Ace of Spades is a wild seedling tree from Iowa, selected and named by Gary Smith. Dan Bussey sent fruit to us in October 2020. We liked it enough to topwork it the following spring. That graft has not yet fruited. The fruit is small, yellow-orange, sometimes slightly blushed with red and resembles the historic Maine cultivar Summer-Sweeting. We’ve seen no winter damage yet so it would appear to be hardy to zones 4 or 5. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
Adam's Pearmain originated sometime before 1826 in Hereford, England. Like many heirlooms, its backstory is a bit vague. Evidently it was introduced by someone named "Adams" or maybe "Adam." One source says, "R. Adam." A bit of genealogy work might be in order here. It picked up a few synonyms during its lifetime, including Hanging Pearmain (probably from its habit on the tree), Matchless (orchardists love superlatives) and Norfolk Pippin (which would suggest that it originated in Norfolk - maybe it did.) There's no clear record as to when it came to America, although it was likely not until the twentieth century. It is not well known in the U.S. or Canada. We first found out about it from breeder and orchardist Ike Kerschner of North Star Orchards in Pennsylvania. Ike is someone always on the lookout for high quality dessert fruit. Thanks to Ike, we now have it growing in our orchard in Palermo.
For the dessert-apple aficionado, Adam’s Pearmain fills the bill. The apple ripens in England in late fall and early winter. In central Maine it's somewhat earlier. We picked ours in 2019 on the 12th of October. It has a firm texture and a brisk, aromatic flavor: tart, citrusy, a little grassy, with a lemon head in nose. The medium-sized red-striped fruit has an unusual oval shape.
GR-1. In about 1995 Jack Kertesz found this russet-fruiting tree growing in a thicket of young deciduous trees by the side of Quaker Hill Road in Albion, Maine. He thought it was a seedling, and I was willing to go along that. I topworked it to a tree at Super Chilly Farm, and once it began to fruit, I realized it was a really nice apple. We submitted it to the Seedling Exhibition in western Mass, and they liked it too. I decided I should graft a few more to make sure we didn’t lose it. Meanwhile the original tree died. Eventually we did a DNA profile and it matched GR-1, the true Golden Russet of Western New York.
Alexander is one of the most important of all hardy cooking cultivars, hardy enough for all of Maine and still found here and there around the state, especially north of Bangor. The apple presumably originated in Russia well before 1800 and may have been most commonly known as Aporta or some variation thereof. It was probably re-named Alexander in honor of the Czar Alexander I (1777-1825) before it was brought over to the US by Massachusetts Horticultural Society in about 1817. It’s been known by many other names as well including Aport, Albertin, Alexander the First, Alexandre, Aporta Nalivia, Aubertin, Beauty of Queen, Belle d'Orleans, Comte Woronzoff, Empereur Alexandre de Russie, Empereur de Russie, Fin d'Automne, Grand Alexander, Gros-Alexandre, Jolly Gentleman, Kaiser Alexander, Korallen Apfel, Phoenix, Phonix, Pomona Britannica, President Napoleon, Russian Emperor, Stoke Tulip and Wunderapfel.
The tree first arrived in the U.S. in 1835 and quickly spread north to Aroostook County and other northern areas. The fruit are large - often huge, round-conic and somewhat angular. They may resemble Northern Spy in shape, but the coloring is quite different. Northern Spy tends to be pink, and Alexander is a bright, often solid, red. The flesh is firm, coarse, tender, slightly tart and juicy. It is a pie apple. It holds its shape nicely in a pie with a tart, lemon custard flavor. If you like your fruit tart, it is also quite good for fresh eating.
Famous in Aroostook county and other northern areas where it can be picked over a several-week period and reaches its prime in mid-fall. One of its most noteworthy claims to fame is as the parent of the famous huge cultivar, Wolf River. The vigorous upright spreading tree bears young and is a good cropper. It comes fairly true to type from seed, so there may be many strains out there. Best grown in zones 3-4. Our scionwood is from the tree at Francis Fenton’s Sandy River Orchard in Mercer. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
This cultivar is assumed to have originated in Berthecourt, France about 1850. Amere de Berthecourt is dry and bitter (amere) sharp, and recommended for cider. Cammy and I first tasted the fruit in October 2016 on our trip to Geneva NY. We were impressed enough to obtain scionwood from the USDA collection (PI_127311). The fruit is small to medium-sized, round-oblate in shape, slightly ribbed, green with a faint blush and a small russet patch around the stem. Although the hardiness and suitability to central Maine is still unknown, our ten-year-old tree has done well for us. It should do fine in zones 4 and 5. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
Brier x Mercer; Iowa State U, 1928; USDA PI_151489 (GMAL 1429) Ames was originally selected as a seedling rootstock. The fruit is small to very small (3.5 cm x 4.5cm) ovate, oblong, and ribbed. It ripens in late summer-early fall and is colored purply-red and yellow with a bluish bloom. The yellow contrasts and glows. It resembles Centennial crab in shape.
