About Some of Our Apple Varieties

We have over 100 varieties of apples. Our apple picking season starts in July with apples such as Quinte, Vista Bella and Melba and continues through early November with Fuji, Granny Smith, Braeburn and others. Labor Day, the traditional end to summer, is also the end of our summer apples and is the beginning of our fall apples since we often start picking our macs shortly after this holiday.

For more information on some of our apples, see below or view as a PDF.

Calville Blanc D’ Hiver

This is perhaps the most sought after of the antique/heirloom apples. This apple has many features that make it really special. For instance, its flesh has more vitamin C than an orange. In fact, it has so much of it you can taste it! Nevertheless, Calville Blanc is not unpleasantly tart; the pale yellow flesh is tender and lively on the tongue. It is one of our absolutely favorites for pies—only Gravenstein can top it and here in Michigan Gravenstein is solely a summer apple so is no real competition.

History: Since it is such an old apple—in fact it was several centuries old when Thomas Jefferson planted his Calville’s apple trees – its history is long and colorful. It has been, and perhaps still is, the best—known dessert apple in France. Some of the famous French restaurants still offer it for those discriminating tastes. Robert Nitschke, of Southmeadow Fruit Gardens fame, has spotted Calville in Claude Monet’s still life Apples and Grapes.

Candy Cane

Also known as the “Surprise” apple since its skin is rather plain greenish-yellow but its flesh is “surprisingly” pink or even red. It is a small apple with a refreshing tart flavor. By the way, its flowers are unbelievably beautiful being large and deep pink, almost red.

History: An old English variety.

Court Pendu Plat

This apple was described in the literature written in the 1600s. In fact, it is believed to have originated before Christ was born. This apple is hard, but its beautiful rich yellow flesh is not really crisp, although it is chock full of flavor and very dense. It is a bit like eating a piece of hard cheese.

Empire

The Empire apple has creamy white flesh that is juicy and crisp. It is one of the few apples that, when fresh, will snap as you take a bite! It has a combination of tartness and sweetness that many people love and it is highly rated in taste tests. It also makes great pies! Its only problem is that it usually is only medium in size.

History: Introduced in 1966 by New York’s Geneva Experiment Station it is a cross of McIntosh and Red Delicious.

Fameuse

Also commonly called Snow apple because of its glistening snow white flesh. Fameuse is unusually tender and juicy with a distinctive cidery, spicy flavor.

History: Believed to have come from French Canada from a French apple seed that was planted in the 1600s. (Fameus is an old French word for “famous.”)

Fuji

Fuji has firm, fine-grained sweet flesh. However, the outstanding characteristic of Fuji is that it keeps so well. Unlike most apples, you can put Fuji in a fruit bowl on your table and leave it there for up to two or three weeks and it still is nice and crisp. Another interesting thing about the tree itself is that the leaves stay nice and green well into November—even here in Michigan. I remember one sunny and mild November day when I was out picking Fuji and it seemed like it was the middle of summer with the sun glistening off the shiny green leaves!

History: Fuji was developed in Japan and originally named Tohoko #7. Its parents are Red Delicious and Ralls Janet—both American apples.

Golden Russet

This russet skinned apple looks old, which it is. In fact, it was sold commercially before the English burned the White House and Capitol Building in 1814. The yellowish flesh is crisp, fine textured with a definite sweetness that makes it probably the best cider apples there is! Russet As with most late ripening russet apples they are a great keeper. However, if you don’t like them soft just under the skin you should keep them in humid storage like in a plastic bag. This is the apple that some bury in the ground in the fall and enjoy crisp eating in the spring. We tried this out and it works!

History: As already mentioned this apple is old. It probably came from a seed from the even older English Russet.

Granny Smith

The first modern “green apple” to invade the supermarket’s produce aisles. Granny Smith proved to the twentieth century public that “green” and “unripe” aren’t synonymous. It is mild-flavored, has a good balance of tart and sweet and is nearly as resilient as a tennis ball. It also will keep until spring if you keep it in an unheated room.

History: Legend has it that Mrs. Smith, an Australian, tossed out a bunch of apples in her back yard in 1868 and this apple sprouted from one of the seeds of the discarded apples.

Hawaii

When at its prime, this is an exceedingly crisp apple. It also is quite juicy with a very sweet flavor. The scent of pineapple has been repeatedly claimed for Hawaii, but you may find the only thing tropical about this apple is its name!

