ADAMS PEARMAIN (a.k.a. Norfolk Pippin)   English dessert apple, dating to early 1800s.  Skin yellow with considerable light striping, sometimes orange-red blush;  light russet network.  Medium sized fruits on long slender shoots.  Flesh rich, sugary. Considerable tolerance to scab.   Precocious and productive. 

ARKANSAS BLACK.  A fine old variety, one of the best winter-keepers. Found in Benton County, Arkansas about 1870.  Bright, crisp yellow flesh; dark red skin.  Great flavor.  Tough skin, giving it some resistance to codling moth.  Resistant to cedar apple rust.  Triploid; pollen not viable.         

ASHMEAD'S KERNEL   One of the finest flavored antiques -- high sugar content with good acid balance; crisp yellow flesh.  Very intense apple flavor.  This is a real connoisseur's variety;  no apple variety collection is complete without Ashmead's ernel!!.  Medium small fruit, not particularly attractive--greenish yellow skin, rather ugly brown blush.  Modest production.  Very winter-hardy.  Originated in England almost 300 years ago.        

BALDWIN  Your great-grandma's winter keeper, sometimes called Woodpecker.   A fine antique variety, once the most important variety in the Northeast. Originated in Massachusetts 250 years ago.  Rich, crisp, juicy eating. Large fruit; bright red skin.  Tough enough to survive the barrel-packing of 100 years ago. Excellent keeper.  Triploid; pollen sterile.  Tends to be biennial bearer.  

BELLE DE BOSKOOP  Large greenish-yellow fruit.  Very strong "apple" flavor.  Fairly tart at harvest, mellowing to excellent sugar/acid balance.  Outstanding cooker; slices tend to keep shape;  makes golden yellow sauce or slices.  Fine keeper.  High in vitamin C.  Late ripening.  Triploid;  pollen sterile.  From Holland, ca. 1850.        

BEN DAVIS    The famous "mortgage-lifter"  of the 1890s.  My great-grandad had 40 acres of Bens, sold them mostly to peddlers from the Deep South.  In the old days, Bens were packed in 3-bushel barrels;  many a bargeload floated down the Mississippi for Memphis and Natchez and points south.  Still much in demand by commercial processors for making a Grade A, golden yellow applesauce.  Strictly a cooking apple; ideal for drying.    Almost uniquely susceptible to apple blotch disease.   (See "Ben Davis" in our Stories section-link.)       

BLACK GILLIFLOWER  (a.k.a. Sheepnose)     

BLACK OXFORD   High quality winter keeper from Maine.  Very dark purplish-red, almost black. Very winter hardy.  {Said to be tolerant of insects and disease.      

BLENHEIM ORANGE  Large, yellow-orange to red-orange fruit; aromatic;  good flavor. Originated in England before 1750.  Tip bearer;  productive.  Fire blight tolerant.  

BLUE PEARMAIN   An old English variety that has been successful in Maine and Quebec because of its excellent winter hardiness.  Skin very dark purplish red, similar to Black Oxford.  Flesh yellowish, rather firm but coarse;  fairly juicy.  Fruit large; mild-flavored; sweet; aromatic.  Keeps all winter.  October ripening.    

BRAMLEY'S SEEDLING   The classic cooker of Britain; makes a pale, creamy sauce with fine tart/sweet balance. Originated in England about 1800. Big acidic fruit; high in vitamin C.  Greenish-yellow, with broad reddish-brown striping.   Vigorous tree; triploid.  Precocious and productive.  Excellent keeper.    

CALVILLE BLANC D'HIVER.  The classic dessert apple of France.  Large yellow fruit, flushed with red. Aromatic; strong flavor. Discovered in France in  the 1590s.  Extremely high levels of Vitamin C.  When cooked, slices keep shape.  Makes excellent cider.  Generally regarded as poor producer, but on dwarfing rootstocks, it has been productive.     

CHAMPLAIN Pale yellow; round-conic; very tender, juicy.  Sprightly flavor.  August ripening; ripens over period of  month .  Dates back to early 1800s.   Vigorous, productive.         .

CHENANGO STRAWBERRY.  Dates back to the 1840s.  Medium-large, long-conic fruit -- "sheepnose" shape.  Skin is glowing translucent pale yellow striped with crimson. Excellent dessert quality.  Very winter hardy.       

