Below is a list of the apple scion wood available for purchase during our Winter Field Day Event:
Akane
Akane apple tree was developed at the Morioka Experimental Station, Japan, 1937. A cross between Jonathan and Worcester Pearmain. Sometimes known as Tokyo Rose. The Akane apple tree produces an outstanding red dessert apple; also great for drying. The Akane apple is school box sized, bright red with crisp juicy sweet/sharp flesh and the sprightly flavor of Jonathan. Hangs well on the tree and is a better keeper than most early fall varieties. The Akane apple tree is winter hardy, precocious (early bearing) tree that should be thinned well to reach a good size. The Akane does best with consistent thinning for good size.
Alkmene
Alkmene was raised in Germany in the 1930s. It is sometimes also known as Early Windsor. The flavor is quite strong and has the Cox tanginess but is noticeably juicier. Some tasters have compared the flavor to a Granny Smith. The flesh is cream-colored and quite dense; biting into one of these gives teeth and gums a good workout. It ripens a bit earlier than Cox – around early September. It has much more strength and body than most early varieties. If you like a strong, tart apple, early in the season, then give this a try. Alkmene was developed from a cross between Cox’s Orange Pippin apples and Duchess of Oldenburg.
Ashmead’s Kernel
An old nondescript green russeted apple, originating in the 1700s. The appearance is, let’s be honest, not especially attractive. Ashmead’s Kernel is lumpy, misshapen, and rather small. The underlying bright green skin is entirely covered in russet. Russet can be very appealing- think of the dull golden glow of Egremont Russet for example – but somehow on Ashmead’s Kernel it just looks plain dull. Yet appearances can be deceiving. Ashmead’s Kernel has remained popular for well over 2 centuries, and with good reason: it has a distinctive flavor which is quite different from most other varieties. Tasters rarely agree on exactly what the elusive flavor reminds them of, but pear drops is probably close. It is perhaps no surprise that Ashmead’s Kernel does not seem to be related to any of the mainstream apple varieties, although one of its probable cousins – Duke of Devonshire – is also quite well known. The name “kernel” suggests that this variety was discovered as a chance seedling. Ashmead’s Kernel is a versatile apple, not just for eating fresh, it can also be used for salads and cooking, and it is a highly valued apple for juicing and hard cider.
Belle de Boskoop
Belle de Boskoop was introduced in 1856 in the Netherlands and is still popular on the Continent. It is a large, lumpy, dull red apple, often with extensive russeting. There is also a modern “sport” with a darker red coloring but otherwise quite similar. Belle de Boskoop is essentially a dual-purpose apple, suitable for both dessert and culinary uses. It works equally well in a savory salad or can be used sliced in continental-style apple pies and flans. Unlike the English Bramley cooking apple, Belle de Boskoop keeps its shape when cooked. Eaten fresh, Belle de Boskoop is quite a sharp apple. This and its large size make it unsuitable as a snack apple, but it can be nice cut into slices to share after a meal. The white-green flesh is dense with a very firm texture. It is one of those curiosities of the apple world, a triploid, meaning it has three chromosomes instead of the normal two. It’s an interesting phenomenon that happens in all manner of plants, not just apples. Triploid apples tend to be largely infertile and thus require having another variety nearby, a diploid.
Belle Fille
“Belle Fille” refers to traditional French apple varieties, primarily utilized for cider-making due to their bittersweet or sweet-sharp, aromatic, and sometimes astringent qualities. Common types include Belle Fille de la Manche (bittersweet cider) and Belle-Fille Normande(sweet-sharp/cooking). These apples often have green-yellow skin with red blushes or streaks.
Ben Davis
The Ben Davis originated as a chance seedling that was found growing along the roads of the southeastern United States by Bill Davis in 1799 in Virginia or North Carolina. A once widely grown heirloom apple that is a parent of Cortland. This tree is precocious and productive. It is upright, and spreading, resistant to wooly apple aphid, cedar-apple rust, and mildew, but susceptible to scab and canker. The apple is medium sized, with a smooth skin washed red over yellow green. The flesh is coarse, somewhat soft, aromatic, juicy, and subacid. It hangs well on the tree, stores very well, and resists bruising. Ben Davis is most famous as a parent of Cortland apple (Ben Davis x McIntosh). It got its other common name “Mortgage Lifter” from its productivity and ability to travel without bruising, making it a highly profitable commercial apple in its day.
Braeburn
Braeburn is one of the most important commercial apple varieties. It originated in New Zealand in the 1950s, and by the last decades of the 20th century had been planted in all the major warm apple-growing regions of the world. Braeburn accounts for 40% of the entire apple production of New Zealand. Even in conservative Washington state, the most important apple-producing area of the USA, where Red Delicious and Golden Delicious have always held sway, Braeburn is now in the top 5 varieties produced. The reasons for this success are not difficult to pinpoint. Braeburn has all the necessary criteria for large-scale production: it is fairly easy to grow, produces heavily and early in the life of the tree, it stores well, and withstands the handling demands of inter-national supply chains. What marks it out from the competition is flavor. Braeburn was the first modern apple variety in large-scale production where the flavor was genuinely on a par with the older classic apple varieties. Braeburn’s depth of flavor makes s main competition – Red Delicious and Golden Delicious – seem one-dimensional in comparison. At a time when consumers were starting to look for something less bland in their weekly shopping, Braeburn was the right apple at the right time.
Bramley’s Seedling
Bramley’s Seedling, commonly known as the Bramley apple, or simply Bramley, Bramleys or Bramley’s, is an English cultivar of apple that is usually eaten cooked due to its sourness. The variety comes from a pip planted by Mary Ann Brailsford It is favored by the English as the best pie apple.