History: Hawaii was developed in California in the 1940s and is likely a cross of Golden Delicious and Gravenstein.

Jonadel

The yellowish white flesh is firm, tender, and fine-grained with a sweet, subacid flavor. It stores well.

History: A cross of Jonathan and Red Delicious, this apple was developed at the Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station in Ames, Iowa in 1928. It was released commercially in 1958.

Jonagold

In a poll of nineteen apple experts in nine countries, Jonagold scored as the overall favorite. It is a sweet-tart dessert apple (as all top dessert apples normally are) and its creamy yellow flesh is noticeably crisp and juicy. Its flavor and aroma comes very close to Jonathan (which has more good old fashioned apple taste than any other).

Kandil Sinap

One look at this apple and you know it is different. This is about as far from a round apple as you can get—it is cylindrical! It also is quite pretty with its porcelain like white skin washed with red and yellow. Another unique characteristic of this apple is its white flesh whose texture is about as fine as they come. Its taste has that balance between sweet and sour that the finest apples have. Some claim they can detect the scent of a grapefruit.

History: Believed to have originated in Turkey in the early 1800s.

Mutsu/Crispin

Mutsu (pronounced moo-tsoo) was rated near the top of taste tests, although pies made from it aren’t as highly rated. Its white flesh is crisp and juicy and has a touch of tartness.

History: Is a cross of Golden Delicious and Indo. It was developed in Japan in the 1930s and first introduced into America after WWII.

Northern Spy

The flesh of this apple contains a bunch of Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C). Four times as much as Macs do. While Calville Blanc has even more, there is enough of it in Spies that it is possible to taste it! Another popular name for this apple is “Pie Apple” because it makes really great tasting pies. (We here think Calville make even better pies but they are even harder to grow than Spies!) The yellowish white flesh is juicy and with a hint of sweetness along with a definite tart taste.

History: Originated near Canandaigua, New York in the early 1800s. Apple experts believe one of its parents was the Wagener variety. The site of the original tree, along a county road between Holcomb and Victor, is marked by a bronze plaque.

Old Fashioned Delicious

Nearly all Red Delicious apples grown today are red skinned strains of red skinned strains of red skinned strains of … of …the original Red Delicious. Somewhere down the line the taste was forgotten – only color was important. While we grow some double red strains, we also grow some Delicious which are direct descendants of the original Delicious. Lets face it. The original Red Delicious had more flavor, was sweeter and juicier than the new strains.

History: Originated in Iowa just after the Civil War and was originally called “Hawkeye.” Stark Bro’s Nurseries bought the rights to this tree and then changed its name to Red Delicious.

RedGold

Medium, schoolbox sized apple with gorgeous rose color overall and russet dots. Flesh tender, yellowish-white with wonderfully sweet flavor. Especially for those who prefer low acid apples.

Roxbury Russet

So similar in appearance to Golden Russet that we have to struggle to keep them apart! However, it does have a different taste being not as sweet with a nice tang. It also is crisper and juicier.

History: It is perhaps the oldest of American apples since it was grown in Roxbury, Massachusetts around the time of the Mayflower’s landing.

Senator

Also known as Oliver and Oliver’s Red. One of Magicland Farm’ s rarest apple varieties. The yellowish flesh of this apple is fine-grained and juicy with a great and rather unique flavor. It is a good keeper. The appearance of this apple is distinctive with its conspicuous light colored dots over its splashed red skin.

History: This apple originated in the Ozarks of Arkansas in the early 1800’s on John Oliver’s Washington County farm. It became a very popular local variety and was widely grown in the Ozarks of Arkansas. In 1895, Stark Bro’s Nursery sold this apple under the trademarked name, Senator.

Splendour (also spelled “Splendor”)

The apple is very sweet with good flavor. It is a dark pink apple with crisp, breaking, white flesh.. The skin is thin and it can be fairly easily bruised, so is no longer available in food markets. Splendour stores well.

History: A New Zealand apple that is a cross between Red Dougherty and Golden Delicious.

Tolman Sweet

Fruit is medium-sized and round with yellowish-white skin sometimes with a faint red blush. The firm, fine-grained white flesh is juicy and very sweet with a distinctive “sweet apple” flavor.

History: A very old American apple believed to have originated in Dorchester Massachusetts.