Fresh Eating Apples
This collection highlights all of the apple varieties we offer that are great for fresh eating. Remember, everyone's palate is a little different, and some of you might love a more sour or bitter apple, which may not be in this collection. Don't let that stop you from growing and eating those apples too! If you love a good pucker, consider checking out our Cider apples and Crab Apples as well as the tasty options below.
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126 products
History: Mother was first officially introduced to the world in an 1844 edition of the "Magazine of Horticulture." We know it came from General Stephen Gardner's farm in Massachusetts in the US but do not know any other details about its origins. It faded from popularity in the US during the 1900s but remained popular in the UK.
Why We Grow It: Mother produces medium-sized apples with yellow skin that turn deep red where exposed to the sun. This crisp, juicy apple is sweet with hints of pear and vanilla making it an excellent choice for fresh eating. It is also a popular option for baking pies! The fruit stores well, the blooms are tolerant of late spring frosts, and the tree tends to start producing at a young age. It is also susceptible to several common apple diseases, but we believe its other qualities outshine that fact.
History: True Root Pippin was discovered on Steph's dad Gary Roth on the family farm in 2022. He happened to come across a large apple tree, a chance seedling, covered in fruit growing along the fenceline and decided to sample them. Pleased by the quality of the apples, we later decided to propagate this lucky find and make these apples available to everyone! It was named True Root Pippin in honour of True Root Nursery, Gary Roth's nursery which is located on the property and is the source of our seedlings. We are happy to introduce True Root Pippin for the first time in 2024.
Why We Grow It: We're always on the lookout for exciting new varieties and this one stood out! True Root Pippin is a pleasant green apple with attractive red striping, albeit it is on the smaller side. It has a good sweet flavour balanced with some tartness. It keeps well and produces nice, clean fruit with minimal care.
Since this is a new variety, there is still a lot for us to learn about it! If you grow this variety and have any observations or find any fun uses for the fruit, we'd love to hear from you!
History: Pine Golden Pippin's exact origins are unknown, but it is quite an old variety that either originated in northern England or in Scotland. It was first formally described by nursery worker Thomas Rivers in A Descriptive Catalogue of Fruit Trees in 1863. In 1875, Robert Hogg claimed that Pine Golden Pippin was one of the best fresh eating apples around in his book The Fruit Manual.
Why We Grow It: Robert Hogg was correct about Pine Golden Pippin! Despite the small size of the fruit, it makes up for it with crisp and juicy fruit with a sweet/sharp flavour that has a hint of pineapple and resin. The fruit is great for fresh eating and can also be used in cider blends. It tends to be slower growing but produces good crops.
Why We Grow It: Melrose produces a flattish apple that has greenish skin overlaid with a bright red flush. It is firm, juicy, and sweet with a more acidic flavour that improves after a little while in storage. It is great for both fresh eating and cooking and can be stored for several months. The tree itself starts to bear at a young age and produces heavy crops, although it has a tendency to bear fruit every other year.
History: Pewaukee originated around the mid-1800s when George Peffer, owner of Pewaukee Fruit Farm & Nursery, crossed Duchess of Oldenburg with Northern Spy on his farm in Pewaukee, Wisconsin. The resulting apple, a cross of two varieties well known for their use in cooking, is great for a variety of culinary uses! It was formally recorded as a variety in 1870 and can still be found in old orchards in parts of the US today.
Why We Grow It: Pewaukee produces a yellow apple with red striping that has sweet, crisp flesh with a hint of vanilla. It is great for fresh eating and excels for sauce, cooking, and baking. The tree is known for being hardy and producing fruit at a young age.
History: Goodland was developed at the Morden Research Station in Manitoba as part of an effort to breed cold hardy apples for the prairies. It is a seedling of Patten Greening that was selected in 1925 and the variety was introduced commercially in 1955.
Why We Grow It: The cold hardy Goodland produces a medium to large yellow apple with red striping. This crisp, juicy apple has sweet/tart flavour that is great for fresh eating, cooking, and sauce. Unlike most early ripening varieties, Goodland will store well for several months.
Collections
Malus domestica
While sweet apples are available in abundance, sharps (high in acid) and bitters (high in tannin) are more difficult to come by. Whether you make cider on a large scale, or just need a few trees for the backyard, you will find a great selection here of both old and new varieties, particularly sharps and bitters. Please phone for wholesale pricing on large orders.
English Cider Apple Classification
|
Flavour |
Acidity (g/L malic acid) |
Tannins (g/L tannic acid) |
|
Sharp |
over 4.5 |
less than 2 |
|
Bittersharp |
over 4.5 |
over 2 |
|
Bittersweet |
less than 4.5 |
over 2 |
|
Sweet |
less than 4.5 |
less than 2 |