Cammy and I first tasted it at the Geneva NY collection in October 2016. The fruit has a very interesting flavor, bitter and tannic without being astringent. Although it will be years before we have a large enough crop to give it a good test, we think it could be good for cider.
Malus ioensis x M. siberica (aka M. baccata), Niels Hansen, South Dakota, 1932. Amsib is an unusual cross of two species rarely found in breeding programs. Malus ionesis is the native North America Prairie Crab and Malus siberica/baccata is the Siberian Crab. The name is a combination of the two locations. Niels Hansen was a true Malus innovator who bred a large number of unusual apples as well as most of the best known of the so-called “Hybrid” plums. Hansen is also credited as one of those responsible for discovery of the famous red-fleshed Niedzwetzkyana.
Amsib fruit is Chestnut Crab-sized (2”), roundish-ovate, sometimes oblate in shape, obscurely ribbed, with a long 1 1/2” stem, and a large, translucent, brownish-olive cavity area. The greasy skin is vibrant, electric-red-blushed, and overlaid with darker red stripes resembling Fameuse. The flesh is juicy with a mild cherry flavor, a bitter finish and limited astringency. The tree is plenty hardy in central Maine and would likely do well in zone 3 or perhaps even zone 2. We think highly of the fruit as having potential in cider or cooking. We obtained our scionwood from the Geneva NY (PI 127686). Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
Ananas Reinette
Ananas rhymes with “Sha Na Na,” the rock ’n roll revival band of the late 1960’s and ’70’s (the “s” is silent.) Reinette is pronounced “Rye-net.” The apple is also known as Pineapple Reinette, Goldapfel, Kindbetter or Ananas. The full French name roughly translates to “Royal Pineapple” or “Pineapple Princess.” Ananas Reinette is thought to have originated in France or perhaps the Netherlands, somewhere between 200 and 500 years ago. Recent DNA profiling has shown it to be a cross between two very old varieties, Golden Harvey and Unknown Founder #1 (UF#1). Golden Harvey is itself a very old dessert and cider apple, child of an even older French variety, Reinette Franche. Unknown Founder #1 is a very old—and as yet unidentified—European variety that shows up in the ancestry of many modern apples. Given its parentage, Ananas itself is likely several hundred years old, possibly dating to the 16th century.
It’s difficult to determine when Ananas first appeared in the United States. Dan Bussey includes a December 8, 1900 watercolor of the apple painted by Deborah Passmore in The Illustrated History of Apples in the US and Canada. The specimen for that painting was grown in Austria, exhibited at the 1900 Paris Exposition and then sent to Washington DC where the watercolor was painted. The famous California plant breeder Albert Etter (1872-1950) trialed Ananas and used it in his breeding so we know it was in the States by the early 1900’s. Although, as far as we know unconfirmed by DNA profiling, it is thought that Etter’s Katharine apple, named for his wife, is a cross between Ananas and the old New York apple Wagener. The modern European varieties Freiherr von Berlepsch and Roter Ananas are also children of Ananas. We obtained our fruit from Scott Farm in Dummerston VT where they grow dozens of rare apples from around the world. We’re pleased to be showcasing two of Scott Farms varieties, the other being Holstein. We recommend the electric yellow-green, conspicuously dotted Ananas Reinette for fresh eating.
This is a wild selection made by Anneli Sunqvist on Deer Isle, Maine. She calls it bitter, but it is actually quite a good dessert fruit. The fruit from our trees which ripens in early September is only slightly acidic and mildly bitter.
The fruit is small-medium, (2 3/8 —5.7 cm) roundish, obscurely ribbed, long-stemmed, almost entirely yellow with pink blush and a small russet cavity splash. The calyx is medium-wide and open. Some of our fruit has had watercore. We’re looking forward to seeing enough fruit to try it in cider. Perhaps its mild bitterness will translate well. We obtained our scionwood from Anneli. Our trees are doing well and seem to be plenty hardy in zone 4.
