Arkansas Black
The apple is thought to have originated in the mid to late 1800’s in Bentonville, Arkansas, possibly discovered and raised by a settler named John Crawford. Believed to be a seedling of Winesap, the apple has many qualities similar to its better-known parent, namely a tart, tangy flavor and the ability to stay firm, crisp and flavorful after many months in storage. In fact, the apple reaches its peak in flavor and texture after a long period in cold storage. The name is quite apt as the apple is very dark red in color with some specimens appearing almost black or purplish, especially when grown in full sun. Arkansas Black is a wonderful cooking and processing apple. It holds its shape well when cooked so is popular for baking whole and pie making.
Black Gilliflower
The Black Gilliflower apple tree originated in southern New England in the eighteenth century. The Black Gilliflower (sheepnose) apple has a medium to large, conical ribbed shape, the skin becoming almost dark purple. The Black Gilliflower apple has a distinctive flavor, reminiscent of Spitzenburg, rich and sweet, with a relatively dry flesh. It hangs well on the tree. It is evident that it was known in Connecticut as early as the latter part of the eighteenth century.” There is some conjecture that it is from the same parentage as the Stark Delicious apple and may even be the mysterious pollen provider for that cultivar. There are no clues to its parentage.
Cox’s Orange Pippin
Cox’s Orange Pippin is regarded as one of the best dessert apples of England, highly favored for its fruity, complex, and balanced flavor and fine-grained, crisp texture. Cox’s Orange Pippin apples were named after their founder, horticulturist Robert Cox, and their orange moniker refers to the apple’s signature red-orange blush that appears across the fruit’s surface. Cox’s Orange Pippin apples were discovered growing as a chance seedling in the garden of horticulturist Richard Cox in Colnbrook Lawn, a village near Slough in Buckinghamshire, England, now modern-day Berkshire. The new apple variety first appeared sometime between 1825 and 1830. It is often described as the most famous apple in England and is the parent of more than 35 common varieties, among them Karmijn de Sonneville, Alkmene, and Rubinette.
Early Harvest
Believed to have originated in the 1700s in what is now Long Island, New York (U.S.A.). First listed by Bernard M’Mahon in his 1806 edition of “The American Gardener’s Calendar” under the heading of summer apples. Later described by William Coxe in his “A View of the Cultivation of Fruit Trees and the Management of Orchards” (published 1817) under the names Princes Harvest and Early French Reinette. Though the cultivar has been mentioned in most books discussing apples since then, none has ventured a guess on the origins of the Early Harvest. This early summer apple tastes almost like sauce right off the tree. More of a cooking than a dessert apple. It makes a complex, interesting sauce. Tart but not sharp. Medium-sized roundish-oblate fruit is light yellow green with a distinct splash of russet surrounding the stem cavity.
Golden Delicious
Golden Delicious apples arose as a chance seedling on a family farm in the hamlet of Odessa in Clay County, West Virginia. In 1891, J.M. Mullins was asked by his father to tend to the field outside of their farmhouse with a large scythe. The 15-year-old began working and eventually noticed a new apple seedling around half a meter in height growing under a Grimes Golden tree. The seedling had sprouted from a discarded apple seed, and J.M. Mullins decided to spare the tree and allow it to grow. The apple tree matured and began bearing fruit a few years later, producing golden yellow apples. Paul Stark Sr. and his brother sampled the variety around 1914, and by 1916, they had visited Anderson’s farm and purchased the rights to sell the apple. They also purchased the land surrounding the mother tree, offering Anderson at least $5,000 for the guarded land. Stark Brothers Nursery renamed the apple Golden Delicious and heavily marketed the variety with their other commercial apple Red Delicious.
