Zestar! Apple – The Precursor to the Honeycrisp

I have heard alot about the Zestar! apple, mainly for it being one of the parents of the SweeTango. I finally got to try my first slice of Zestar! (yes the exclamation point is officially part of the name) this morning. To give you some background information, the Zestar! was developed at the University of Minnesota, just like it’s offspring. It was created by combining “State Fair” and “MN 1691”. It was released in 1998.

My Experience with this Apple (Rating Scale 1-10)

Overall Feeling: Zester is a flavor full apple. It has a brown sugar undertone to it. It is sweet but with just enough tartness to balance it out. The problem with this apple is that it bruises very easily and is not all that crisp. I think that this is why it never reached the popularity that the Honeycrisp apple also developed at the University of Minnesota has. For me personally flavor is number 1 and I can forgive some lack of crunch. So I encourage you to give Zestar a try. And if it’s not crisp enough for ya, just make some applesauce. It makes a flavorful sauce!

Here are some apple related kitchen tools I recommend:
Amco Dial-A-Slice Adjustable Apple Corer and Slicer : Allows you to slice apples into either 8 or 16 pieces
Zyliss Soft Skin Peeler : The best peeler I have ever owned. Does a great job peeling an apple.
Mirro Foley 2-Quart Stainless Steel Food Mill : A great tool for making your own applesauce. You can make the sauce without having to do any peeling.