Brown Russet
Grow a piece of history! Originating in England before 1567, this tasty, heavily russetted apple, also known as Royal Russet or Leather Coat, is highly resistant to both scab and mildew and a great choice for the organic grower. A late-ripening dessert apple, the flavor is sharp, tart and juicy when first picked, making a great addition to cider, applesauce and pies, and will continue to mellow and sweeten off the tree through the winter for fresh eating. The medium-sized round fruit has a green-yellow background mostly covered with brown russeting; they look like golden orbs hanging on the tree as Halloween approaches! Fun fact: the reference to Leather coat fruit in Shakespeare’s play Henry IV is to heavily russetted apples. Brown Russet, (or Royal Russet as it was known then), was among the most popular at the time. The tree is triploid, it flowers with mid-season varieties, and needs a pollinator (although it will not return the favor). A productive, vigorous, upright grower.
Chehalis
An excellent choice for organic growers who like a very large, sweet, yellow apple. This old favorite was discovered north of Chehalis, WA, in 1937. Fruit resembles Golden Delicious in looks and flavor, but it is larger and crisper, with a solid, thick skin. Reliable, highly productive trees are very resistant to scab and partly resistant to mildew. Fruit ripens late in September.
Clifford
This is a Red Flesh from Hocking Hills orchard they call Clifford. It has a nice size and tastes similar to most red flesh varieties.
Crimson King
Crimson King is a fine English cider apple which also serves as an excellent culinary variety. It originated with John Toucher of Bewley Down, Somerset, England, who first grew the variety from seed in the late 1800s. Recorded in 1895.
Daliest Elstar
Elstar is another successful offspring of Golden Delicious, developed in the Netherlands in the 1950s. It is a popular easy-eating dessert apple, widely grown in Europe but less well-known in the UK or North America. There are a few commercial sports, including Elista and Valstar. The skin is marbled, often with a soft sheen to it. It also lacks the perfect smoothness of many modern varieties. The underlying color is golden yellow but overlaid with deep red.
There is also a “sport” known as Red Elstar, where the red color usually covers the entire surface with only the occasional peep of yellow. The flavor can be more intense than is often the case with other Golden Delicious offspring. It retains the appealing sweetness – usually described as ‘honeyed’ in most apple textbooks – but with a good balance of acidity.
Elstar is definitely a crunchy apple, but not as crisp or hard as some – definitely the softer side of crunchy, so a good choice if you have fragile teeth. The flesh is lemon-white. In most Golden Delicious offspring it is the other parent which provides the essential counter-balance to offset the sweet blandness of Golden Delicious. In the case of Elstar this is Ingrid Marie, a variety which originates from Denmark. Although not a widely-known apple, it lends a bit of extra flavor to the mix – inherited from its own parent, Cox’s Orange Pippin.
Duchess of Oldenburg
Originally the Duchess of Oldenburg apple tree was planted extensively wherever growers required extreme hardiness from the cold winter. The Duchess of Oldenburg apple tree “kept up the hope of prairie orchardists in times of great discouragement,” according to The Apples of New York, Volume II, by S. A. Beach (J. B. Lyon Co., 1905). The apple is medium to large; color pale yellow covered with splashes and stripes of pinkish red. Duchess of Oldenburg flesh is yellow, firm, crisp and juicy. A highly aromatic apple, with excellent culinary qualities. Duchess of Oldenburg apples are one of the best pie apples for coldest climates. Duchess of Oldenburg is a very attractive early-season apple, originating from Russia in the mid to late 17th century. It is primarily used as a cooking apple. Although never really a commercial variety, it was quite widely grown across northern Europe in the 19th century. It was imported to the USA in 1835 by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, and its excellent cold hardiness made it a popular variety in the northern states. From the 1920s Duchess of Oldenburg became an early mainstay of the University of Minnesota’s (UMN) long-running and well-respected cold-hardy apple breeding program. The true extent of its role was not apparent because of errors in written records of parentage, but recent DNA testing by Luby, Howard, Tillman and Bedford at UMN, found that Duchess of Oldenburg was present in the ancestry of almost every apple variety ever developed at UMN. Of local interest they ripen by late July or early august and are a summer treat while waiting for the more popular and tastier apple of fall.
Egremont Russet
Egremont Russet grows on an upright and productive tree. It is moderately vigorous, a reliable cropper, and scab resistant but somewhat susceptible to fireblight. This tree is partially self-fertile, but a pollenizer should be present for optimal productivity. Prized as the most delicious of the English russets, this small, round apple is covered in a bronze russet under which an orange flush is often visible. The flesh is greenish yellow and richly flavored. Full flavor will develop in storage, when the flesh will also become drier. Tasters often describe Egremont Russet as “nutty,” with a pear-like flavor and texture. This is a great storage apple and it pairs nicely with strong cheeses. Some cider makers have found it useful in blends.
Enterprise
Enterprise is a good example of a modern apple developed specifically for disease resistance. Its parentage is complex and involved cross-breeding a large number of varieties including McIntosh, Golden Delicious, and Rome Beauty – as well as the ubiquitous crab apple Malus floribunda, a well-known source of a gene for scab-resistance. It is probably closest to McIntosh in overall appearance, although this is not a “Mac” style apple and it does not have the vinous flavor associated with Macs. The apples are a glossy red color, ripening in late October. They can be stored for 3-6 months in a domestic fridge. The skin is quite thick and tough – which helps resist insects and infections. Whilst Enterprise is good for eating fresh, it is perhaps even better as a cooking apple where its tart flavor can be used to advantage. It is the parent of Cosmic Crisp.
Esophus Spitzenburg
The Spitzenburg apple tree was discovered in the late 1700s by an early Dutch settler of that name. It was found at the settlement of Esopus, on the Hudson River, in Ulster County, New York. Much attention was bestowed upon Spitzenburg apples when Thomas Jefferson ordered thirty two trees for his orchard in Monticello, and rumored to be his favorite apple. The Spitzenburg apple is unexcelled in flavor and quality, the fruit is great off the tree, but flavor improves immensely in storage. The Spitzenburg apple is often medium sized with crisp, yellow skin covered with inconspicuous red stripes and russet freckles. Today, apple connoisseurs still consider this variety among the finest ever known.
