Transparent de Zurich
Apple
Transparent de Zurich
Origin/History
Not described in source.
Tree
Not described in source.
Fruit
Size and Form
Small or medium. Desportes gives precise measurements: 2 inches high and 2½ inches in diameter. Form obovate, larger towards the stem and narrower towards the eye.
Stem
Slender, half an inch long, curved, inserted in a profound cavity. (Desportes)
Cavity
Profound. (Desportes)
Calyx
Compressed, closed, set in a wrinkled basin. (Desportes)
Basin
Wrinkled. (Desportes)
Skin
Very fine. Color white, like wax — clear and translucent, with a brilliant appearance, without the smallest spot. All three sources agree on the waxen white, translucent character as the variety's defining feature.
Flesh and Flavor
Flesh white like snow, indistinguishable in color from the skin. Dry and acidulous. Quality rated third rate. Elliott states flatly that beauty is its only merit. (Desportes, Elliott)
Core/Seeds
Not described in source.
Season
September (Elliott, Downing). Desportes gives September and October.
Uses
Dessert. Desportes considers it one of the prettiest and most ornamental dessert apples known, notwithstanding its third-rate eating quality.
Subtypes/Variants
Not described in source.
Other
Not described in source.
Book Sources
Described in 3 period pomological works
View original book sources (3)
— B. Desportes, The Horticulturist (1856)No. 13. Transparent de Zurich Apple. —Fruit of two inches high, and two and a half inches in diameter; form, obovate, larger towards the stem, and narrower towards the eye; stalk, slender, half an inch long, curved, inserted in a profound cavity; eye, compressed, closed, set in a wrinkled cavity; color, white, like the wax, of which this apple has the appearance, and the brilliant coloring, without the smallest spot; skin, very fine; flesh, white, like the snow, and not different from the skin; dry, acidulous; it is only of third rate, but I do not know another, a more pretty or more ornamental desert apple. It ripens in September and October.
— A.J. Downing, The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America (1900)Transparent de Zurich. Fruit small or medium, beautiful waxen white, clear, translucent. September. (Elliott.)
— F.R. Elliott, The Western Fruit Book (1865)Transparent de Zurich.
Small or medium, beauty its only merit, waxen white, clear, translucent. September.