COURT PENDU PLAT  Old variety known since 1613, probable origins in Roman times. The name is derived from Corps Pendu, referring to the shortness of the stem. Skin is greenish-yellow becoming flushed with orange-red with short broken stripes. A good cropper with rich, aromatic fruit with a good balance of sugar and acid. Suitable for areas with late spring frost because it blooms very late and is cold hardy. 

COURT ROYAL    Large, greenish-yellow fruit.  Sweet and crisp.      

COX'S ORANGE PIPPIN  Seedling of Ribston Pippin, fund in early 1800s.  Still the favorite apple of the Englishman, Cox has an intense apple flavor -spicy, high sugar + high acid. Flavor is enhances by ripening off the tree.  Fruit medium size, dull finish, often with small cracks, sometimes heavily cracked.  A challenge to grow, but well worth the effort.  Good scab resistance but blight susceptible.     

EGREMONT RUSSET    This old English variety is truly world class for flavor -- perhaps the very best of all the russets. Dense flesh.  Small, golden brown fruit, usually with some black spots.  Fine keeper.  Considerable scab resistance.  Smallish tree; spur bearer.  Very winter hardy.    

ESOPUS SPITZENBURG.  Although Thomas Jefferson made his money from Newtown Pippin, Esopus Spitzenburg was his favorite for eating.  Esopus has only been around for about 200 years -- found in the Hudson Valley of New York just before George Washington became our first President. Fruit is medium size, brilliant orange-red, rather conical usually.  Rich, spicy flavor, with fine-grained yellowish flesh.  Elegant eating from harvest through Christmastime. A willowy tree, with long, slender branches.  Ripens unevenly, so 3 or 4 or 5 pickings are required to get prime eating quality.  Susceptible to about all the common diseases.    

FAMEUSE (a.k.a. SNOW)  The ancient Snow apple of Quebec, dating from the early 1700s.  Superbly winter hardy.  Brilliant white flesh, red-striped skin.  Mild flavor. Fruit medium-small, produced on short spurs.   Supposed to be Mother of McIntosh.      

FREIHERR VON BERLEPSCH  Outstanding quality in an ugly skin!!  Berlepsch cracks badly; skin surface is scruffy;  considerable russet -- but the flavor and texture are world class.   

GILPIN.      Old Virginia variety, dating back to early 19th century.  Excellent cider apple.  Yellow skin, usually red-striped.  Crisp, juicy.  Late blooming.   Excellent long-term storage; esteemed as table apple late into the spring.          

GOLDEN NOBLE  Very high vitamin C content.  Large yellow fruit. Primarily for cooking but excellent company when sailing across the ocean!  Originated in England in 1700s.      

GOLDEN PIPPIN    Greenish-yellow fruit, ripening to deep golden yellow.  Harvest in early September.  Cooking and eating out of hand.  American origin, about 1800.  

GOLDEN RUSSETT   Regarded by many as the finest-flavored of all the American antiques.  Beautiful golden skin covered with a net of russet.  Late ripening.  Considered the very best cider variety.  Good winter-hardiness.  Modest production, but we expect to see higher productivity with these rootstocks.   Scab-tolerant.   

GRAVENSTEIN  Said to have originated in Italy in early 1600s.  Large fruit ; yellow skin, striped or solid blush;  flesh yellowish-white. Uneven ripening; fruit tends to drop, so multiple picking required.  Especially good for sauce and cider. Major sauce apple for California canners. Tangy sweet flavor.  Very vigorous.  Tends to be biennial; both spur- and tip-bearing.  Triploid.          

GRENADIER      English cooking apple, making a sharp-flavored, creamy, light-colored sauce.  Large, greenish-yellow fruit.  First found in England about 1830.   

HAWKEYE (the Original Delicious)  This is the legendary apple that old Jessie Hyatt took to Mr. Stark -- the apple that gave rise to a whole new industry.  No cardboard here -- the Original really IS Delicious!!  No, not beautiful  red wax images of apples, but the real thing.  Color is typically "buckskin" in the south, red striped in the North. 

HEREFORDSHIRE REDSTREAK    Rather small, oblong fruit, yellow ground streaked with red.  Yellow flesh rich flavored, firm, sweet, somewhat dry.       

