‘Černoguz’ (‘Chernoguz’)

This is a variety which cannot boast excellent fruit flavour, and for this reason never became a favourite of Latvian gardeners. Yet it is winter-hardy and tolerant to diseases. And it has an original story. Till the most recent times it was thought to be an old Russian cultivar originating in 19^th century somewhere near the Baltic Sea. At the same time, since the 18^th century a native apple variety was grown across the sea called ‘Grågylling’. When the Latvian horticulturists started to visit Sweden at the end of 20^th century, the similarity of both cultivars seemed striking. Geneticists checked their relationship, and look! -it was the same cultivar. In Latvia it is called also “Winter Streaked”, in Lithuania “Winter Gravensteiner”, but in Eastern Latvia for some reason ’Chorny Gus’, which means “black goose”. The variety has several clones with brighter of weaker fruit colour.