include blossoms with a hypanthium (a floral cup on the flower), radial symmetry, 5 distinct petals, and many stamen and stipules (leaf-like structures).

Recent scholarship has shown that the modern apple we enjoy today started initially with the wild apple species M. sieversii that later intermingled with M. sylvestris.

How Apple Trees Make Fruit

On an apple blossom, the parts that turn into the fruit we eat (called the “pome”) are the “basal portions of the petals, calyx [sepals], and stamen [composed of an anther and filament] . . . fused into hypanthium tissue and attached to the ovary [which is] below [the other parts].”

Apples blossoms have to be fertilized, and each blossom has both male and female parts. The stamen, with its anther and filament, is male, while the ovary and stigmas are female.

Each apple’s life begins with a bud that slowly develops leaves, then a blossom. When the blossom opens, the stamen (with the pollen-rich anther) is exposed, as is the base of blossom where the nectar is located.

Bees and other pollinators seeking out nectar brush against the anther and inadvertently pick up pollen. As the bee moves from blossom to blossom drinking nectar, some of its hitchhiking pollen is rubbed off on the blossom’s stigmas [which transfer the pollen to the ovary].

Once fertilized, the blossom’s anthers (which have shed their pollen) along with the petals shrivel up and the latter falls off. Next, the stamen dries up and the fruit quickly develops underneath the sepals [which ultimately become the brown bits opposite the stem on a ripe apple].

History of Cultivated Apples

The naturalist Henry David Thoreau noted the close relationship between people and apples, since before recorded history:

It is remarkable how closely the history of the Apple-tree is connected with that of man. The geologist tells us that the order of the Rosaceae, which includes the Apple . . . were introduced only a short time previous to the appearance of man on the globe [and] . . . traces have lately been found at the bottom of the Swiss lakes [with people] supposed to be older than the foundation of Rome . . . The apple was early so important, and so generally distributed, that its name traced to its root in many languages signifies fruit in general . . . .

Scientists believe that apples were first domesticated in the Tian Shan region of southern Kazakhstan. In fact, by as early as 2000 BC, domesticated apples were being grafted in the Near East.

The Greeks and Romans introduced the domesticated apple to North Africa and Europe during their trading and conquests. These fathers of western civilization were equally impressed with the fruit, using it as a central device in some of their most lasting stories, like this myth from about 700-800 BC that explains the roots of the Trojan War:

All the gods were invited [to a wedding] with the exception of Eris, or Discord. Enraged at her exclusion, the goddess threw a golden apple among the guests with the inscription, “For the most beautiful.” Thereupon Juno [Hera], Venus [Aphrodite] and Minerva [Athena], each claimed the apple. Jupiter [Zeus] not willing to decide in so delicate a matter, sent the goddesses to . . . the beautiful shepherd Paris . . . and to him was committed the decision. . . . Juno promised him power and riches, Minerva glory and renown in war, and Venus the fairest of women for his wife [Helen] . . . . Paris decided in favor of Venus and gave her the golden apple . . . . Under [her] protection . . . Paris sailed to Greece [and] . . . aided by Venus, persuaded [Helen] to slope with him, and carried her to Troy. . . .

It was because of the Greek usage of the apple in many tales that the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden is so often depicted today as an apple. Aquila Ponticus, who was a second century translator translating the Old Testament from Hebrew to Greek, took the liberty of translating it as an apple tree, even though the original text doesn’t say that. He did this because he was translating it into Greek for Greeks, and, as alluded to, in Greek mythology apples were seen as symbols of desire and destruction.

Original Colonists

The crab apple tree is the only malus species native to North America and likely greeted the first European explorers, who found the tart fruit a poor substitute for Malus domestica. This is likely why the settlers of Jamestown brought apple tree cuttings and seeds with them when they founded the colony.

Notably, however, most apples during colonial times were not eaten, but were instead used to make cider. More than just a treat, cider was commonly served, even to children, since reliably safe drinking water was a rarity in the early colonies.

Settlers

In order to grow the young country, many colonies (and later the states) set requirements before granting land rights (known as patents) including the mandate to improve the land (called “seating and planting):

The act defined . . . with great particularity, what should be deemed sufficient seating and planting. The patentee was required . . . to clear and tend three acres, or to clear and drain three acres of swamp , or to . . . there keep . . . cattle . . . sheep or goats. [For] every £ 5 expended in . . . planting trees . . . should save 50 acres [of unimproved land, also granted with the patent].

Since apples were so useful, among the trees most planted were at least two apple trees since the species needs “a second tree for cross-pollination to occur.”

Obviously, it would be difficult for settlers in the Northwest Territory (in colonial times, this meant northwest of the Ohio River) to drag seedlings along in the late 18 th and early 19 th centuries. Having learned the apple business as a young man in Massachusetts, John Chapman brought his knowledge to western Pennsylvania and started his own apple tree business in about 1801.

Planting seedlings near creeks and rivers close to where new land patents were being granted, Chapman provided the settlers with the apple trees they needed to improve their land. Working for 50 years throughout Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana, Chapman was responsible for so many apple trees and orchards, he earned the name Johnny Appleseed.

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