Varieties of Apples
Which to pick and why!
Be sure to see our easy, illustrated how-to pages to make and preserve your own:
- applesauce,
- apple butter,
- and apple jelly!
- apple pie filling
- dried apples (coming soon!)
- apple juice (coming soon!)
And great apple recipes to eat now:
- apple pie,
- Apple crunch - best of all! Moist, low sugar and using oats!
- Apple crisp - ever-popular, low sugar and using oats!
- Apple, blackberry, cherry, and/or peach cobbler
- Apple-blackberry, crumble - a English favorite (or favourite)
Also, see How to pick apples and for an excellent article about apple cider from Mother Earth News, click here.
See the bottom of this page for English varieties.
Apple Characteristics and Ripening Date Summary Chart
In general order of ripening
For photos and detail about each variety, see further down
this page! Note the order in which the apples ripen: Gala's are among the
first, while Fuji's are about the last.
| Name | Ripening Date Dates are approximate and vary with weather, location and more! |
Eating | Cooking | Sauce | Pie | Juice |
Apple Butter |
| Gala | mid August to early September |
X | X | BEST | X | X | X |
| PaulaRed | mid August to early September |
X | X | X | X | X | |
| McIntosh | September | X | good | X | X | ||
| Honeycrisp | September | X | X | good, but watery | X | BEST | X |
| Jonathan | mid to late September |
X | X |
Very good |
X | X | X |
| Golden Delicious | mid to late September |
X | X |
Very good |
X | X | X |
| Ultra Gold | mid to late September |
X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Cortland | mid to late September |
X | X | X | X | X | |
| Jonaclicious | mid to late September |
X | X |
Very good |
X | X | X |
| Red Delicious | mid to late September |
X | good | X | |||
| Jonagold | mid to late September |
X |
Very good |
X | |||
| Jubilee | Late September to early October |
X | X | X | X | ||
| Keepsake | Late September to early October |
X | X | X | |||
| Shizuka | Late September to early October |
X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Rome | early to Mid October |
X | X | ||||
| Sundance | early to Mid October |
X | X | X | X | ||
| Blushing Gold | early to Mid October |
X | X | X | X | X | |
| Enterprise | early to Mid October |
X | X | ||||
| Melrose | early to Mid October |
X | X |
Very good |
X | X | X |
|
Stayman Winesap |
mid to late |
X | X | good | X | ||
| Granny Smith | mid to late October |
X | X | X | |||
| Pink Lady | mid to late October |
X | X | good | X | X | X |
| Suncrisp | mid to late October |
X | X | X | X | X | |
| Fuji | mid to late October |
X | X | BEST | X | ||
| Arkansas Black | mid to late October |
Baking | too hard |
Of course, each region of the country and each season varies. Variations in rainfall and temperature greatly affect the usual ripening date. So call ahead!
Alphabetical List of American Apple Varieties and Characteristics
Arkansas Black
- A medium to large apple
- dark purple to almost black
- Very, very hard texture and an excellent keeper.
- Almost too hard-textured at harvest. Best after some storage time.
- Great for baking; and terrible for applesauce
- A Winesap type.
- Late season
Baldwin
- good quality large red apple
- An old variety, subject to cold injury in the winter
- late mid-season
- medium sweet
Blushing Golden
- Medium-sized waxy coated modern yellow apple with a pink blush
- Jonathan/Golden Delicious cross.
- Firm flesh with flavor like Golden Delicious, but tarter.
- Keeps well
- Late season
Brae Burn
- Rich red color with white flesh
- Sweet
- Best for eating
- Late season
Cameo
- A large, round sub-acid apple with red blush stripe over yellow.
- Late ripening
Cortland
- A Ben Davis/McIntosh cross
- large flat, dull red apple with a purple hue and soft, white flesh
- Less aromatic than McIntosh
- Good keeper.
- Very good in salads.
- Mid season
Cox's Orange Pippin
- Popular in English markets.
- Medium sized, golden yellow skin, with brownish orange
- often russeted.
- Flesh tender, crisp, semi-tart
- early
Crispin/Mutsu *
- Light green to yellowish white
- Sweet, rich, full flavor
- Firm, dense texture
- Best for: eating fresh
- Mid - late season
Empire*
- A McIntosh type apple
- Long shelf life
- Aromatic and crisp with creamy white juicy flesh.
- Best for: eating fresh
- Early - Mid season
Fuji
- Very sweet, aromatic flavor
- Yellow-green with red highlights
- Originated in Japan.
- Best for: eating, salads, best applesauce apple
- Late season
Gala
- Developed in New Zealand.
- Sweet, aromatic flavor
- Best for: eating, salad, best applesauce apple
- medium to smaller in size with a distinctive red and yellow striped heart-shaped appearance.
- Early to mid season
Ginger Gold
- Very slow to turn brown, so it's a great choice for apple slices.
- Best for: eating, sauce, salad
Golden Delicious
- Firm white flesh which retains its shape
- Rich mild flavor when baked or cooked.
- Tender skin
- Stays white longer when cut;
- Best for: salads, blend in applesauce
- Early season
Grimes Golden
- Firm white flesh which retains its shape
- Rich mild flavor when baked or cooked.
- Tender skin, with a "grimy mottled surface; hence the name (there's no "Mr. Grimes")
- Stays white longer when cut;
- Best for: salads, blend in applesauce
- Early season
Granny Smith
- Very tart
- Bright green appearance, crisp bite and sour apple flavor.
- Best for: people who like bitter sour apples rather than sweet ones :-)
- Mid to late season
- Not good for applesauce unless you add sugar (or like a very tart applesauce)
Gravenstein
- Greenish-yellow with a lumpy appearance
- A good, all-purpose apple,
- Good for applesauce and pies.
