I have many apple trees, and yet prize my crabapple trees almost as much. My favorite is Dolgo: maybe a large apple is an inch and a half; oval shaped, crisp and beautiful ruby-red. It gives a fabulous sweet/tart zing to my baked goods that no other fruit has, certainly not rhubarb, which I also love. But it is LABORIOUS to core! The seeds are very hard, and the husks get jammed in my gums if I miss them. I have SEARCHED for a small enough apple corer that’s faster than the olive pitter I’ve used; my fingers get sticky, wrinkled and squeaky when coring. I want a 9-piece (at a time) corer- please someone make one!!! I’ve found a place that will custom make cookie cutters... just might happen!
I just planted a Chestnut crab, and got a few apples off a 2 year old Centennial crab. Centennial’s were a good 2”, oval fruit; crisp and sweet. I think Chestnut is about 2”, round, crisp, and sweet. None of my crabapples are good keepers (about 2 weeks to start softening), and turn to mush when frozen. Dehydrating is ok, but I still have to core! I can chop them up in the food processor first, but even if I crunch my way through the seeds, those darned seed husks still poke their way into my gums. In my experience, Whitneys are soft- PASS. I got my trees at the Green Barn in Isanti, Mn, and a couple at the Rum River Tree Farm in/near Andover(?), Mn. All the flowers are white. The Dolgos ripen well before the Honeycrisp and Haralsons. Not sure about the other two. Husband LOVES the sweetness of the Centennial (sweeter than the other regular apples), but the unique (to me) flavor of the Dolgo makes it worth at least some hassle.
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, just took a while. I listen while I'm getting stuff done, and I'll miss the ease of my iPhone or iPad while listening to these. Paul's other (single) podcasts were no problem to access, entertaining and informing me during many hours of hugeling and gardening.