HORSE APPLE   Old Southern variety. Midsummer ripening.  Greenish-yellow fruit; tart until fully ripe.        

HUBBARDSTON NONESUCH   A great old  apple from Massachusetts, dating back to early 19th century.  Fruit large, round-conic;  skin yellow with red striping.  Flesh yellow, crisp; small core.  Sweet flavor.  Late ripening.  Some biennial tendency.  Precocious and productive.     

IRISH PEACH  Chance seedling found in Ireland around 1800.  Considered very best of early-ripening apples;  thought to be seedling of Yellow Transparent.  Skin thin,  pale, translucent  greenish-yellow, similar to Transparent.  Tip-bearer.  Upright growth.  

ISLE OF WIGHT PIPPIN      

JAMES GRIEVE Originated in Scotland in the 1890s, possibly from seed of Cox's Orange Pippin.  Fruit medium-size, pale yellow skin flushed and striped in red; usually some russet.  High vitamin C content.  Regular bearing.  Early midseason ripening.       

JEFFERIS  Old Pennsylvania variety, found in the 1830s.  Fruit has rich flavor similar to Jonathan. Skin thin, easily bruised.  Somewhat tolerant of scab and mildew.  Productive.  Regular bearing; ripens over long period from midseason till late.    

JONATHAN    One of the finest apples ever produced;  Dad grew up on Jonathan back in Southern Illinois.  Probably a seedling of Esopus Spitzenburg;  supposedly found in some of Johnny Appleseed's plantings.  Tart/sweet balance;  precocious and productive.  

KANDIL SINAP   An outstanding flavor brought in from Turkey nearly 200 years ago.  Skin beautiful translucent yellow, almost a porceilain finish, rather similar to Opalescent. Unique nearly cylindrical form.  October ripening; only fair keeper.  Productive; genetic semi-dwarf tree, nearly pyramidal form.    1

KERRY IRISH PIPPIN  An old Irish variety, dating back at least into the early 1700s.  Small, yellow-orange fruit with some red splotching.  Crisp, crunchy texture;  white flesh, spicy flavor.  Considerable scab tolerance.         

KING DAVID Midwestern introduction similar to Jonathan, which is probably one parent;  found in fencerow in Arkansas in 1893.  Rich flavor. An excellent early cider apple.  Beautiful mahogany red skin.  Precocious and productive. Tolerant to fire blight.   Fruit hangs on the tree through the winter.  

KING OF THE PIPPINS      Probably synonomous with Golden Winter Pearmain and Reine des Reinette.  Crisp white flesh; fine flavor with good sugar/acid balance.  Orange-red blush, usually with some red striping.     

KING OF TOMPKINS COUNTY  A great old antique; very good quality; good keeper.  Very large, attractive fruit.  Ripens just after McIntosh.  Originated in New Jersey, but renamed in New York 200 years ago.  Triploid.     

LADY (Api)     Beautiful small fruit -- only about an inch diameter-- produced in clusters of 4 to 7 apples.  Although a delightul little thing to nibble on, Lady apples probably are most useful in making Christmas wreathes.  From Brittany, 18th century but thought to have come down from Roman times.          .

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NEWTOWN PIPPIN (YELLOW NEWTOWN; ALBEMARLE PIPPIN).   This is the apple that Thomas Jefferson made famous 200 years ago.  At Monticello, Jefferson had a large orchard of Pippins, which he had packed in barrels and shipped to England;  on the London market, these Albemarle Pippins fetched premium prices. The Newtown Pippin is NOT a beautiful apple --it's rather squat, it's only medium size, its skin color is a yellowish-green that not attractive.  Below that not-so-beautiful skin, though, lurks a gourmet's apple--rich flavor, highly aromatic, sweet/tart with a touch of pineapple.  Very firm fruit; excellent keeper. Tree is vigorous; early-bearing; productive. Originated in the 1700s on Long Island.        

NICKAJACK     Yellow to greenish-yellow skin, pink or orange stripes where exposed to sun.  Late 1700s;  probably North Carolina.  Root germs present on older wood.  Tree vigorous, productive.  Late ripening.     

 NORTHERN  SPY  Discovered just north of Geneva in early 1800s.  Fruit very high quality;  large, ribbed, usually red and pink striped over light yellow ground color.  Traditionally very slow to come into bearing, but on dwarfing rootstocks early enough.  Productive, but strong tendency to biennial bearing.  Susceptible to blight and scab.         