Fall Pippin
A medium-large roundish high-quality all-purpose yellow fruit, sprinkled with a scattering of russet dots, a pronounced russet splash around the stem, and sometimes with a pinkish-red blush. Very good dessert quality. Makes a nice sauce. One of the oldest American varieties, dating from back when apples were passed around freely and no one cared much about what it was called or where it was from. Its origins are unclear, although it was known to have been grown in New England in the 1700s. Fall Pippin was especially valued for cooking. It is aromatic, with crisp, juicy, cream-colored flesh and outstanding sweet-tart flavor, and it stores well. Fall Pippin is one of America’s oldest apples.
Fameuse (Snow)
The Snow/Fameuse apple tree produces one of the oldest and most desired dessert apples, and is a parent of the aromatic McIntosh. This variety was noted in Canada in 1739 and was first introduced to the United States that same year. Snow Apples were found in almost every French settlement in the late 1700s and were the most commonly cultivated apple in Quebec for over 100 years. The historical origins of Snow apples are debated, with some experts tracing the variety back to the 1600s in France, while other pomologists believe they were originally developed from French seedlings in Canada. Flesh is tender, spicy, distinctive in flavor, and snow white in color with occasional crimson stains near the skin. Snow apple is very hardy, heavy bearing tree that is excellent for home orchards.
Fillbarrel
An heirloom cider apple from Somerset, England. This is a moderately vigorous tree with a spreading and slightly droopy habit. Care will be needed to avoid blind wood when pruning. It is strongly biennial and, like many heirlooms, susceptible to fireblight. This variety is used predominantly in cider production; it is not typically esteemed for fresh eating. Ripening mid-October in NY, the fruit is red striped and flushed over yellow with a fine, attractive russet. The flesh is white with a green tinge and yields a bittersweet juice. From WSU: Tannin (percent tannic acid: 0.19.
Florina
Florina apples vary in size and shape, depending on their growing region, but are generally considered a medium to large varietal, averaging 110 to 140 grams in weight. The variety showcases a conical to round shape and sometimes has a tapered, slightly lopsided, or irregular appearance. Florina apples feature a ribbed surface, and the skin is semi-thick, taut, and smooth, covered in a waxy bloom. This bloom gives the skin a pale grey to white coating, and though it is natural and edible, it can be easily wiped away. The skin has a yellow to golden base hue and is often enveloped in a bright to dark red, sometimes pink blush. The blush ranges from saturated to translucent hues and is occasionally overlaid in dark striping. Underneath the surface, the white flesh is marbled with pale pink to red hues. This coloring varies in each apple, and some may be more colored, while others may appear completely white. The flesh is dense, fine-grained, and aqueous with a succulent, crisp consistency. The flesh also encases a central fibrous core filled with tiny black-brown seeds. Florina apples have moderate sugar levels, reaching around 11 to 12 degrees Brix. The variety also has low acidity, creating a mild, sweet, subtly tangy, and fruity taste.
Fort Vancouver
The venerable “Old Apple Tree” of Fort Vancouver, Washington has died. With sadness, Charles Ray, Urban Forester with the City of Vancouver announced that the tree had succumbed to mortality on June 25, 2020. The nearly 200-year old tree was a local landmark and the oldest living feature associated with Fort Vancouver, first celebrated in The Morning Oregonian in 1911. Few apple trees in the United States have graced the earth longer than this tree. Recognized as the oldest apple tree in the Pacific Northwest, its longevity derived from its anatomy as a seedling tree that grew upon its own roots, as well as from the particular robustness of its genes.
Fuji Beni Shogun
An early-ripening Fuji sport. Also known as Heisei Fuji. This tree is upright with narrow crotch angles. Detailed tree data is not yet available, but Beni Shogun should be expected to perform in a similar manner to Fuji. Growers should avoid using (standard) Fuji as a pollenizer as the genetic composition of these two varieties may be too similar. Many fruit lovers love the crisp juicy and very sweet taste of the Japanese apple Fuji. However, Fuji has too long of a ripening season to grow in areas with relatively cool summers. The Beni Shogun sport of Fuji has a beautiful pinkish-red color, outstanding flavor, and ripens almost a month before Fuji.
Golden Russet
This apple is one of the most prized among apple connoisseurs, ranking with Cox’s Orange Pippin in terms of flavor quality. It is a medium-sized apple that is russeted bronze over greenish gold and speckled with white lenticels. The flesh is creamy and dense, yielding a rich, aromatic juice that is high in sugar and acid and low in tannin. Golden Russet is highly esteemed among cider makers for its ability to reliably produce excellent juice, and it is often used for single-variety ciders. The fruit stores exceptionally well, remaining crunchy and flavorful throughout winter. Tasters often describe the flavor of Golden Russet as “nutty,” but this doesn’t even begin to capture the delightful intensity of its honeyed sweetness. The history of Golden Russet apples is complex and challenging to categorize. Historically, the term Golden Russet was used throughout the Eastern United States and England as a general descriptor for apple cultivars that exhibited russeted skin and a golden hue. Many apples were recorded as Golden Russet, and even after years of research, genetic testing, and studies conducted among historians and pomologists, the true Golden Russet apples are heavily debated. Some historians assert the apple originated in Burlington County, New Jersey in the late 1700s; others state that it was known to have been grown in North Carolina in 1714. It is likely that it originated as a seedling of one of the many English Russets that were well known in North America from its founding.
Grand Alexander
Alexander is one of the most important of all hardy cooking cultivars, hardy enough for all of Maine and still found here and there around the state, especially north of Bangor. The apple presumably originated in Russia well before 1800 and may have been most commonly known as Aporta or some variation thereof. It was probably re-named Alexander in honor of the Czar Alexander I (1777-1825) before it was brought over to the US by Massachusetts Horticultural Society in about 1817.
