Malus domestica 'Almata'
Almata is a red-fleshed apple variety closely related to the red-fleshed crab-apple Malus niedzwetzkyana. The apples are dark red, with a soft red flesh, producing a pink juice. The blossom is dark pink, the leaves are a dull bronze-green color, and even the wood has a pink stained appearance.
The apples ripen early in the season and do not keep.
The flavor is poor, not really suitable for eating fresh.
Despite these poor characteristics Almata has proven quite popular because of its apparent health benefits - the anthocyanin pigments which give the apple its distinctive dark red appeance are rich in anti-oxidants.
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Like many other red-fleshed varieties Almata flowers very early in the blossom season.
Almata is also very cold-hardy, down to zone 4.
Advice on fruit tree pollination.
Almata was developed by Niels Hansen at the South Dakota Experimental Station. His interest in red-fleshed apples was inspired by a research visit to central Russia in 1897 where he met the Russian botanist Niedzwetzky at Almaty in present-day Kazakhstan. Niedzwetzky was the discoverer of Malus niedzwetzkyana, a unique red-fleshed crab-apple growing wild in that area.