Grimes Golden
The Grimes Golden apple was found in the 1830s at a cider mill in modern-day West Virginia from a tree that is rumored to have sprouted from a seed planted by Johnny Appleseed. It is almost certainly the parent of Golden Delicious, and therefore a distant ancestor of a great number of the apple varieties. The main characteristics of Grimes Golden, which are also found in Golden Delicious are the clean dry finish, very slight russeting tendency, somewhat prominent lenticels (the attractive speckles on the skin)
and the slightly tall shape with a hint of ribs. The long stalk, which often remains attached to the fruit after picking, is generally a reliable indicator of Golden Delicious / Grimes Golden heritage in all its offspring. Even Rubinette, that most Cox-like of Golden Delicious crosses, has the familiar long stalk. All in all, it is quite difficult to tell Grimes Golden and Golden Delicious apart from a simple visual inspection. However, when it comes to flavor, there is a noticeable difference. As might be expected Grimes Golden is crisp and sweet – however, the sweetness is richer than in Golden Delicious, and most tasters agree that Grimes Golden has the superior flavor. There’s a hint of rich spiciness in Grimes Golden which is completely absent in Golden Delicious. Grimes Golden is one of the finest American apples.
Hawkeye
Hawkeye is the parent of what is often considered as the most famous apple in the world—the Red Delicious. Legend holds, although the story was told by its discoverer, Jesse Hiatt. One day in 1862, Hiatt noticed a seedling growing out of line in his Yellow Bellflower orchard. Hiatt valued orderly rows and cut down the seedling. A while later, he noticed the seedling growing again and cut it down. After the seedling appeared for a third time, it is rumored that Hiatt acquiesced to the seedling and said, “If thee must live, thee may.” As the modern Red Delicious apple has been developed from several sports that were redder and redder, it has become less tasty and less crisp, unlike the Hawkeye which is an excellent eating apple.
Hidden Rose
The original tree from which today’s Hidden Rose Apple trees are grown was located on land belonging to Lucky and Audrey Newell in Airlie, Oregon. The “parent tree” of the unique apple known as the Newell-Kimzey variety grew in the middle of the Newells’ meadow just six feet from an abandoned, hand-dug well. In the mid 1960s, the Newells moved to a large property and sold the eighty acres where this one and only red-fleshed apple tree stood.Two decades later, Louis Kimzey, former field manager at Thomas Paine Farms, was walking through the Newells’ old orchards and picked an apple from a large tree. Biting into it, he was amazed to find the pink flesh of what would become known as the Hidden Rose Apple. Hidden Rose Apples are a variegated, red-fleshed variety. The late-ripening apples were discovered growing as a chance seedling in Oregon in the late 20th century and were selected for their unusual flesh coloring and firm, dense texture. Hidden Rose Apples are versatile, utilized by apple enthusiasts in fresh and cooked preparations, and the apples are grown in limited supply as a specialty variety. Hidden Rose Apples have a sweet-tart, tangy flavor well suited for fresh and cooked preparations. The apples are popularly sliced to showcase the variegated flesh coloring, and the slices can be tossed into salads, displayed on charcuterie boards, or arranged on a snack plate.
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. One of the finest, russeted, eating apples.
Maiden‘s Blush
The Maiden’s Blush apple tree is one of the oldest American apples. Coxe wrote in 1817 that Maiden’s Blush apples were popular in the Philadelphia markets of his day. Beautiful apple of pale thin skinned, lemon-yellow color with crimson blush. Flesh is white, sprightly, crisp and tender with a sharp, acid flavor that mellows when fully ripe. Maiden Blush apple tree is an excellent grower, and comes into bearing young. Dependable producer, long harvest period, and displays resistance to
fireblight. Maiden‘s Blush is also known as Lady Blush, Vestal, and Red Cheek. There is also an Irish apple called Maiden Blush, a distinct variety. The American Maiden Blush was brought to notice by Samuel Allinson of Burlington, New Jersey, and was described by Coxe in 1817 as, “popular in the Philadelphia market.” The thin skin is tough and smooth and a pale waxen-yellow in color with a crimson blush. The white flesh, with a slightly yellow tinge, is crisp and tender with a sharp, acid flavor that mellows when fully ripe. The upright growing tree is vigorous and bears heavily annually. The bark is olive in color, and the dull, smooth leaves have a slight, bluish cast with sharp regular serrations. It is subject to fireblight, scab, and apple blotch. Ripening over a period of about a month in August, it is popular for dessert and cooking. In the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, it was a favorite apple variety for drying because the flesh remains white and bright.