Gravenstein
Gravenstein is an attractive high-quality dessert and culinary apple, first described in 1797. It is well-known in the USA and northern Europe and is still grown commercially on a small-scale. Gravenstein is a triploid variety and as is often the case with such varieties, produces a large vigorous tree with dark thick leaves. Possibly because of its triploid nature Gravenstein seems to have a greater degree of variability than most varieties. There is also a red “sport” known as Red Gravenstein, where the red coloration is more prominent. Gravenstein is a relatively hardy variety and can withstand difficult conditions – by European standards. In North America where summers are often hotter and winters much colder, it has a reputation for being fussy, and undoubtedly does best in areas where the climate is closer to the milder winters and cooler summers of northern Europe. The real problem with Gravenstein is that it is prone to many diseases and therefore has never achieved the popularity it deserves. As so often in the world of apples, it seems that the apples with the best flavor are often the most difficult to grow. Not surprisingly for such an old variety, the origins are uncertain. It is most closely associated with Denmark, and although widely known as “Gravenstein” in English-speaking countries, an alternative name is “Graasten” since it is thought the mother tree was raised at Graasten Castle in southern Jutland, Denmark.
Grimes Golden
An outstanding yellow dessert apple, the tastier ancestor of Golden Delicious. A great backyard tree, Grimes is vigorous and self-fertile (though crops will be improved by a pollenizer), and it is resistant to scab, powdery mildew, fire blight, and cedar-apple rust. It is susceptible to collar rot, and bitter pit, and it tends to overcrop. It needs to be thinned to maintain good fruit size, but it is a reliably annual bearer. This tree has a very long bloom period, and some growers consider it a universal pollenizer. The fruit is medium-to-large, slightly oblong, and sometimes ribbed. It is speckled with yellow or russet lenticels. The skin is a bit tough, sometimes scruffy, but the flesh is snappily crisp and fine grained. This apple is almost certainly the parent of Golden Delicious, and, as you would expect, is very sweet. But is has an aromatic balance that Golden Delicious lacks, and many tasters describe it as spicy, pointing to notes of nutmeg and pepper. Grimes is a dessert apple of the highest quality, and it also is a winner in the kitchen. It stores for several months–during which time the yellow of ifs skin will deepen–and its hardy exterior make it a great farmstand apple. Traditionally, this was also a popular apple among cider makers. In Apples of North America, Tom Burford notes that old still sites in the Blue Ridge Mountains are often surrounded by Grimes Golden trees
Hatsuaki
The Hatsuaki apple is a Japanese dessert cultivar developed in 1939 at the Morioka Branch of the Fruit Tree Research Station and introduced in 1976, resulting from a cross between Jonathan and Golden Delicious. It is a medium-to-large, round-conic, yellow-skinned apple with orange-red stripes, known for its crisp, juicy, and sweet-sharp flavor.
Hudson’s Golden Gem
Hudson’s Golden Gem apple is perhaps the finest eating russet with crisp, breaking, sugary flesh and a distinct nutty flavor that resembles the Bosc pear. Hudson’s Golden Gem apple tree was discovered among a dense group of bushes and trees in Oregon. Once discovered it was quickly introduced in 1931 by the Hudson Wholesale Nurseries. The Hudson’s Golden Gem apple is conical, elongated, yellow russet. Flesh is white to cream to pale yellow.
Jonagold
Jonagold is high quality American apple, developed in the 1940s. As its name suggests, this is a cross between a Jonathan and a Golden Delicious. It is quite widely grown, and unusually for a Golden Delicious cross, is not limited to the warm apple regions, although it is not often found in the UK. Jonagold is a large apple and makes a substantial snack. The large size is a good clue that this is a triploid apple variety, with 3 sets of genes. As a result, it is a poor pollinator of other apple varieties and needs two different nearby compatible pollinating apple varieties. Golden Delicious is well-known as a good pollinator of other apple varieties but cannot pollinate Jonagold. The coloring is yellow of Golden Delicious, with large flushes of red. This is a crisp apple to bite into, with gleaming white flesh. The flavor is sweet but with a lot of balancing acidity – a very pleasant apple.
Jonathan
A very high-quality all-purpose variety. The medium-sized roundish red fruit is excellent for flesh-eating: firm, juicy, crisp, tender, aromatic and mildly tart. Also good for cooking. Stores all winter. Productive, widely adapted and generally disease free. One of the most famous of all American apples. Named for Jonathan Hasbrouck, one of the apple’s first champions. Used extensively in modern apple breeding, being parent to dozens of varieties. Its most famous progeny includes Jonagold, Idared, and Melrose.
John Downie Crab
Perhaps the best-known of crab-apples in the United Kingdom, John Downie brings several positives that set it apart from the non-crabs that dominate the U.K. apple scene. First, it’s self-fertile, so doesn’t need a nearby tree of a different variety. Second, it contributes excellent pollen to help other varieties get the pollen they need. Third, it’s highly productive, with loads of smallish crab-apples of bright orange or red coloring. And, finally, that fruit makes for excellent jelly.
Karmijn de Sonnaville
Karmijn de Sonnaville was raised by Piet de Sonnaville, an apple enthusiast who had previously worked at the well-respected horticultural research school of the University of Wageningen in the Netherlands. Starting in 1949 he created numerous crosses, primarily using Cox and Jonathan, along with many others. Karmijn de Sonnaville is his most well-known creation, a Cox-style variety, but with a distinctly more pronounced aromatic flavor. Cox’s Orange Pippin is the female parent, and the pollen parent is Jonathan. It is a triploid variety, and not able to pollinate other apple varieties. Despite the English Cox ancestry, Karmijn de Sonnaville grows best in warmer drier climates – like Jonathan. It does very well in the northern and central states of the USA. it is the favorite of many; however, it is so highly flavored and aromatic, that it overwhelms some tastes when just off the tree. Put this excellent winter keeper in a box when it ripens in mid-October and wait about a month for the complex, mellow flavors to start shining through.
