Jonagold is a handsome, sturdy, and vigorous tree that has an attractive, spreading habit. It is cold hardy, precocious, and a very heavy cropper. In fact, the main challenge with Jonagold is managing crop loads to avoid biennialism. Jonagold must be thinned early–soon after petal fall–and sufficiently. This tree is a triploid, and two diploid pollenizers will be needed for full fertility; Golden Delicious, one of its parents, should be avoided, as these two trees are incompatible. Jonagold is susceptible to fireblight, powdery mildew, canker, and scab, but resistant to cedar-apple rust and alternaria. It is also susceptible to blister spot, but this is a cosmetic issue that will be of concern only to commercial growers.

The mid-late season fruit is large, striped red over gold, with firm, breaking, sweet-tart flesh. Jonagold is a cross of Jonathan and Golden Delicious, and as Jacobsen writes in Apples of Uncommon Character, it "takes Golden's honey-scented sweetness and spices it up with Jonathan's flowery tartness." It is of the finest quality for fresh eating, and it is also a great baking apple. This tree works well in the small home-orchard as it has a long harvest season that requires several pickings. The fruit will store for about two months in regular refrigeration. Eve's Cidery says that Jonagold is "hard to beat" for adding aromatics to dessert ciders.

Jonagold is one of the finest products of the Cornell breeding program in Geneva, New York. It was selected in 1943 and introduced in 1968, and it has become broadly popular in Europe. In 1993, Jonagold won the Award of Garden Merit from the UK's Royal Horticultural Society.