OLD NON-PAREIL    Ancient English apple, dating back to early 1600s.  Small, greenish-yellow fruit, turning to orange, usually with some russet.  Small, not especially attractive.  Outstanding flavor for eating out of hand.  Makes an excellent single-variety cider.  Late October ripening.  Small tree..           

OLD PEARMAIN      

OPALESCENT   Glowing purplish-red skin -- "opalescent" finish.  Large, late ripening.  Yellow flesh; subacid; juicy.  Michigan variety introduced in 1880.     

ORLEANS REINETTE    From France, one of Marie Antoinette's favorites.  Medium to small, greenish-yellow fruit with netlike russett.  Rich nutty flavor, similar to Chestnut Crab.       

PINE GOLDEN PIPPIN             

PITMASTON PINEAPPLE    Small English apple with excellent flavor, usually described as "nutty, honeyed:.  Sugary flesh; juicy.  Lightly russet on beauitiful golden yellow.        

POMME GRIS              

 POUND SWEET  Very large golden yellow fruit;  good eating quality, outstanding baker.  According to Burford, Pound Sweet was used in Ohio during the Civil War to make apple butter that was sold to both North and South.  Very good cider apple. Dates to the early 1800s.         

RED JUNE    Very earliest to ripen.  Small red fruit, very white flesh.  Cooking and eating out of hand.  Biennial bearing.     

 REINE DE POMME             

REINETTE CLOCHARD     

REINETTE FRANCHE  Netted russet on golden skin.  Sweet/tart flavor.  Antique from XVIth Normandy.  Ripens late October.       

REINETTE SIMERENKO   A hardy dessert apple from Russia (but actually appears to be an obscure variety originating in New Jersey).  Unusually drought-tolerant.  Medium-large green fruit. October ripening.  Tangy flavor with good sugar/acid balance; crisp and juicy.  Fruit medium-large; pale yellow, with pink blush.  Precocious and producive.  Excellent keeper.        

REINETTE ZABERGAU     Outstanding dessert quality -- intense flavor, stong sweet/tart balance,  Excellent storage.  Triploid.  Productive.  Originated in Germany in late 1800s.  Bronzed russet finish.    

RIBSTON PIPPIN  Fine old English dessert apple, originated about 1700.  Flesh very crisp, hard, sugary; intense, rich flavor and aroma.  Not attractive -- brownish-orange skin.  Triploid;  pollen serile. Good scab tolerance.  Late September ripening.  

ROXBURY RUSSET  The oldest apple variety of North American origin was discovered and propagated in Roxbury town, Massachusetts about 1640. Roxbury Russet is still regarded as a fine dessert apple, although no longer to be found on the commercial markets.  Roxbury Russet fruits are large (about 175 grams), yellow-bronze skin well overlain with yellow-brown russeting.  When properly matured, sugar content is very high, yet sugar/acid balance contributes to its fine flavor.  An excellent keeper, storing until April or May. Tree is moderately vigorous; rather tolerant to apple scab and powdery mildew diseases.         

ST. EDMUND'S RUSSET   This old  (1875) English variety is one of the best early autumn eating apples; ripens a month before Golden Russet.  Beautiful solid bronze russet.  Precocious and productive.  Moderate vigor.       

SMOKEHOUSE  An old Pennsylvania variety, noted as a winter keeper; dates to early 1800s.  Dull red over greenish ground color; ugly but outstanding for eating and all cooking purposes.  Flesh crisp, subacid.   Tree productive.     

SUMMER RAMBO (RedSumBo)  Jonathan-type late summer apple.  Greenish-yellow, red-striped.  Fruit larger than Jonathan.  Flavor rich, sprightly.  Good for eating out of hand, for drying, for all culinary purposes.  Precocious and productive.  Semi-compact tree.     

SWAAR      Dutch settlers in the Hudson Valley, above New York City, originated the variety.  Skin is rough, tough, lightly russeted.  Fruit is dense, very high in sugar content;  stores well.          

TOLMAN SWEET   Nearly 200 years old;  from Massachusetts.  Skin pale yellow, flesh white.  Very good sweet (low acid) flavor.  Very winter hardy;  reliable cropper.  Tree productive, healthy, long-lived.        