Melrose
The Melrose apple has large fruit, with a yellowish green skin flushed and streaked dark red with russet spots. It has firm, coarse, juicy, creamy, white flesh with a slightly acid flavor. Very good cooking and dessert qualities. Best after Christmas when it develops its fruity aroma. Developed by Freeman Howlett at the Ohio AES in 1944, the Melrose apple is the official state apple of Ohio. Its late harvest time makes this a good storing apple and is meant as a modern (at the time) dessert apple. It is a cross between the Red (Stark) Delicious and Jonathan apples. The tree yields apples of dull copper red skin, which are firm, very juicy, and slightly tart. Its slightly pentagonal shape is evident when looking at the apple from above. The flesh is firm and crisp with an excellent flavor and high-quality fruit for dessert and cooking. One of the best keepers of all time, whose flavor improves in storage, Melrose reaches peak quality after 2-3 months.
Mother
Mother apples were developed by apple enthusiast Steven Partridge Gardner in 1844 in Bolton, Massachusetts. Mother apples were the only American apple variety that made the list of Mr. J.M.S. Potter’s five favorite apples. Mr. Potter was a former director of the National Fruit Collection in England, one of the world’s largest collections of apple varieties. The Mother apple is a beautiful piece of fruit, good size with thin golden yellow skin covered with deep red marbled and striped with carmine. Fine tender, rich, aromatic flesh. Bunyard, the English pomologist, referred to Mother apple as the “flavor of pear drops.” Great fresh off the tree! The parentage of Mother apples is unknown, but after their discovery in the early 19th century, the variety was introduced to England by famous nurseryman Thomas Rivers under the name American Mother. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Mother apples were a favored apple variety for private orchards in England, selected for their distinct, sometimes fickle flavor.
Newton Pippin
The Newtown Pippin apple tree sprang from a seed in Newtown, Long Island around 1750. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were two noted admirers of this fine fruit. Jefferson wrote from Paris, “They have no apples here to compare with our Newtown Pippin.” Its skin is green to yellow, often russeted, with white dots. Newtown Pippin apple’s flesh is yellowish or tinged with green, firm, crisp, moderately fine grained, and sprightly aromatic with refreshing piney tartness. Some find a light tangerine scent. The fruit develops full sugar and rich flavor after a few months of cold storage. It is also often called Albemarle Pippin, and by this name was featured on a U S Postal stamp. By the 19th century Newtown Pippins were an important commercial variety in the USA, both for domestic use and exported in large quantities to London markets, where the Victorian author Hogg commented on their arrival in January each year. The appreciation of the flavors of apples reached a peak in Victorian England, and the popularity of Newtown Pippins in Victorian England is a sure sign that this is very high quality apple with the rich aromatic flavor most sought after at that time. Hogg also commented that the Newtown Pippin could not be grown successfully in England–it needs a hot summer and autumn and will not ripen properly most years in the cool temperate climate of England. During the 19th century, the Newtown Pippin experienced significant commercial success. It was part of the Select List of Apples kept by the Horticultural Society of London in 1807 and commanded the highest prices at Covent Garden. Queen Victoria so favored them so much that the British Parliament lifted the import duty on Newtown Pippins until World War I. In more recent history, the pomologist Tom Burford has included Newtown Pippin in his list of Top 20 Dessert Apples.
Niedzwetskyana
The Niedzwetzkyana apple is a large bright red fruit with brilliant red flesh. Only a handful continue to survive in their native highlands of Kyrgyzstan. Flavor is a bit sweet and tart. The Niedzwetkyana apple tree is not very vigorous; apples ripen at end of summer beginning fall. It makes great apple pies that resemble pies made from cherries and pressed fruit provides scarlet cider. It is an apple native to certain parts of China, Kazzakhatan, Kyrgystan and Uzebekistan, noted for its red-fleshed, red-skinned fruit and red flowers. The Niedzwetzky’s apple is rare; only 111 specimens of the tree are known to survive in Kyrgyzstan. There is some debate over whether Niedzwetkyana is its own species of Malus, or a unique variety of Malus pumila. However, the variety widely grown through the western world stems primarily from seeds which were sent from Turkestan in the late 1800s by amateur botanist Vladislav Niedziecki. These were raised by Georg Dieck who introduced them in 1890 at the Zöschen Arboretum near Merseburg, in Germany.
Roxbury Russet
The first Roxbury Russet apple tree sprung up around 1635 in the small town of Roxbury near Boston. The Roxbury Russet apple tree is considered one of our oldest American fruit trees still being grown today. Excellent old cider apple, a fine keeper and good for eating fresh out of hand. The Roxbury Russet apple is medium to large fruit, greenish, sometimes bronze tinged skin sometimes covered with yellowish-brown russet. The Roxbury Russet apples are remarkable for its amount of sugar. Firm, slightly coarse, fairly tender, yellowish-white flesh. Tree medium to large, a good cropper on rich soils. The tree bears an amazingly large crop every year, but don’t pick too early or the sugars will fail to develop. Roxbury Russet is in most respects typical of that group of apples known as russets. Although it has some tartness it is like all russets a fundamentally sweet apple. It is also a fairly good keeper, an important attribute before the advent of modern storage methods.
Shay
The red elongated fruit is crisp, sweet and great for fresh eating. Developed by the late Dr. Ralph Shay at Oregon State University from a planting at Purdue. A scab immune and mildew resistant apple that each year provides a heavy crop at midseason, in late September.
