Cooking & Roasting

Fruit for the rest of the kitchen: baked whole, roasted, poached, stewed, or cooked into chutney and savory dishes. Everything here scored 6 or higher out of 10 for cooking.

More about fruit for cooking and roasting

Pears and plums took our top cooking scores. Concorde and Golden Russet Bosc pears and Italian plum all scored 9 out of 10. Concorde is about as self-fertile as pears get and keeps till April in cold storage. Golden Russet Bosc needs a second pear and does well in western Montana's warm valleys. Both are rated to zone 4, and Italian plum is rated to zone 3b.

A few odd ones are worth a look. Aromatnaya quince scored 8, it's self-fertile and rated to zone 4, and its ripe fruit gives off a pineapple-citrus scent. Hanska plum scored 8 and does its finest work in cooking, sauce and jam. Martha applecrab (8) is good fresh but better cooked. Both are rated to zone 3 and need a pollenizer.

For cooking apples, Northern Spy, Newtown Pippin, Belle de Boskoop, Gravenstein, Spokane Beauty and Tolman Sweet scored 8. Glockenapfel scored 8 too, and since its flavor builds after harvest, it's one to cook from storage. In cold country, Trailman applecrab is rated to zone 1b, Wealthy, Rhuby, Wolf River and Kerr applecrab to zone 2, and Haralson and Goodland to zone 2b, all scoring 7. Use the cold hardiness calculator to find your zone and the pollination maps to match partners.