TRANSCENDENT CRAB    Medium-sized fruit for a crab, perhaps the largest of the Siberian crabapples  -- typically 2-inch diameter.  Crimson red flush on yellow groundcover.  Excellent canner.  Early midseason ripening.  Hardy to -40 and colder.  Productive.     

RED WEALTHY   A fine old Minnesota apple, ripening a couple of weeks before McIntosh.  Introduced by Peter Gideon in 1868.  Pleasantly tart.  Midseason bloom. Precocious and productive         1

WESTFIELD SEEK-NO-FURTHER    Very high quality dessert variety from Massachusetts, about 1790.  Unusually suitable for drying -- high sugar, plus increase of already rich sweet, nutty flavor.  Very winter hardy.      

WHITE WINTER PEARMAIN  The oldest known apple of English origin -- dates back to early Norman times.  Fruit medium-large, greenish.  Very good dessert and culinary quality -- "honeysweet", but with gooe acid balance.  Good keeper. Quite low chilling requirement.        

WHITNEY CRAB     Early summer crab, ripening about with Duchess of Oldenburg.  Extremely winter hardy.  Yellow flesh; sweet & juicy.  Diameter 1 inch.  Precocious and very productive.  Relatively free of disease. Originated in Illinois in the 1860s.        

WINESAP  This is the old-fashioned Virginia Winesap - a small, hard apple that keeps all winter in the garage.  Dates back to colonial times, when it was especially regarded as a cider variety.  Spicy, sweet-tart flavor.  Moderate vigor; relatively small, productive tree.         

WINTER BANANA      The banana-like flavor is faint but distinct.  Creamy yellow skin, occasionally with pink blush.  Compact, semi-dwarf tree.  Sweet, rather bland;  very juicy.  Much used as a pollenizer; midseason bloom. Originated in Indiana in 1870s.             

WOLF RIVER      Huge cooking apples. One of the very hardiest of all apple varieties -- undamaged at 40 below.  Immune to scab; very resistant to fire blight , mildew and rust.  Vigorous and productive. Ripens just before McIntosh.  Strictly a cooking apple.  Originated in Wisconsin, 1870s; probably seedling of Alexander. 
 

WORCHESTER PEARMAIN.   Old English apple;  found there in the mid-1800s.  Intense strawberry flavor.  Bright red skin, juicy white flesh.  Productive.  September ripening.        

YELLOW BELLFLOWER    Found in New Jersey about the time George Washington was born.  Large, yellow, elongated, usually more or less conic, often irregular.  Excellent keeper.  Very good dessert quality;  excellent cooker.            Prices and Salesroom | Back to Top

AKANE     

ALKMENEVery high quality new variety from the Muncheberg (East Germany) breeding program.  Ripens early September, shortly before Cox's Orange Pippin..  Crisp, juicy, aromatic.  Orange-red skin; medium size.  Tree compact, grower-friendly.  Scab-tolerant.   

ARLET a.k.a. Swiss Gourmet.  Golden Delicious x Idared from Swiss breeding program, introduced in 1981.  Medium-smll fruit, bright red over yellow ground.  Mild, sweet flavor; quite crisp.  Early bearing.        

BRAEBURN     

BURGUNDY     

CENTENNIAL CRAB     Fruit similar to Dolgo but much larger.  From the University of Minnesota cross, Wealthy x Dolgo.  Genetic semidwarf.  Excellent sweet flavor.  Scab resistant.  Very winter hardy.  Good pollenizer.            

CHEHALIS       Scab-tolerant (not immune).  Yellow apple, not especially attractive.  Good flavor.          

CHESNUT CRAB     

 CHIEFTAN      .

DISCOVERY     Medium to medium-small fruit, ripening 10 days before Paulared.  Attractive red, often overlaid with scarf skin.  Good flavor for eating out of hand.  Smallish tree;  moderately productive.         

ERWIN BAUER      Seedling of Duchess of Oldenburg, but its fine flavor so much resembles Cox's Orange Pippin that Cox is regarded as probable pollen parent.  Introduced in eastern Germany in 1955. Firm, crisp, juicy.  Ripening late autumn;  good keeper.       

FANTASJA New introduction from the Polish apple breeding program.  Very hardy.  High quality.