Renetta apple in Italy: Reinette du Canada?

September 29, 2020 9:06 AM

I'm trying to purchase an apple tree for a friend as a housewarming gift. She grew up near Turin, and her favorite apple growing up was the renetta, which is a mottled golden color.

Trying to find the cultivar in the US/Canada has proven tricky, as the English wikipedia page lists over 40 different varieties with some variation on that name. Based on some Googling on Italian pages, I'm guessing that the Italian cultivar is the Renetta Canada (Reinette du Canada, an old French cultivar), but on this Italian page there are even sub-cultivars of Renetta Canada: http://www.maiolifruttiantichi.it/ec3/mele/pg15.htm

Are any of you familiar with Italian apples, and does anyone know what cultivar is most commonly sold in Italy as the renetta?

posted by katecholamine to Food & Drink (8 answers total)

Response by poster: A related question (is this allowed?): Has anyone had any success ordering/importing fruit trees into Canada? It seems tightly regulated, as it is in California. Would it be possible to order the seeds and have them grafted onto a root stock?
posted by katecholamine at 9:17 AM on September 29, 2020

You really want to make sure the tree will grow in Canada where the climate is mostly quite different from that in Italy. So your best bet is to buy a tree from a Canadian nursery that will know if the tree is suitable for your friend's location.
posted by mareli at 9:20 AM on September 29, 2020 [6 favorites]

Best answer: If the tree is for someone in Canada your best bet is to use a Canadian nursery. Even if an American one delivers over the border, customs is backed up and has not yet entirely cleared the backlog from March. A tree is time sensitive, so if it gets stuck for six weeks in limbo your friend may miss the good window for planting or receive a badly damaged or dead tree. Unfortunately a lot of nurseries have already finished taking orders for the fall season. There's not much time left to get trees into the ground.

In Canada trees are normally grafted onto root stock. They'd never get a repeat sale if they didn't. The few varieties that they do sell that are not grafted are the sub-zero varieties. Beware of buying from American nurseries that will ship over the border and if you do order from them make sure that the tree is rated for the zone your friend lives in. It's easier to clear customs with plants imported from the States that from Europe but huge numbers of plants intended for the American market get sold in Canada that are doomed to die in their first winter. It used to be places like Wal-Mart in Canada sold rose bushes that wouldn't survive in New York or Wisconsin, let alone Canada.

If the renatta your friend is fond of is a "mottled" golden colour that sounds like it might be a russet apple, one that gets scaly brown or green patches on the skin. The Reinette is also a russet, so this is promising. Where an apple that is off by only a few features might be a complete failure, I would get in touch with your friend and make really sure that the tree you buy is suitable. A surprise could so easily be really disappointing

In order to import apple trees from Europe you will need a permit to import, and a phytosanitary certificate and then the plant will need to pass inspection. This means it will not clear customs easily; the delays from Europe are nearly as bad as the delays from the States.

Try contacting a Canadian nursery to ask questions. You might encounter someone really knowledgeable who can assist you.
posted by Jane the Brown at 11:30 AM on September 29, 2020 [3 favorites]

Nthing finding a Canadian nursey but I'd go farther and suggest you find one in the same region as they will have a better idea what can grow. Not every place in Canada is conducive for apple growing. Where are they located?
posted by Ashwagandha at 12:49 PM on September 29, 2020

Definitely consult the nursery because you may need to get a pollinator tree for the apple tree to fruit. And, of course, to get the closest type of apple that comes close to her favorite.
posted by jadepearl at 6:58 PM on September 29, 2020

Best answer: This Canadian orchard/nursery seems to have Reinette du Canada, if it's helpful.

Also, probably not that helpful, but I stumbled on this interesting project in California that discovers fruit trees that were brought to the state during the Gold Rush, including another variety called Reine de Reinette. In the 1970s, archaeologists discovered an abandoned orchard of the trees that had been planted in the 1800s. The orchard went back into production only recently.
posted by pinochiette at 8:27 PM on September 29, 2020 [1 favorite]

Best answer: The general Renetta Wikipedia article In Italian leads to this PAT designated cultivar grown in the Piemonte region (English Slowfood article).

My kids are Fuji fiends, so I haven’t paid a whole lot of attention to other cultivars, but I think this is a likely suspect with your friend being from Torino.
posted by romakimmy at 1:45 PM on September 30, 2020

Response by poster: Thank you all for your answers and for your advice to seek out a Canadian nursery--it definitely seems like it would be a huge hassle to try to import one from Italy, and I hadn't considered the root stock! I figured Vancouver would be relatively mild, but we do get some snow in the winter. pinochiette, I did find that orchard/nursery, but wasn't sure if it was the right varietal! And romakimmy, good call! That definitely looks more russetted than the pictures of the Reinette du Canada that I've seen.
posted by katecholamine at 10:43 PM on September 30, 2020