Rubinette
Rubinette is a modern apple variety developed in Switzerland between 1964 and 1982, and also known and trademarked as Rafzubin. It was raised by Walter Hauenstein, a grower from Rafz (hence ‘Rafzubin’) in the north of Switzerland. Hauenstein’s initial intention was to produce an improved Golden Delicious, retaining that variety’s excellent production and storage characteristics whilst adding more depth of flavor by cross-pollinating it with varieties such as Cox’s Orange Pippin. However, things did not go to plan – instead of an improved Golden Delicious, Hauenstein’s new apple turned out to be something far more remarkable. Rubinette is moderately good-looking, with characteristic orange and dull red streaks over a light green/yellow background. The apples are generally small to medium-sized. Overall, the appearance is attractive but in a rather subdued sort of way. There is also a natural red sport known as Red Rubinette or Rubinette Rosso which was discovered by Jochen Hubschneider. The red coloration is still quite dull compared to most red apple varieties, even so it is a more pleasing apple than the original. The parentage is Golden Delicious pollinated by (probably) –‘-Cox’s Orange Pippin– a very popular combination with other growers over the years.
Silken
Silken apples are moderately sized, round to oval fruits with a symmetrical, uniform appearance. The skin is smooth, waxy, delicate, and has a yellow-green base, sometimes splashed with light pink blush on the side most exposed to the sun. There is also some brown russeting surrounding the slender and fibrous stem. Underneath the thin skin, the flesh is crisp, white to ivory, aqueous, and aromatic, encasing a central core filled with small, black-brown seeds. Silken apples are crunchy and have a balanced, sweet-tart, honeyed flavor with moderate acidity. Silken apples are often featured at the annual Apple Festival held at the University of British Columbia’s Botanical Garden. This two-day event generally occurs in the fall and is the garden’s largest fundraising event, attracting over 15,000 visitors.
Spartan
Spartan is a small, sweet apple, and a great favorite with children. It is very much a “McIntosh” style apple, bright crimson skin and whiter-than-white flesh. It is best to leave the fruit on the tree as long as possible, until they are crimson all over, as this allows the flavor to develop. Straight from the tree, the flesh is very crisp and juicy, but it softens a bit within a week or so of picking – although remaining juicy. This is also a good variety for juicing – the juice color is not especially remarkable, but the flavor is sweet and pleasant. Spartan is an excellent garden apple, being easy to grow, resistant to scab, fairly resistant to mildew, and it crops very reliably – and by growing your own you can enjoy Spartan at its best, straight from the tree. However, it can be prone to canker in wetter regions. Spartan is a historically interesting apple, being an early example of a variety developed in a formal scientific breeding program in Canada. It was raised at the Canadian Apple Research Station in Summerland, British Columbia, in the 1920s, and the mother variety is McIntosh (of course). There is some uncertainty over the pollen parent, it is usually thought to be Newtown Pippin.
Stoke Red
A traditional vintage-quality, bittersharp cider apple from England. Late blooming and late ripening, Stoke’s Red is cold-hardy and highly resistant–perhaps immune–to scab. On the down side, it is slow to bear and susceptible to fire blight. The tree is moderately vigorous, spreading, and has a tendency to biennialism; it should be well thinned in years when it crops heavily. This tree is an excellent pollenizer for other late-blooming varieties. Stoke Red is an English heirloom apple originating from Somerset that yields a vintage-quality bittersharp juice (suitable for a single-variety cider) with a perfect tannin/acid balance. The fruit is small, red striped over yellow, and slightly flat. The white flesh is tinged red, soft, and juicy. Gary Moulton from WSU writes: “Stoke Red is quite disease resistant and a very late bittersharp; makes an excellent cider second only to Kingston Black. Tree habit not favorable, as it has more of a bush habit. For some of our more dense orchards that might not be a bad thing.”
Tom Putt
A British heirloom for baking or cider. A vigorous, spreading, precocious, and reliably annual heirloom apple. It’s even scab resistant! Tom Putt is a triploid and it will need to be grown with two other varieties for full pollination. The fruit is medium-large and flattish. The skin is a smooth green-yellow blushed orange-red and striped deep red. The flesh is firm and coarse, tinged green or yellow, and sweetly aromatic. The juice produces a sharp cider and the apple stores well. This is an all-purpose apple. It has been traditionally used for fresh eating, cider, and baking. Tom Putt is named after the Rector of Trent in the late 1700’s, whose name was – you guessed it – Roger. Just kidding. His name was Tom Putt, and he was an avid fruit lover.
Tompkins King
A Tompkins King apple tree was brought from New Jersey to New York in 1804 by Jacob Wycoff. Grown in Tompkins County, New York, and called the King of apples, for size and flavor. The Tompkins King was fourth most popular New York apple in early 1900’s. Tompkins King apples are large to very large, Skin is smooth, golden washed with orange red, yellow fleshed, coarse, crisp, tender, flavor subacid. Tompkins King apples are also good for cooking when green and excellent for eating when handsomely striped. Water core (translucent flesh) sweetens some fruit. The flesh of a Tompkins King apple is yellowish, coarse, crisp, aromatic and tender. The flavor is subacid and highly appreciated. Many people bite into one and immediately say it tastes exactly as they remember a great apple tasting when they were a child. Yes, it’s that good. Tompkins King is a fairly good keeper, and the tree is vigorous, productive and well-suited to our West Coast climate. In addition to its fame as a fresh-eating apple, Tompkins King is also a wonderful cooker.
Tsugaru
Tsugaru apples are moderately sized, round to conical fruits with a somewhat uniform shape and light russeting within the stem’s cavity. The skin is firm, slightly sticky, and has a yellow-green base that may be covered with red mottling, blushing, and striping. Underneath the surface, the flesh is dense, white, crisp, and aqueous, encasing a small central core filled with black-brown seeds. Tsugaru apples have an intensely sweet flavor with an acidic and mildly tart undertone. Tsugaru apples are native to Japan and were developed at the Aomori Prefectural Apple Experimental Station in the 1930s. The variety is a cross between a Kodama and Golden Delicious apple, and after approximately forty years of trials, Tsugaru apples were officially released to commercial markets in 1975.
