In Shippenville on Route 322 between Clarion and Route 66. It's really in the middle of nowhere. Just a little stand that had Ida Reds, Pippins, Russets, Jonathans, Jonagolds, Melrose, Northern Spy, Molly Delicious, Mutsu, and Cortlands, alongside the standard fare. I bought several pounds intending to share. Truly The best Pippins and Russets I've ever had.I got out the old hybrid book and looked up a few of the above.
Molly Delicious was first bred in New Jersey in 1966. Back in the sixties the Red Delicious was not avilable year round as an import, and this early ripening hybrid was fiscally appealing.Ida Reds are from the Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station, first debuted in 1942. It's a cross between a Jonathan and a Wagener.
Melrose is a cross between a Red Delicious and a Jonathan. They originate in 1944 at a breeder in Wooster, OH.
"Pippin" is just a colloquilization of the French word "pépin" meaning seed. A pippin is any apple grown from a "pip" or seed. By the 1700s the term had come to denote a hard, late-ripening, acidic apple. There are many kinds of pippins this could have been. Newtowns were an early american apple but true Pippins reipen in midwinter. It's too early for that. It could have been a Cox's Orange Pippin, Blemheim Orange Pippin, or even a Allington Pippin. the season is early for The Allington, the Blemheim is a tad obscure. Cox's have a russeted area around the stem as this did so I am fairly sure it was that one.