This Maine heirloom from the late 19th c is thought to have originated on the farm of Silas. S. Stiles near Mapleton in Aroostook County. This may be the apple John Wesley Dudley was referring to when he wrote in 1889, “I have several other varieties that I am testing, among them is a sweet russet, an apple of very fine quality and a good keeper.” There has been some confusion about the cultivar, and we will need to do more DNA and phenotypic work in the coming years to sort it out. There may be two different apples competing for the name. One is highly russeted and the other only partly so. The one we have growing at Super Chilly Farm is the more russeted apple. We obtained our scionwood from Leslie Gardiner of Mapleton. As we sort this out, we’ll update here. Will the real Aroostook Sunset please stand up?
Aroostock Sunset grown at the Maine Heritage Orchard
Aroostook Sunset grown at Super Chilly Farm
Ashmead's Kernel may be a seedling of Nonpareil that originated in Gloucester, England about 1700. It is one of the more common English apples to be planted in small commercial orchards in New England. The golden russetted apple has a distinctive buttery flavor and a somewhat dry texture. It’s easy to tell why the apple is held in high regards. We recommend it as a dessert (fresh eating) fruit.
It is also being used in single variety hard ciders and cider blends. West County Cider in Colrain, MA makes a Ashmead's Kernel single variety hard cider that is one of our favorites.
Dabinett x Stoke Red. GT Spinks introduction, Long Ashton, England, 1947. Resurrected from an old Long Ashton trial orchard and planted extensively in recent years in England and the U.S.
Ashton Bitter is a bittersweet cider apple with strong tannin, high sugar (SG 1.060) and low acidity. The medium-sized, round, opaque, orange-yellow fruit is blushed and striped with red. It is very juicy. The fruit ripens in early fall, but we’ve pressed them in late October with good results. Has shown to be well-adapted to central Maine. Scab free. Z4-7.We grafted one tree at The Apple Farm in Fairfield that we’ve been monitoring and picking. Not growing at SCF.
Avalon is a Duchess of Oldenburg seedling planted at Super Chilly Farm in about 2005. It first fruited in 2015. The fruit is similar in appearance to Duchess though less oblate and slightly smaller. It ripens two-three weeks after Duchess (about September 15 in central Maine) over a period of about three weeks. We cook with them as they drop; they’re excellent in pies and sauce. The fruit keeps remarkably well for a summer apple - until mid-October. The original tree mysteriously died back to the ground in 2020 but recovered in 2021, re-sprouting from the roots. Probably hardy to zone 3. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
Avon Calling is a mid-late fall seedling with cider potential, spotted by Laura Sieger along Rte 4 between Avon and north Farmington as we drove north on a fruit exploring trip in 2016. The tree Laura spotted is a bushy seedling, and the whole tree appears to be the same fruit.
The flavor is cottony, bitter and astringent. Some of the astringency comes with the second bite. Don't forget that second bite. Fruit is small-medium sized (5.5 cm - 6.7 cm/ 2 1/4 - 2 5/8”), roundish-slightly, conic-oblate, and yellow with a slight pink blush, a small russeted splash in the cavity and prominent russet dots. It somewhat resembles Tolman Sweet. Avon Calling is in the early stages of trial here, but we think it could have promise as a cider apple. Collected scionwood from the original tree on January 17, 2017. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
This small, clear-yellow, long-stemmed crabapple is probably an unidentified ornamental cultivar planted in about 1970. For now we call it Bahner Gold after Bahner Farm on Rte 3 in Belmont, ME where the large tree graces the front yard.
The fruit is nearly regular, although slightly ribbed. Sometimes it shows a faint pink or orange blush but sometimes no blush at all. Occasionally the stem area is slightly russeted. The cavity is obtuse but approaching acute. The basin is also obtuse, slightly wavy and moderately wrinkled.
The apples which are juicy, mild, flavorful and astringent, have a cider-type flavor though it may be too sharp and too early to be of much value. The tree is a vigorous grower with a somewhat weeping form and is a tremendous bearer. I only collected 3 bushels when I stopped by in 2019, but I could have gotten 12-15 bushels, enough to do at least half a barrel. It ripens before October 1 in central Maine. Our scionwood comes from the Bahner Farm tree. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
The Finger Lakes region of New York is the birthplace of many famous apple varieties, and to drive through the villages and towns named Cortland, Rome, and Chenango is to take a trip through apple history. Bailey Sweet also originated in this part of New York, but breaking with tradition, it was not named for Perry, the town in which the original seedling was discovered. By 1800 the apple was being grown throughout the Rochester area under several names, including Patterson Sweet and Chillicothe Sweet. Thankfully, the easier-to-spell Bailey Sweet eventually became the most accepted name.