Twenty Ounce
Very large (20 ounces!) high-quality pie and general cooking apple. Sometimes mistakenly called Twenty Ounce Pippin. Huge roundish fruit is mostly red-and-orange striped and slightly greasy. Fills the October niche between the early season and the late season cooking apples. Tasty and perfectly textured in a pie. Your crust will never sink. Tart sauce cooks up medium-fast. Very good dried. Can be as big as a Wolf River and some orchards confuse the two, but they are quite different. Twenty Ounce never has a large russet splash around the stem. Wolf River is considerably more oblate (flattened) and pinker.
Virginia Crab
An American heirloom and one of the best cider crabapples. A Virginia Crab, aka Hewe’s, is a vigorous, productive, healthy tree. Extremely cold hardy, it was once commonly used as a rootstock as far north as Maine. While this tree is more often grown for cider than as an ornamental, the midseason bloom is long lasting and makes this tree an excellent pollenizer. It is susceptible to fireblight and it will need to be thinned to maintain annual bearing. Virginia Crab is one of the oldest and best American cider crabapples. The fruit is small, light green blushed with a pinkish red and it hangs on a long, slender stem. It yields a juice that is remarkably clear, fermenting to a full-bodied, biscuity cider that carries notes of cinnamon. The apple has won high praise from cider makers since 1817, when William Coxe first described the “sweet and highly flavored” juice. This apple was a favorite of both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, who liked his Hewe’s blended with Golden Wilding. It remained one of America’s favorite cider apples until Prohibition destroyed the cider industry in 1919. Unsuitable for fresh eating, Virginia Crab became a very rare tree until the modern cider revival, which has renewed interest in traditional varieties and methods. Fortunately, enough trees remained to provide material for new orchards. Virginia Crab has been added to the Slow Food Foundation’s Ark of Taste, where a more detailed history of the apple can be read.
Wagener
George Wheeler brought with him a bag of apple seeds when in 1791 he moved from Duchess County, NY to the area that would become known as Penn Yan, and he planted his seeds on his new land. In 1796 the tract of land on which the first Wagener tree now grew (it had since been transplanted locally) was purchased by David Wagener, whose son Abram is generally considered to be the founder of the township of Penn Yan. Wagener is a medium-sized apple, irregular and prominently ribbed. The skin is flushed red orange over yellow with russeting around the stem, and the flesh is snow white, crisp, and fine grained. This apple receives very high ratings from tasters, who describe it as vinous, sprightly, and spicy, with flavors of anise and melon. It is also well regarded for its versatility, as Wagener will store well–without shriveling–through winter and makes excellent cider, sauce, juice, and pie. It hangs late into fall on the tree and often improves in character after an early frost.
Wealthy
Wealthy apples are native to Minnesota and were developed through apple breeder and grower Peter Gideon. There are several theories about the apple’s origins, with some of the stories including more dramatic touches, but the most retold version begins with Peter Gideon moving to Minnesota with his wife in 1853. It is said Peter moved to Minnesota for health reasons and established a homestead along the shores of Lake Minnetonka. On his homestead, Peter trialed apple, crab apple, plum, cherry, quince, pear, and peach trees to develop varieties that could survive the harsh climate of the Midwest. Most of the trialed fruit trees did not survive. Around the 1860s, Peter purchased a bushel of apple seeds from a grower named Albert Emerson in Bangor, Maine. The apple seeds were planted, and years later, all the seedling trees had died except for one. The tree was initially thought to be of Siberian crab apple descent, but over time, it was determined through DNA testing that the seedlings were a cross between Jonathan apples and Duchess of Oldenburg apples. The unnamed seedling continued to produce fruits each year, and Peter Gideon shared the apple’s seeds with other growers, especially other members of the Minnesota State Horticultural Society. The apple variety was eventually named Wealthy, released in 1868, and quickly became a popular apple nationally. By the early 20th century, Wealthy apples were being grown throughout the United States and England and remained a favored variety for several decades.
Westfield Seek-No-Further
The Westfield Seek-No-Further is a highly regarded, historic American heirloom dessert apple originating in Massachusetts around 1796. Known for its rich, aromatic, and slightly pear-like flavor, it features a dull red-over-yellow skin, often with russet dots. This apple thrives in the Northeast, ripens in late September to October, and is excellent for fresh eating, cooking, and drying.
White Winter Pearmain
The White Winter Pearmain apple is one of oldest known English apples. It is medium in size, uniform in shape, and possesses light green skin, usually flushed red on one side. The sweet and pleasantly aromatic flesh is firm, fine-grained and crisp; an excellent dessert apple with pear undertones when left to mellow in storage. White Pearmain apple tree is a vigorous, self-fertile variety that also serves as a great pollinizer for other apple trees. White Pearmain is well adapted to coastal districts out west and the hot interiors. The White Winter Pearmain apple was first classified as such in 1858 by the American Pomological Society, but there is serious speculation however about the origin of the first White Pearmain tree. Some believe it to be of American decent coming from the tree grafts of early pomologists traveling in the eastern United States. Others suspect it to be a relative of an old English apple that dates back to 1200 A.D. Because the apple has a hint of pear, note it name—although the origin of the name “pearmain” has several different meanings–it has a complex flavor, and this overlapping of apple and pear in the same fruit has to some calling it the best tasting apple in the world.
