What's your favorite apple(s) and why?

[journey11]

I have been looking through nursery catalogs, really overwhelmed by all the apple varieties out there. I am wanting to add more trees to my "orchard" and thought a little input from you guys might help me narrow it down a bit!

I already have a Red Delicious; good for fresh eating, not a good keeper, makes decent juice.
And a Bonnie Best; haven't gotten the first apple off of it yet, but I hear it makes a prize-winning apple pie.
And one other unidentified apple; similar qualities as the Red Delicious (probably going to cut this one down because it's crowding my chicken coop).

One I will definitely be adding is Mutzu. Bought a couple bushels of these in the past. They are excellent keepers and make awesome apple butter and also pretty good for pies.

I am also wanting a Grime's Golden. We have an old one on the farm and although it has been neglected, I love the outstanding flavor of those apples. A West Virginia native, they beat the pants off of Golden Delicious (also from WV) anyday, IMO. I hear they also make wonderful cider.

Ok, other than that, I know there is a whole wide world of apple varieties out there. I don't know what to get for a good sauce apple and I can't have enough good baking apples. I'm looking to add at least 5 more apple trees to my property.

So...what are your favorite apples and what do you use them for?

Also, here is an interesting article I just read the other day about the importance and effect of rootstock on apple trees. I did not realize that rootstock also affected how soon a tree would bear and what kind of soil it will tolerate. There are two types of rootstock especially suited to handling my heavy clay soil and I need to check with the nursery first to see what I'm getting for the best results.

 

[lesa]

You are going about this very scientifically- I am sure you will be happy with whatever you choose. I have only planted one apple tree and it is a golden delicious. Now, I bought this tree on sale for under ten bucks. I hate GD from the grocery store- these apples are delicious and nothing like the ones you buy!
Like so many things we grow in our gardens- they bare little resemblance to what is available for purchase! Good luck- and let us know what you choose.
Whenever I persue those catalogs I am disappointed by the very few choices for zone 4.

 

[vfem]

All I know is I love Winesap... I can eat 'em as is... I can bake 'em... I can can 'em... I can mix them with any apple and they shine for me!


As for what they need to grow... I can't grow them here. Not enough chill hours.

 

[Northernrose]

These are my favorites so far:

Honeycrisp Great apple, good storage and very disease resistant. It also can grow in much warmer/ low chill areas than originally thought even So. California.

I also have:
Arkansas Black- heirloom apple hardy and healthy.

Sierra Beauty- heirloom apple from N. California

Hudson's Golden Gem- russet very juicy, crisp and sugar sweet. very disease resistant.

Liberty- can't beat it for disease resistance/ no spray apple.

Niedzwetzkyana- red fleshed apple

Hauer Pippin- California heirloom. Very late and called the Christmas apple. Outstanding keeping quality, very disease resistant good for organic production.

 

[journey11]

Niedzwetzkyana- red fleshed apple

This one had me curious. I'd never heard of or seen a red-fleshed apple before. I found several closely related varieties at www.greenmantlenursery.com called "Rosetta" apples. Hmm..I may have to invest in one of these curious apples. What a conversation piece they would be. I wonder if they would keep their color if dehydrated?

 

[old fashioned]

We have Gravenstein, Yellow Transparent & Red Delicious in our mini orchard in the backyard. The Gravenstein has been good for eating, sauce & baking.
But my all time favorite is an unknown variety that I can't get anymore. It had nearly solid red skin, white flesh that was sweet, tangy & spicy all at the same time & was awesome for any purpose. When baked in a pie it still had some crunch to it, not so soft & mushy like most. And it was best when harvested around the end of August or first of September. I've tried doing searches to find the name so I can grow it myself but have been unsuccessful.

 

[digitS']

These are my favorites so far:

Honeycrisp Great apple, good storage and very disease resistant. It also can grow in much warmer/ low chill areas than originally thought even So. California. . .

x2 (. . . just to express an opinion) Honeycrisp grows in a few orchards nearby. I don't see any problem with the trees here where subzero winters are normal. The fruit is especially delicious!

This is what it says in Wikipedia about the most recent apple trees I planted: "The Northern Spy apple tree is known for taking as much as a decade to bear fruit unless grafted to a non-standard rootstock. . ."

The one that still lives in Dad's old backyard didn't take a decade to produce fruit. That tree is on semi-dwarf root stock. It was an heirloom variety even before I planted it.

I planted Dad's tree originally in '75 or '76. However, I don't recommend Northern Spy - it is just too tart for much of anything except, loaded with sugar as applebutter.

Steve

 

[Northernrose]

Niedzwetzkyana- red fleshed apple

This one had me curious. I'd never heard of or seen a red-fleshed apple before. I found several closely related varieties at www.greenmantlenursery.com called "Rosetta" apples. Hmm..I may have to invest in one of these curious apples. What a conversation piece they would be. I wonder if they would keep their color if dehydrated?

I got mine from http://www.treesofantiquity.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=344.

It is the also called the "redveined crab", but has apple sized fruit. It is nearly extinct in the wild. I asked the nursery if it had any disease problems and they said that it is a very healthy and beautiful tree. I don't know if it would keep it's color when dried, but I've heard it makes incredibly colored applesauce and other preserves.

I want to order a few from Greenmantle as well. They have some very neat apples.

Someday I want to try Cinnamon Spice which was found in CA and is suppost to taste like apple pie. Also, White Winter Pearmain that is one of the oldest apples, I tasted some local fruit and it was very,very good.


My apple selections are strongly based on resistance to diseases. I wanted no spray or very low spray apple trees.

 

[vfem]

We do have red jonathon and Lodi Green apples... They do well for our climate. They are all very useful for several applications, and that is important to us.

 

[hypnofrogstevie]

McIntosh apples. I grew up on them and we have a tree in front of our house. They are delicious any way you eat them. My grandmother used to make apple pies with them. She has a tree on her property. They are superb