The fruit is medium in size and roundish in shape. It is covered with a rusty red blush that is interspersed with some slightly darker lines. The most prominent features of the apple are the pronounced white dots that cover the skin and make the apple appear to have been recently dusted with a light snow. Similar to snow flakes, each dot varies in shape from round to elongated and ovate.
Bailey Sweet seems more complex to our taste buds than many "sweet" apples. Perhaps that is because hidden beneath the sugary burst of the first bite is a subtle sub-acid finish. As with most sweet apples, Bailey Sweet is slow to soften when cooked. But if you are not in a hurry, it will turn into a comforting sauce that is thick and creamy with notes of butterscotch and vanilla. Make sure you add plenty of water to the apples so the sauce doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
Despite being a fall apple, Bailey Sweet does not store well. Keep it in the refrigerator and plan to use it up soon. Our scionwood comes from Rollins Orchard in Garland, ME. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
Baldwin originated in Wilmington, MA, about 1740. Once it got established, it quickly gained popularity and fame. For over 100 years it was the standard all-purpose home and commercial variety throughout much of New England. The historic freeze during the winter of 1934 that killed two-thirds of the apples in New England inflicted a heavy toll on the Baldwin trees and marked the end of their popularity with commercial growers. (See story below.)
Like a disproportionate number of other famous north American cultivars, Baldwin is a triploid so there are no Baldwin children to be found. There are many Baldwin look-alikes out there in old orchards. Some are apparently Baldwin sports while others are incorrectly identified. Every once in a while we come across one that has the perfect shape, size and color like the ancient tree discovered by Roberto McIntyre in Harpswell. This would be considered the true Baldwin and worthy of being the scion source for any collector. We still consider Baldwin one of the best all-purpose varieties. It keeps all winter. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
by John Bunker (excerpt from Not Far From the Tree by John Bunker )
Baldwin had much to recommend it for farmers in central Maine, [but] it also had one terrible flaw: it is not very hardy. …Although growers in the old days loved the huge crops Baldwins produced every other year, the trees were left in a weakened condition from harvest time until they recovered during the following “off season”. This made them particularly susceptible to winter injury.
Baldwin [was] the apple of choice for commercial growers in the 1930’s, and the fall of 1933 growers saw a bumper Baldwin crop. Beginning soon after the harvest when the apple trees had not yet hardened off for winter, Maine was hit by a succession of severe cold snaps alternating with periods of unusual warmth. Record low temperatures were recorded as early as mid-November. It was a brutal winter for the entire eastern seaboard.
Temperatures in central Maine during the last three days of December, 1933 dipped to –28 on the 28th, -20 on the 29th, and –40 on the 30th. … On January 22nd the temperature in Winslow was –33. Twenty-four hours later it was +44, a rise of 77 degrees. From January 27th to the 28th the temperature dropped 50 degrees in 24 hours. On the 29th it dropped 50 degrees in 12 hours.
February was [also] extremely frigid, averaging +18, the coldest month on record. … On Saturday, February 10th the Kennebec Journal wrote that, “all bays and inlets for a distance of forty miles westward from Jonesport to Winter Harbor are frozen in a solid stretch of ice.”
…On March 23rd [1934], the Kennebec Journal reported that the state was organizing a cooperative tree order or “tree pool” for orchardists in the state, “possessing information indicating that all Baldwin apple trees in Maine which bore fruit last year either died or were very seriously injured by the severity of the past winter…” The two varieties offered in the state pool were Roger Mac (McIntosh) and Richard Delicious (Red Delicious).
By spring over a million of Maine’s apple trees, nearly two thirds of those in the state, were dead. In 1930 there had been 1,791,000 bearing trees in Maine. Ten years later in 1940, there were only 550,000. Millions of apple trees also died in New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts…. Although trees of many varieties succumbed, Baldwins were the hardest hit.
No one will ever know why any Baldwins made it through the winter alive…. The few survivors were likely in their ‘off’ year, spared the added stress of a heavy crop. In any event, 1934 marked the end of Baldwin cultivation in New England. Since then, Baldwin has remained a revered memory for some, a novelty heirloom for others.