Wickson Crab
Wickson Crab was developed by Albert Etter, an apple enthusiast best-known for his work on pink-fleshed and red-fleshed apples. Wickson was the result of crossing two other crab apple varieties. Confusingly, Etter refers to them as Spitzenberg crab and Newtown crab in his patent papers, but it is not thought they are related to the mainstream apples of the same names but were crabs developed by Etter himself. In this respect Etter pre-dated the modern trend for using crab-apples in breeding programmes. Like most crab-apples Wickson is very small, and is also a hardy and problem-free tree. However, that is where the resemblance to other crab-apples ends. Wickson is unusually sweet, but at the same time has a strong acid component. The result is an apple which has a very strong flavor, making it an excellent component for cider blends. This flavor of course tends to encourage the view that Spiztzenburg and Newtown Pippin might be involved somewhere in the parentage, as these apples both have pronounced flavors.
Williams Pride
Williams’ Pride apples are a medium to large varietal, averaging 6 to 8 centimeters in diameter, and have a relatively uniform round, conical, to ovate shape with faint ribbing. The apple’s skin is semi-thick, tough, and slightly chewy with a waxy, glossy, and smooth surface. The skin also has a yellow-green base coloring, almost entirely enveloped in a burgundy, maroon to dark red blush, pocked with tiny, white lenticels. Underneath the surface, the flesh ranges in color from white to pale yellow and has a medium-grained, firm, aqueous, and crisp consistency. The flesh also encases a central core filled with small, oval to tear-drop-shaped black-brown seeds. Williams’ Pride apples have a faint aroma and a balanced, sweet-tart flavor with tangy, honeyed undertones. The taste of the flesh may vary, depending on the time in the season when the fruits are harvested, but some apple enthusiasts note that the variety sometimes emits spice-filled, fruity nuances reminiscent of pears, cherries, or melons.
Winter Banana
The Winter Banana apple tree originated on the David Flory farm in Indiana, around 1876. The Winter Banana apple variety was later introduced by the Greening Brothers Nursery of Monroe, Michigan in 1890. The fruit is large, clear pale yellow, waxy finish, one side usually blushed with a delicate pink. The flesh of Winter Banana apples is moderately firm, a little course, tender, mild, subacid, characteristically aromatic. Better eating than cooking. Widely grown in mild winter areas on the West Coast. This is an apple that can certainly be called the “Fairest of the fair”, the sweet and lovely Winter Banana. With its smooth, waxy, pale-yellow skin and pinkish-red blush, the Winter Banana is an extremely attractive apple as well as a beneficial addition to the home orchard. Winter Banana is a diploid, self-fertile apple, meaning that it not only pollinates itself, but also serves as a very effective pollinizer for other apple trees. Very few apples are self-fertile like Winter Banana and so require pollen from other apple varieties for proper cross-pollination and successful fruit production. It is a highly aromatic apple with a pleasant, perfumed aroma that some people discern as banana.
Wolf River
The ‘Wolf River’ apple is believed to have originated as a seedling from the ‘Alexander’ apple in Wisconsin near the banks of the Wolf River. The story varies on what apple the seeds were planted from and who brought the tree into propagation; however according to Bussey in the Illustrated History of Apples in the United States and Canada, it is most widely believed that a lumberman from Quebec named William A. Springer bought apples along his journey that he later identified as ‘Alexander’. He saved the seeds from these apples, which were later planted when the Springer family settled along the banks of the Wolf River in WI. These apples are really best baked rather than eaten fresh. Wolf River has an unremarkable subacid flavor and dry flesh, but it is this dryness has made it a favorite for pies, sauce, baking whole, and drying, especially in the Midwest. It should be picked slightly underripe, as the fruit tends to rot if left on the tree. It will not store well for any appreciable length of time. Wolf River, with its mild, sweet flavor and ability to hold its shape when cooked, is indeed a wonderful pie apple but it really shines when turned into apple butter. Wolf River is a world-class apple butter apple and has long been cherished for the smooth, creamy apple butter it produces after hours of slow cooking.
Yarlington Mill
A traditional bittersweet cider apple from Somerset, England. This is a strongly biennial tending tree but otherwise precocious and productive. It is hardy and resistant to canker, and powdery mildew but susceptible to scab and fireblight. Yarlington Mill is used predominantly for cider; it is not typically esteemed for fresh eating.The fruit is medium sized and very conic. Striped red with a white flesh, it yields a rich, brown, low-acid juice of vintage quality (suitable for making a single-variety cider). Eve’s Cidery writes that it “adds soft, supple tannin to the structure of a cider which tends to make the cider more voluptuous and approachable. In addition, it has lovely complementary aromatics like orchard floor, leather and smoke.”
Yellow Bellflower
Yellow Bellflower apples were discovered on a tree growing on a farm in Crosswicks, a community in Burlington County, New Jersey. The variety was thought to have arisen in the mid-1700s, and the first written record of the apples was documented in 1817 through William Coxe in his book, “A View of the Cultivation of Fruit Trees and the Management of Orchards and Cider.” Coxe mentioned that the mother tree of Yellow Bellflower apples was still alive and growing on a farm in Crosswicks. In the 1850s, Yellow Bellflower apples were widely cultivated across New Jersey and eventually spread to New England and Oregon in 1847. The variety was also planted in Europe during the 19th century and was grown in France and the Netherlands. A favorite for baked apples, the Yellow Bellflower apple variety has fruit that’s quite variable in size, with attractive lemon-yellow color and pinkish-blush in sunny exposures. Flesh whitish, firm, fine-grained, rather tender, aromatic, quite acidic early in season. Usually picked on the tart side, then mellowed in storage for several months. Yellow Bellflower apples are rumored to have been named for their bell-like shape and coloring. The origins of the variety’s name are unknown, but the heirloom apples have a bulbous, tapering shape, resembling a bell hanging on a tree. There are also species of flowers known as bellflowers, and these blooms have a bell-like shape that is similar to the apples. Some experts believe the apples were named after the popular flowers. The fruit’s pale yellow coloring also reminds apple enthusiasts of bells made from gold or copper, another hypothesis for the variety’s name.