Milton
In the early 20th century breeders at the New York State Fruit Testing in Geneva were breeding McIntosh with various old heirlooms. Milton is the result of a Mac crossed with the old Russian summer apple called Yellow Transparent. The cross was done by Richard Wellington in 1909 and released 14 years later. Thanks to the Yellow Transparent in Milton’s heritage, the skin of the fruit appears more translucent than most apples. The yellow base is complicated by white and green, and the red blush has a purplish tinge. Perhaps this accounts for the hazy bloom that can cover Milton and other purply-blue varieties. It is not uncommon to find a thin green suture line stretching from basin to cavity on the fruit. The craziest thing about Milton is its odd shape. Many of them look round like an apple should, but others appear to have broken out of the mold and are almost triangular in shape. Although mostly known as a cooking apple, it is also excellent as a dessert fruit as well. The fruit isn’t terribly aromatic, but the flavors call to mind grapefruit, white grape juice and Asian pear. It’s tart enough to make your lips pucker. Cooks up very quickly into a smooth, yellow sauce. The chewy skins become soft and will almost dissolve, but those who don’t like skins in their sauce will want to peel them before cooking. It is likely that you’ll want to add spices to the sauce. It is good in a pie, but it lacks the tartness of Wealthy and Duchess. Pairs well in a pie with the tart flavor of berries.
Mollie’s Delicious
Mollie’s Delicious apples were developed by G.W. Schneider at Rutgers University’s New Jersey Agricultural Experimentation Station in 1948. The variety was studied and tested for over ten years and was eventually released to the market in 1966. Mollie’s Delicious apples are medium to large, conical fruits, averaging 7 to 10 centimeters in diameter. The skin is smooth, thin, firm, and ribbed with a yellow-green base, covered in pink-red striping and blush. There are also light tan spots or lenticels found across the surface, and the top of the fruit bears a deep stem cavity. Underneath the skin, the flesh is pale yellow to white and has a crisp, granular, and aqueous consistency, encasing a fibrous core filled with small, black-brown seeds. Mollie’s Delicious apples are aromatic with a sweet-tart and subtly acidic flavor.
Priscella
Priscella is the second apple variety developed through the collaborative PRI disease-resistant breeding program run by Purdue University, Rutgers University, and the University of Illinois. It was planted in 1962 and has a complex heritage that includes Starking Delicious, McIntosh, Golden Delicious, and Rome Beauty. It was introduced in 1972 and named ‘Priscilla’ after Priscilla Hovde, the wife of the seventh president of Purdue University. A great apple for making jelly, or just eating straight off the tree. Priscilla has red skin and in the flesh you can find wisps of red. It has pleasing aromatics, a crisp texture, sweetness, and mild acidity. Priscilla is also completely resistant to apple scab. Its skin is yellow but eventually shifts into a bright red that will cover nearly the entire surface.
Ramsdell Sweet
The Ramsdell Sweet apple tree was first described in 1845 under the name Ramsdell Sweeting, but in 1862 it was officially cataloged as the Ramsdell Sweet. A very sweet apple of good size. High quality flesh is tinged with yellow and is fine, firm, tender, juicy and of course, sweet. This is a great dessert apple. The Ramsdell Sweet apple is smooth yellow skin overspread with an attractive crimson red. Early bearing and fairly vigorous. Fruit is medium to large, conic to rectangular in shape with yellow skin nearly covered with dark red and darker red striping. The yellowish-white flesh is firm, tender and very sweet, but can become mealy if overripe.
Sierra Beauty
An indigenous California variety that deserves to be more widely known and grown is the Sierra Beauty, an outstanding apple that comes with an interesting story. According to old catalog accounts, it was found as a chance seedling growing in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, 30 miles east of Oroville in Butte County; the discovery occurred around 1870. Twenty years later, it debuted as Sierra Beauty at Rancho Chico Nursery, an enterprise operated by General John Bidwell (1819-1900), an orchardist, nurseryman, and founder of the town of Chico. Sierra Beauty does earn its name; the apples are large and colorful with a creamy yellow background typically suffused by a beautiful crimson-red blush. The white flesh has excellent texture, at once crisp, tender, and juicy. The flavor is brisk with sugar and acid as well as strongly aromatic in a pineapple mode.