Hokuto
- A Mutsu/Fuji cross
- crisp texture of Fuji,
- large size and shape of Mutsu,
- sweet flavors
- late mid-season
Honeycrisp
- Introduced in Minnesota
- Very sweet and aromatic
- Great for juice, as it is a very juicy apple
- Best for: Eating, pies, baking
- Mid season
Jonathan
- One of the first red apples of the fall
- Sweet-tart taste with firm texture
- Light red stripes over yellow or deep red
- Best for: eating and cooking
- Early season
Jonalicious
- Flavor like Jonathan but a little less tart and darker red skin.
- Larger, crisper, and juicier than Jonathan, and a better keeper.
- Slightly sour/acid balance.
- early midseason
Jonamac
- A medium-sized Jonathan/McIntosh cross
- Sour flavored, aromatic and tender fleshed like McIntosh.
- Early season, a few days prior to McIntosh.
- Poor keeper.
Jonagold
*
- A cross of Jonathan and Golden Delicious.
- Best for: eating, sauce, pies, salad, baking
- Mid season
Liberty
- A highly disease-resistant introduction from Geneva New York.
- Liberty has superior dessert quality, similar to one of its parents, Macoun
- Best for: eating, sauce, salad
- flavor improves in storage
- late season
Macoun
- Named after a famous fruit grower in Canada
- Best for: eating, sauce, salad
- Very good, sweet, all-around apple
McIntosh
*
- Popular in America since 1811
- Best for: eating, sauce, salad , good as part of a blend for applesauce
- Sweet, mild flavor
Melrose
- The official apple of Ohio
- Similar to a Jonathan but sweeter.
- Good for pies: the slices hold together in pies
- Keeps well
Mutsu
- Lousy name, but a great apple
- It is sweet and crisp
- A lot like a Golden Delicious
- Best for eating fresh and it makes a great applesauce
Northern Spy
- Large, high quality fruit
- Good for storage
- Mid-late season
PaulaRed
- A tart apple with light to creamy flesh.
- Good for eating, in pies and sauces.
Pink Lady
- Rich red/pink color with white flesh
- Very sweet and crisp
- Best for eating and makes a naturally sweet, smooth applesauce and it is good in salads and pies.
- A cross between a Golden Delicious and a Lady William.
- Late season
Red Delicious
- WAS the most popular apple variety in the world! for decades (now being replaced by Fuji and Gala)
- Best for: eating, salad, very good as a base apple for applesauce
- Thin bright red skin with a mildly flavored fine-grained white flesh.
- Bruises easily and does not keep well.
- Early to mid season
- There are many, many varieties of red delicious, so there is a range of properties. Not all red delicious are the same!
Rome
- Best for: baking and cooking - but not applesauce - not sweet enough, and it has a fairly bland flavor
- Very smooth red apple with a slightly juicy flesh.
- Very hard flesh
- Mid to late season
Spartan
- A cross between the McIntosh and Pippin apples.
- Good all-purpose apple.
Stayman or Stayman-Winesap
- Juicy, cream-colored to yellowish flesh with a tart wine-like flavor. (often also called winesap)
- Good storing apple, bruise resistant, dull red coat.
- Best for: Cooking, pies and cider
Suncrisp
- A hard tart, long keeping apple.
- Red over orange color; Golden Delicious-type
- Ripens late in the season
- Best for: Baking, storing
Winesap
- Rich red color with white flesh
- Crisp texture and juicy
- Best for cooking
- Mid to late season
Yates
- Rich red color with white flesh
- Sweet
- Best for eating
- Late season
York
- Crisp and flavorful
- "lop-sided" shape
- Deep red with green streaks
- Best for eating. holds texture during cooking and freezing
Images from the U.S. Apple Association (mostly)!
English Apple Varieties
These links take you to photos on GardenAction.co.uk
- Bramley - The English gush over this apple with a fever (fevour?:) that borders on mania. It's basically a granny smith type, a higher acid content and lower sugar apple, with a stronger, more tangy taste. (editor: I've tried them... and I'm not impressed. Give me a Fuji, Gala, or Honeycrisp any day)
- Charles Ross
- Crispin
- Early Victoria
- Early Worcester
- Ellisons Orange
- Epicure
- Gibsons Scarlet
- Golden Spire
- Greensleaves
- Howgate Wonder
- Ingrid Marie
- James Grieve
- Jonagored
- Jupiter
- Katy
- Orleans Reinette
- Peasgood Nonsuch
- Red Gravenstein
- Red Victoria
- Rev W. Wilks
- Ribston Pippin
- Rosemary Russett
- Spartan
- Sturmer Pippin
- Sunset
- Superb
- Tydermans Late Orange
- Warners King
- Winston
More about apple varieties can be found:
University of Illinois Apple page
Apple
Photos
Over 100 photos of apple varieties
Apple photos and brief descriptions
Credits:
photos:
Jonamac, Macoun, PaulaRed: Courtesy of New York Apple Association, © New York
Apple Association
 |
Home Canning KitsThis is the same type of standard canner that my grandmother
used to make everything from applesauce to jams and jellies to tomato and
spaghetti sauce!. This complete kit includes everything you need and
lasts for years: the canner, jar rack, jar grabber tongs,
lid lifting wand, a plastic funnel,
labels, bubble freer, and the bible of canning, the Ball Blue Book. It's much cheaper than buying the items separately. You'll never need anything else except jars and lids (and the jars are reusable). To see more canners, of different styles, makes and prices, click here! |
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