Cauley

type: Culinary, Dessert, Pie

synonyms: Cally, Colley

summary: Besides growing fruit that rates as large and even very large, the Cauley apple tree produces high quality apples for both fresh eating and culinary purposes. However, it prefers a rather temperate climate.

identification: Large to very large, sometimes in excess of a pound. Round shape. The background skin colour is greenish yellow over which is a red blush and striping covering almost the entirety of the apple. Marked with tiny russet lenticels which are most noticeable on the shaded face. The stem is short, not extending beyond the level of the cavity, moderately slender, set in a deep, russetted cavity. The calyx is open, set in a wide and somewhat deep basin.

characteristics: The flesh is yellowish, crisp and juicy. Often mild in flavour.

uses: Makes an excellent baking apple when picked a couple of weeks early. Left to mature, it's a highly regarded eating apple and makes flavourful dried apple rings.

origins: Originated as a chance seedling tree in the yard of John Cauley in Grenada, Mississippi (U.S.A.) during the first half of the 1800s and grown extensively through the American south for several decades, but had all but disappeared by the turn of the century. According to Creighton Lee Calhoun, author of "Old Southern Apples" a surviving tree was found in 1919 growing on the property of John Cauley near Grenada, Mississippi and from this, J.W. Willis obtained cuttings for three graftings that were planted at the Delta Branch Agricultural Experiment Station in Stoneville, Mississippi. Of these, only one young tree survived the devastating Mississippi River flood of 1927 and it apparently produced up to a ton of apples each year. The varietal was propagated from cuttings of this tree. Calhoun also points out that Crawford Nurseries of Concord, Georgia marketed a similar apple called Cally during the early 1920s which it described as having originated in Mississippi "over 50 years ago." It is likely the same as the Cauley.

cultivation: Vigorous, upright tree. Fruit loads can be heavy, but the limbs are typically able to support the harvest.

cold storage: Does not keep well.

vulnerabilities: Susceptible to blight during the first 10 years or so, then developing a resistance to the disease.

harvest: Early in the fourth period, over a span of several weeks. Often picked about two weeks early for baking and jellies.