BaldwinHarpswell15
A huge (50 ft) multi-trunk, seedling tree was discovered in 1982 by Claude Jolicoeur, author of The New Cider Maker’s Handbook, on his farm in Quebec, Canada and introduced to us in 1997. The small-medium (2.5”), yellow-green, pale red-blushed, full bittersweet cider apple ripens in early fall. It is medium-high in sugar, low in acidity and high in tannins. SG ranges from 1.050 - 1.067. The extremely bitter fruit has a banana aroma. It would be translated as “bitter banana” in English. The juice is suitable for late season blends. It adds a lot of body and tannin to the cider and should not be used in a ratio exceeding 25% of the blend. Probably zones 3-7. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
A seedling of the English cider apple, Sweet Alford, that was started here on the farm in Palermo. I named in honor of Al Banks and Alec Wert, two of my childhood friends from California who sadly will not be able to taste the apple that bears their names. It has not fruited as of 2024. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
Barbed Wire is an old russet tree nearly girdled with barbed wire (of course) that was discovered by Jason MacArthur of Whetstone Cider Works, in Marlboro, VT. Jason sent fruit to us in 2016 and scionwood in 2017. Our tree fruited for the first time in 2023. We suggest picking the fruit on October 15 in central Maine though some were still hanging on a week later so you could hold off until Halloween.
The fruit is small, roundish/oblate, and varies dramatically in size from not much more than one inch to more than two inches. It’s almost entirely covered with a dark russet, underlain with some red stripes and blush. The flavor is bitter and very high in sugar—as high as 22 brix. We have not yet had enough fruit to give it a proper try in cider, but its intense flavor suggests we’ll find a good use for it. Jason thinks that it may be a grafted tree. At some point we’ll do a DNA profile and see what we can learn. Certainly hardy to zone 4. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
This wild, seedling apple was discovered by Jim Bastian in Plainfield, NH. I topworked it in our Finley Lane Orchard, Palermo in 2015. The tree blooms early with bright white flowers. We began to get some fruit in 2021. Jim recommended the fruit for cider, but we think the very tiny crabs (one inch max) would be difficult to harvest and press. Still the fruit might have value in some sort of cooking or tinctures. As of 2024 we have still not obtained much fruit. Stay tuned for updates. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
Beacon is a cross between Malinda and Wealthy released by the University of Minnesota Fruit Breeding Farm in the first half of the 20th century. This hardy tree bears fruit in late summer and it a reliable, annual bearer. The bright red fruit is medium sized and has deep red stripes. The flesh is soft, so the apple is best for fresh eating only right after being picked. It is good for baking and makes a pink-tinged applesauce. Use this apple quickly since it does not store well.
This French cider apple that has been routinely confused with one of its parents, “Bedan.” Even the USDA in Geneva has labeled it incorrectly in its collection. So BEWARE. Bedan des Parts is a relatively modern introduction. We hope to obtain correct scionwood and assess its suitability for central Maine.
Beech Hill Bittersweet is a very large, old, wide-spreading seedling tree located at Beech Hill Farm on Mount Desert Island, ME. The tree and the farm are owned by College of the Atlantic. Our DNA profile (AMHO 409) shows it to be a child of the famous historic French cider cultivar, Bedan. In all likelihood, the tree is an ungrafted rootstock imported from Normandy in the late 19th century. Apparently there was a vibrant rootstock industry in northern France, and large quantities of seedling rootstocks were propagated from the pomace at the cider mills and shipped to the states. The small-medium sized, red-blushed, russeted, roundish fruit is mildly bitter, low in acid and should be good candidate for cider. The tree leafs out extremely late—one of the last in the orchard. We obtained our wood from the original tree at Beech Hill Farm. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
Belfast White is from one of the largest trees in the Maine; it is located in Belfast. I had it DNA profiled (AMHO 195), and it was identified as St. Lawrence, the famous Canadian cultivar that was historically grown throughout Maine. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
The large, late season cooking heirloom of the highest quality is still grown commercially in much of Europe where it known and respected. It is found only occasionally in the US. Belle de Boskoop may be a bud sport of Reinette de Montfort. K.J.W. Ottolander, Boskoop, (near Gouda) Netherlands, 1856.
The blocky, green fruit is somewhat lumpy and largely patched and netted with russet. It only occasionally develops a brownish, reddish blush. The fruit can be exceedingly beautiful. The russet is a pretty typical golden russet color, and the blush is usually minimal. The basin can be furrowed and wrinkled but can also be nearly regular. The calyx can be open or closed: when open, it's very open. Ribs can be minimal but can also be rather pronounced.
This apple is highly recommended for chefs. It cooks up quickly and makes a yellow, soft, medium tart, tasty apple sauce. It also makes a very good pie apple. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
Belle Fille is a French cider apple we found at the USDA collection in Geneva (PI 162709). It doesn’t appear in Bore and Fleckinger or in Copas. An UK website includes this write up about what may the same apple: "Belle-Fille Normande is an old apple variety from Normandy, France of unknown origin dating back to the late 18th Century or earlier. Grown in the Pays de Caux near Rouen in the 19th Century… Good for cider.”
