[Headgardener22]

I have a cooking apple tree on my allotment. It grows lots of large apples but the flesh of most of the apples have translucent areas within them. These go brown once the apples are picked and they don't keep.

I think it might be bitter pit, but all the examples I have seen on the web only show the outer skin of the apple with brown pits on them which mine don't get. Has anybody any other thoughts as to what it might be and how I can cure it.

Thanks

[Aunt Sally]

If you cut open an apple with bitter pit you will see brown dead areas below the lenticels which are the bits on the skin where you can see the pits.

[Headgardener22]

So if it isn't bitter pit, does anybody have any ideas as to what it might be? I've tried stewing the apples but they are very dry and "claggy" and don't taste very nice. I am thinking of cutting my losses and cutting it down and finding something else but the tree seems to have been there for a number of years so I think it must have been nice at some time in the past.

[8doubles]

My James Grieve apples get the same problem, they also do not keep well tending too dry out  or split and go cotton woolly.
No idea of the cause or cure , i just cut out the affected parts before cooking in the microwave then freezing.
James Grieve are supposedly a dual purpose eater/cooker but i think they are better  in a pie than raw.

[Aunt Sally]

Excellent web site here for apple dissorders:

http://entomology.tfrec.wsu.edu/Cullage_Site/Physiol.html

Sounds like watercore:

http://entomology.tfrec.wsu.edu/Cullage_Site/Physiol_WC.html

[sunshineband]

My James Grieve apples get the same problem, they also do not keep well tending too dry out  or split and go cotton woolly.
No idea of the cause or cure , i just cut out the affected parts before cooking in the microwave then freezing.
James Grieve are supposedly a dual purpose eater/cooker but i think they are better  in a pie than raw.

It is not something intrinsic to this variety, as our James Grieve fruits are sound right through 

[8doubles]

 Yes watercore it is, only a small part of a few apples is affected and the tree does produce more apples than you can shake a stick at !

Mmmmm....vascular bundles.......i wonder........do you think Preparation H would sort it out?

[Aunt Sally]

Steady there 

[Headgardener22]

OK, watercore it is. The WSU pages give a really good description - like everything on the Internet, once you know the answer, you know what question to ask.

However, it looks like it's signed the death warrant for the tree. WSU seem to suggest that watercore improves the flavour of the apples. Well, if this is an improved flavour, I wouldn't like to eat them in their natural state!

Thanks for your help.