‘Baltais Dzidrais’ (’White Transparent’)

This is the most widely grown Latvian apple variety in the world, but many do not know this. The cultivar was first mentioned in print in year 1852, when its grafts were sent from Wagner Nurseries in Riga to France. There it was called ‘Transparente Blanche’. Later the variety obtained numerous other names, like ‘Papirovka’ in Russian, ‘White Transparent’ in English or ‘Klarapfel’ in German. The variety is still popular in home gardens of Europe and Northern America. It is a good cooking apple, but suitable also for eating fresh. It is believed that ‘White Transparent’ originated from the old Russian variety ‘Naliv Bely’, which has smaller fruits and is more susceptible to scab. During course of time, several genetically different clones of the cultivar have evolved in Latvia, of which the most productive are Rogu (or Staru) and Soldovera clones.