Our fruit is 2-2 1/4", roundish (slightly conic), green with a brownish-olive-green-stripy blush, slightly angular with a very long medium-thick stem and a big, dark brown, russet cavity splash. On the bag of fruit we collected in Geneva in 2016 I wrote "excellent" Not juicy, spongy, sweet on the first bite, bitter on the second bite, browning fast, mostly just bitter, not acidic, extremely high in sugar 23 brix; SG 1.098. We obtained our scionwood from the USDA. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
One of the most famous of all 19th-century apples. The most widely grown variety of its time, from Maine to Georgia. Millions of barrels were shipped to Europe. Many people made their fortunes on this apple. Large roundish-conic fruit, unbelievably beautiful red-striped and blushed. An orchardist’s dream tree: annually bearing, easy to grow, perfectly shaped. The dry white flesh is merely decent for both eating and cooking, so Ben Davis was often maligned. But it’s making a comeback as a cider apple. While most of the literature says it originated down south, historic town reports suggest it came from right here in Minot, ME. Keeps for months.
Benoni originated in Dedham, Mass around 1830. It was introduced by Edward Metcalf Richards. Richards was a relative of Benoni Fairbanks (1707-1787) for whom the apple was likely named. Benoni was known historically in central and southern Maine, as well as throughout Massachusetts and rest of New England. Old trees can still be found in Maine.
The apple is a Fameuse look-alike. The fruit is smallish, roundish-conic and red-maroon striped and blushed. It's even susceptible to scab like Fameuse. Benoni is somewhat more conic in shape than Fameuse. It ripens a month earlier than Fameuse (late August in central Maine) and it's flesh is yellow. (Fameuse's flesh is "snow" white.)
We recommend it for fresh eating as the taste is a pleasant balance between sweet and mildly tart. It's a perfect size for lunch boxes. It also makes an acceptable sauce.
This high quality, all-purpose winter keeper, was discovered by John in a small farm orchard in Benton, Maine in 1979. This might possibly be the Benton Red documented in Bradford’s Apple Varieties in Maine (1911). DNA profiling has identified the apple as identical to what we’ve been calling Cherryfield from Washington County, Maine and the Illinois cultivar, Salome. The Maine discoveries may—or may not—be local synonyms of Salome. Regardless of its true name, the apple was apparently fairly well-known as we have found old trees in Benton, Thorndike, Ellsworth and Cherryfield.
The medium-large fruit is rosy red, very smooth skinned, round-conic, with a shallow basin, wide acute-obtuse cavity and somewhat prominent russet dots. It is good for cooking and fresh eating. Keeps all winter. It is one of our favorite winter apples. Scionwood was obtained from the old trees in Benton. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
The first Bethel tree was discovered in about 1755 near River Road in Gaysville, VT, about 10 miles from Bethel. It probably grew from Blue Pearmain seeds planted by David Stone, an early Bethel settler whose descendant introduced an apple called Stone about a hundred years later. Once popular as an all-purpose variety in northern New England, Bethel trees have now all but disappeared. But there is still a tree at Cayford’s Orchard in Skowhegan that they call Bethel, and we are fairly sure – but not certain- that it is. Bethel takes awhile and lots of water to cook into sauce; the flavor is mild and sweet, and the texture is quite smooth. It stands up well to cooking. We like it in cooked desserts and as an addition to grilled cheese sandwiches.
The small to medium roundish-conic, pinkish red striped bittersweet fruit has a nice flavor and white flesh. Out scionwood was obtained in 2024 from Gene Cartwright of Whaleback Cider in Lincolnville. It’s too early to draw any conclusions, but ta taste of the fresh fruit suggests it could turn out to be an excellent cider addition. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
This apple was donated to the USDA collection in Geneva, NY from an unknown source in Oregon - Malus bhutanica (toringoides), USDA PI 588930, Geneva collection (GMAL 259). It is a tetraploid so it will likely not produce offspring.
The small (2.5 cm—1”) fruit (large for Bhutanicas) resembles Centennial in shape and color; it has reddish-blushed skin and yellow, astringent flesh that is very juicy. Late blooming at SCF. Our scionwood was obtained from USDA, Geneva, NY. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
An old grafted tree was discovered on Cranberry Isle off Mount Desert and brought to our attention by Barbara Myers over 20 years ago. For lack of an identity we called it Cranberry Island. Now we've identified it as the old German variety Bietigheimer, a much less romantic-sounding name that is difficult to pronounce, unless, of course, you speak German. The apple is a bit of a chameleon; it was first known as Vineuse Rouge ("Wine Red") more than 400 years ago. Later it became known as Roter Stettiner. About 150 years ago it made its way to the US where it gained popularity along the Downeast coast. Most likley the apple came over with one of the four million Germans who arrived in the United States between 1850 and 1897 through the ports of Baltimore, Boston, New Orleans, New York, and Philadelphia. He or she was most likely from Bietigheim, a village in the district of Rastatt in Baden-Württemberg in southwestern Germany near the French border.
