russet

But looke, the Morne in Ruſſet Mantle clad, / Walkes o're the dew of yon high Eaſterne Hill, […]

[W]hen they him ſpie, / As Wilde-geeſe, that the creeping Fowler eye, / Or ruſſed-pated choughes, many in ſort / (Riſing and cawing at the guns report) / Seuer themſelues, and madly ſweepe the skye: / So at his ſight, away his fellowes flye, […]

Hencefoorth my wooing minde ſhalbe expreſt / In ruſſet yeas, and honeſt kerſie noes.

[…] I received some bales of leather, that when I sent them to the Currier's to wax them, they having been at the Currier's before, as they came up in the russet state, when I had sent them back to be waxed, he sent me back word they were so badly tanned, and so burnt in the tanning, he could not recommend them, […]

Many apple varieties are mottled or russet, with a rough, dull skin hiding crisp, flavorful flesh.