Fruit

KINNAIRD'S CHOICE is also called just Kinnaird and Red Winter Cluster, and is sometimes spelled Kinnard. It originated on the farm of Michael Kinnaird in Franklin County, Tennessee, and was noted by Downing in 1872. The parentage is unknown, but it may be a cross of Winesap and Limbertwig. There was some small, commercial production of it in Central Virginia until about 1950, and storage records from Lynchburg, Virginia, indicate it brought high prices. The skin is yellow, and mottled with red, deepening to a purple-red, and covered with small, whitish dots. It is thick, tough and smooth. The white flesh is sometimes tinged yellow, and is crisp, coarse-textured, aromatic and subacid in flavor. The core is small, and the seeds are short and plump. The fruit grows medium to large in size on a tree that is vigorous, upright and bushy. It bears young, and yields moderate crops with some tendency to biennial production. If it becomes overripe on the tree, the fruit will watercore. It is suitable for dessert and cider making. Kinnaird's Choice ripens in September.