The huge ribbed, red fruit is hardy, early ripening and suitable for fresh eating and general cooking. If you decide to eat it as a dessert fruit, you will want to share it with a friend or two or three. It is way too big to eat alone. It may well be a good baker although we've not tried it yet.
This roadside seedling was discovered by John when he was visiting Jim Berkeley in 2017 at his place overlooking Bigalow Mountain in Eustis (Franklin County), ME. The seedling was growing along the driveway between Jim’s place and the next-door neighbor's.
The fruit is small-medium sized, green skinned, mostly netted and patched with russet; it resembles a small “Kavanagh”. The flavor is tasty, slightly acidic and astringent (1.065 SG, 16 brix.). It might be worth blending in cider though ours has not yet fruited and should be considered at the earliest stages of trial. Scionwood was sent to us by Jim Berkeley and topworked at SCF in 2018. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
Binet Rouge is a traditional cider apple cultivar from Normandy, France. Bore and Fleckinger classify it as ‘sweet’. SG ranges from 1.056 - 1.072.
The small, round to angular fruit is somewhat oblate and truncate and has a deep red blush covering about three quarters of the fruit, a medium to small russeted stem area and small, prominent dots. Gene Cartwright of Whaleback Cider in Lincolnville has spoken highly of the apple which led us to give it a try. We topworked scionwood obtained from Gene into our orchard in 2023 and 2024. Blooms mid-late season. Probably hardy to zones 4-7. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
This cultivar was grafted from a multi-trunked seedling, located in a small farm orchard. It is possibly the rootstock from an old grafted tree that died and rotted away. It was first noticed by Laura Sieger and John Bunker (who named it) in 2015.
The fruit is about the size of McIntosh. It is angular-conic, dark lime-green with a purple-red blush and prominent, white dots. The dark green is reminiscent of the Granny Smith grown at the Apple Farm in Fairfield, ME. The flavor is first and foremost bitter and then sharp- there is nothing subtle about it. It would be categorized as a bittersharp. It has an SG of around 1048. We’ve used it for several years in our ciders with good results. It ripens about October 25 in central Maine. Not a keeper. We really like this apple. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
This very old, American variety with an odd name is of unknown origin, but it probably originated in New England during the 18th Century. The earliest references to the apple are from Connecticut. Black Gilliflower is one of the parents of the unidentified apple we call Guptill Lavender from Belgrade so we can assume that it was being grown in central Maine at least 200 years ago. Originally it was called Red Gilliflower or simply Gilliflower.
The OED says that Gillyflower (sic) is “any of various cultivated flowers with a scent like that of cloves.” S.A. Beach (author of Apples of New York) calls the apple “peculiarly aromatic, good for dessert and special markets.” So, maybe the name comes from its spicy aroma. Some people call the apple Sheep’s Head or Sheep’s Nose because of its elongated, conic shape that looks like - you guessed it - a sheep’s nose.
Medium-sized fruit is dark green with some purple blush that is obscurely striped with darker crimson. In the sun the color can be rather dark purple.
The quality of the fruit is only fair for fresh eating, but the dry flesh excels in cooking, particularly in mince meat. Chop up cooked meat into small cubes. Combine the meat in a large pot with “beef suet,” coarsely chopped Black Gilliflower, sugar, cider, molasses, cider vinegar, raisins, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, lemon juice, and orange juice. Simmer for a few hours. Add apple brandy and/or sherry. Eat lots. Black Gilliflower also cooks quickly into a coarse, bright yellow, unusual sauce.
The apples keep until February in the root cellar. Sandy River Orchard in Mercer has one tree of unknown origin. Not currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
Black Oxford is Maine’s most famous apple. In his book, The Apples of Maine, George Stilphen writes: “Black Oxford was found as a seedling by Nathaniel Haskell on the farm of one Valentine, a nailmaker and farmer of Paris in Oxford County, about 1790 and the original tree was still standing in 1907, the farm being then owned by John Swett.” Very old trees are still thriving in many central and southern Maine locations. A few years ago John visited a tree in Hallowell that was planted by Dr. Benjamin Vaughan in 1799. It bore seven bushels that fall. The medium-sized, round, deep purple fruit has a blackish bloom; viewed from a distance you might think you’d discovered a huge plum. Because of its unusual light pink flowers in spring, you could plant it as an ornamental. Black Oxford is an all-purpose variety, and we recommend it for everything: fresh eating, pies and cider. Leave the skins on for a delightful pink sauce. (The skins will dissolve.) Best eating from late December to March, although it keeps all winter into spring. We ate the last one from our 2010 harvest in July 2011 – somewhat spongy but still flavorful.
