Now I have added the Pacific Rose to my upper echelon of apples. It’s a juicy apple with a great fragrant and sweet cidery taste. The Pacific Rose is a cross between Gala and the Splendor apples. It’s available from New Zealand from June through December, and from the state of Washington from December through March. It’s not among the most common varieties, but I found them in supermarkets in the Phoenix area in February and in Northern California in March.

Apple Hill™ is where people in Northern California go each year to see apples and apple trees. In some places apple trees grow promiscuously, but in California it likely demands a trek into the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas. I’m among those who believe it is well worth it.