It is a versatile apple, serving well for fresh dessert, cooked pies and sauces, and spritely sweet cider. It ripens here in October and stores easily for a few more months.
Summer Rose
Summer Rose is a very high quality, early season apple originating in New Jersey in the early 1800’s. It compares favorably with other better-known early apples such as Red Astrachan and Yellow Transparent. It is a late bloomer and escapes most late spring frosts. Summer Rose is an attractive fruit with smooth, waxy, yellow skin blushed with red streaks and blotches. The fine-grained white flesh is tender, crisp, and juicy. Ripens June to July and does not store well.
Summer Rose apples are delicious for eating and cooking. The Summer Rose apples are tender, white fine flesh, sweet and sprightly. The skin is pale greenish yellow, stripped and splashed with red on the exposed cheek. Summer Rose fruit ripen gradually from early to middle of summer. Also blooms relatively late for an early harvest fruit.
Sweet Sixteen
Sweet Sixteen is a great choice for northern climates: it is cold hardy to zone 3 and somewhat resistant to fireblight, scab, and cedar-apple rust. The tree is vigorous with a very upright habit that can benefit from spreading. Otherwise, it is generally easy to manage and a reliable annual cropper. This apple is a favorite in the U-pick orchards. Over the years it has steadily acquired a loyal following as more and more tasters fall in love with its unique flavor of Sweet Sixteen. While Honeycrisp wins for texture, some would say Sweet Sixteen is the most remarkable of the modern apples in terms of flavor. The apple is medium-large, blushed, and striped rose-red, and speckled with pale lenticels. The flesh is crisp and distinctly yellow, almost golden. Although it has enough acid in it to be well balanced, attempts to describe the flavor of Sweet Sixteen almost always resort to comparisons from the candy aisle. Sweet Sixteen tastes like bubblegum and cherry Life Savers say some tasters. Others say it tastes like raspberry Twizzlers. The sweetness is “showy,” and children love this apple. While it stores passably for about six weeks, Sweet Sixteen is best eaten fresh off the tree. A cross of Northern Spy and MN 447, Sweet Sixteen gets its cold hardiness from both parents.
Tyderman’s Red
Tydeman’s Red was created by renowned English apple breeder H.M. Tydeman at the East Malling Research Station in Kent in the UK. It was bred as a cross between McIntosh and Worcester Pearmain and was introduced in 1929.This is a juicy sweet/tart variety, with flavor and eating qualities similar to McIntosh. The flesh is a little more course textured than McIntosh and is bright white. Tydeman’s Red will make a nice early season apple pie but will cook up soft and will not hold a nice slice. It also makes a smooth applesauce. McIntosh lovers should try Tydeman’s Red while they are waiting for our McIntosh to ripen in mid to late September. One sample is lopsided, with odd lobes and scars; the other more regular and with russet radiating from the stem well. Tydeman’s flesh is tender crisp, a dense white with green highlights. It is sweet with tart, faintly vinous, with suggestions of light maple syrup and cider and delicate hints of unripe melon and caramel. This is an elegant apple with subtle flavors; it goes down easily. The chewy peel is not unpleasant.
Washington Strawberry
A beautiful apple, large, round, red with yellow highlights, Washington Strawberry has crisp, cream-colored flesh, and is moderately juicy. It has a mildly tart flavor with hints of citrus, with medium to large, round conic shape. The base color is yellow, over which is a striped, brick-red wash on the sun-exposed face, marked with a pattern of light-colored, medium-large lenticels, mixed with russet spots. Often with a mottled appearance. The calyx is medium to large size and partly open set in a deep and funnel-shaped, lightly ribbed basin. The stem is short to long, sometimes slender, other times stout and set in a deep and funnel-shaped, russet-lined cavity. Raised on the farm of Job Whipple at Union Springs, Washington County, New York. First exhibited at the New York State Agricultural Society’s fair in 1849 in Syracuse, New York.
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 Spitzenburg and Newtown Pippin might be involved somewhere in the parentage, as these apples both have pronounced flavors.
