It’s apple season again! Enjoy!

Although you think of apple pie as being all American, there are NO apple varieties native the North America. All apples originally came from the Caucasus Mountains, (between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea), all the way over to the Tien Shan Mountains of China.

Apples are a member of the rose family (rosaceae - Malus domestica). So next time you can’t afford to give her a dozen roses, just give her a dozen apples and tell her their close cousins… (Then run like heck)… There are over 20,000 known and named varieties of apples worldwide, with some 7,500 varieties of apples grown commercially across the world, and about 100 varieties of “Eating” apples are grown commercially in the United States. Most apple varieties are classified as cider apples (sour apple), used for cooking, making apple juice and flavorings in processed food products.

Apples are a true cold hardy plant. They require between 500 to 1000 chill hours (hours below 45°F or 7°C) to break dormancy properly. Without this cold they cannot produce a crop. Many varieties won’t produce in the deep south and on into Mexico.

While apples trees can be grown from seeds, they won’t grow true to the parent variety. They will be a cross of all 4 grandparent plants /varieties. However, many good varieties have been created that way. The Winesap, Macintosh, Granny Smith, to name a few, were all started as a seed planted in the ground.

Commercial apple trees (named varieties) are created by the grafting process. They take a cutting from a tree variety they want to reproduce (scion) and join it (graft) onto a root stock of another apple variety. The top part (scion) grows / produces the apples you eat, while the bottom, the root stock determines how cold hardy the tree will be, and how tall the tree will grow. Because they are a grafted apple tree, they are a clone, an exact copy of the doner tree. That’s why one honey crisp apple tree cannot pollinate another honey crisp apple tree. They are extensions of the same tree. Every granny smith apple tree on the planet came from and has been grafted from the one original tree. Genetically speaking they are all the same trees.
Where did the “Granny Smith apples” come from you ask?

It originated in New South Wales, Australia, in 1868. It is named after Maria Ann Smith, where the cultivar came from a single chance seedling. Every single Granny Smith apple tree on the planet came from a clone (graft) from that one tree. Her granddaughter’s elementary school class planted apple seeds out on Maria Ann Smith’s sheep ranch as a class project. All but one grew up to produce small sour apples (called cider apples) and one became the granny smith apple we know of today. Having a greenhouse, and being a plant person, she propagated that tree and sold it locally, and eventually it went worldwide.

The Rome beauty (red ones), sometimes marketed as the Red beauty, Rome red, roman red beauty, or as Gillett’s apple. It is an heirloom variety that remains the number one cooking apple in North America. Its combination of sweet / tart taste make a great jelly, or apple sauce. It can be blended with other tarter varieties when baking pies and crisps. The dense flesh holds up well to baking. The Rome apple was named after Rome Township, Ohio where the apple was first planted as a chance seedling in 1817 on the Joel Gillett family property. Their cousin Horatio Nelson Gillett was one of the whom first grafted the tree and took it to a nursery to market it to other growers in the area. The apple quickly became a popularly grown variety in Rome Township, Ohio and the surrounding areas. Many companies now offer this variety. The tree is however susceptible to many apple tree diseases, and can be frustrating to grow successfully.

The Yellow Delicious apple variety was discovered in 1912 by Anderson Mullins, on a farm in Clay County, West Virginia. Initially, the apple was, for many years known as “Mullin’s Yellow”. As the tree was found growing on Mullins’ farm, and its origin was somewhat of mysterious, believed to be a chance seedling rather than a deliberate cultivation. The apple was renamed “Golden Delicious” in 1914 by Stark Bro’s Nurseries, that company bought the rights to propagate and market the apple. The name was chosen to capitalize on the already popular Red delicious apple, suggesting a connection in quality and appeal. Stark Bro’s Nurseries began promoting Golden Delicious aggressively. The yellow delicious / golden delicious (same plant) is one of the most popular and widely grown apple varieties in North America. Up until about ten years ago it was the number one variety grown in England and Europe. Until the honey crisp overtook it. It is known as an “eating fresh” apple. While you can make jellies, juice and wine from it, because of its high moisture content, it doesn’t bake well. Tending to turn to mush while baking.

The yellow / golden delicious variety is used in many breeding programs. The Gala apple is a cross between Golden Delicious and Kidd’s Orange Red. The Jonagold apple is a hybrid of Golden Delicious and Jonathan. And the Fuji apple is a cross between Ralls Janet and Golden Delicious. There are 15 known commercial apples varieties that have been created by crossing the yellow delicious apple.