This spreading tree is precocious, vigorous, hardy, and resistant to all major diseases. It blooms late, avoiding most frosts. All it needs is some attentive pruning and thinning to keep it annual.

The apple is smallish, striped red over a yellow background. While some tasters find the fruit unremarkable, others note that it does not develop full flavor until it has been stored for several months. And a remarkably long storage life is Gilpin's claim to fame; it was once the yardstick against which the storability of other apples was measured, and it was valued as a dessert apple to be served into spring. Gilpin hangs well on the tree and is also an excellent apple for baking and cider, producing a rich juice that is classified as bittersweet. There's not much this apple can't do; it would be a wonderful homesteading tree.

William Coxe was first to notice Gilpin; in 1817 he wrote: "It is highly esteemed for its excellence as a table apple, late in the spring, and as a good cider fruit. It is a most abundant bearer, and hangs on the tree very late in the season. The tree is hardy; of a handsome, open, spreading, and vigorous growth . . . not fit for eating until mid-winter, when it becomes juicy, tender, and fine flavored."