However it is a good choice for the gardener because it is easier to grow than Cox's Orange Pippin, and unlike Delicious can also be grown in more temperate climates. Kidd's Orange Red is often available from farmers' markets but has never really achieved commercial success because it does not crop especially heavily. Kidd's Orange Red is a late season variety, ripening around mid-October in the northern hemisphere. This is where Kidd's Orange Red gets its sweetness from. Kidd's Orange Red's other parent is Delicious a seedling variety found in the USA in the 1870s (not to be confused with Golden Delicious) and by Kidd's time already a major commercial apple variety, and therefore a natural choice for experimentation. It's in some ways reminiscent of a good French dessert wine - sweet, but with a good kick to it. Like many "English" style apples it is also pleasantly chewy, and each bite seems to release yet more juice and flavour. The aromatic complexity of its parent is still there, but rich sweetness is the predominant impression. The flavour is sweet and honeyed, noticeably sweeter than Cox's Orange Pippin. It bites cleanly, but is firm rather than crunchy. The skin is thin and the flesh is a light yellow-cream colour, and quite dense. The visual appeal is matched by the taste. The shape is slightly flattened and can be somewhat lumpy. As it ripens Kidd's Orange Red sometimes has a distinctive pink blush, but by the time it is ready to pick this has usually disappeared. The irregular light patches of russet give it a strongly marbled appearance - more interesting to look at than the super-smooth glossy red skins of the more modern varieties. ![]() The skin colour is yellow but with an extensive orange-red flush. ![]() In Kidd's Orange Red he achieved that something special which marks the great from the ordinary, and set a benchmark that has rarely been matched - this is undoubtedly one of the most outstanding "English" style apples available. Like many before and since, he experimented with crossing Cox's Orange Pippin, the temperamental but definitive English apple variety. Kidd might have been living in the New World, but he was clearly a fan of the complex aromatic flavours of the "English" style of apple. Kidd's Orange Red is named after James Hutton Kidd, an orchard owner living in New Zealand in the early 20th century who had a passion for raising new varieties.
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