The Blake apple originated in Westbrook, Maine before 1869 – or so we think. The origin of this most mysterious of apples has been the source of much speculation on both sides of the Atlantic for the past twenty years. It seems that both England and Maine lay claim to an apple named Blake that is medium in size, yellowish-green in color and ripe in mid-late fall. The connection might have passed unnoticed if not for the fact that Charles Dickens immortalized a cart driver named Blake of Blundeston in his 1849, semi-autobiographical novel, David Copperfield. Nearly 150 years later, a British fruit explorer named Gerald Fayers discovered three apple trees, he believed to be Blake, growing near to the prison in Blundeston. And so began a twenty year search by Gerald and John to determine whether the Blake apple had originated in Maine and traveled to England, whether it had originated in England and made its way west to North America, or whether they are two totally different apples that by coincidence have the same name and similar appearances.
The key to solving this mystery is to locate the Blake apple in Maine. John’s search has taken him to sites throughout the Portland area including Gorham, Westbrook and Windham where the Blake family had roots. He has found several Blake-possibilities, all of them medium-sized and yellow. Recently he visited ancient trees in Brownfield at two Blake farms dating back to before 1800. Every year people contact him with more information and more old trees to investigate. He has seen a lot of promising candidates, several of which he has grafted onto trees here at Super Chilly Farm. We had our first big crop of one of these in late October 2016. It is slightly tart and excellent for fresh eating and also for cooking. Will we ever find the real Blake? Maybe not, but then the thrill is in the chase.
This is the true UK Blake which may or may not be identical to the Westbook, ME Blake. We’ve spent years attempting to find a Blake tree in Maine but have so far struck out. We did find an old tree we’ve called Windham Swett Road but that apple DNA profiled to be Ohio Pippin. I imported this Blake from the National Fruit Collection at Brogdale, UK in 2013 through APHIS (H48590A3). It has now received final release.
The fruit is a roundish-oblate, yellow, and russeted cooking apple. The large and beautiful fruit has become one our favorite cooking apples. It keeps until late February in the root cellar. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
Blanc Mollet is a French Bittersweet cider apple. White Beech, the historic English cider cultivar, may be a synonym of Blanc Mollet. The English apple historian John Teiser wrote to me, “White Beech had the same fingerprint as the French varieties we have under the names of Abondance and Blanc Mollet. Having checked against the INRA book I suspect they all should be Blanc Mollet.”
We obtained our Blanc Mollet scionwood from the USDA (PI 162719) in the spring of 2016, and we planted out in November 2017. Blanc Mollet’s bittersweet fruit is small (1.75”- 4.5cm), round, yellow, with a medium-length, thin stem and a very shallow basin. You could easily mistake it for a wild seedling by the side of the road. We pick ours on about November 6 and press it a week or two later. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
Blue Pearmain is an old New England favorite dating back to the 1700's. No one knows where it originated, but ancient trees can still be found in the most rural areas of New England, including central and southern Maine. It is one of those apples with a string of “synonyms” or maybe they’re anagrams: Blue Pearamell, Blue Pearamay, Blue Pomade, Maine Blue Pear, and even, “Painbear Bluemain.” It is thought to be the parent of the New Hampshire variety, Nodhead, and the Maine variety, Rolfe. Henry David Thoreau spoke enthusiastically about Blue Pearmain in his wonderful essay, Wild Apples, even though he regularly scorned nearly all other “modern” grafted varieties.
“I know a Blue Pearmain tree, growing on the edge of a swamp, almost as good as wild. You would not suppose that there was any fruit left there, on the first survey, but you must look according to system. Those which lie exposed are quite brown and rotten now, or perchance a few still show one blooming cheek here and there amid the wet leaves. Nevertheless, with experienced eyes, I explore amid the bare alders and the huckleberry-bushes and the withered sedge, and in the crevices of the rocks, which are full of leaves, and pry under the fallen and decaying ferns, which, with apple and alder leaves, thickly strewn the ground. For I know that they lie concealed, fallen into hollows long since and covered up by the leaves of the tree itself, - a proper kind of packing. From these lurking places, anywhere within the circumference of the tree, I draw forth the fruit, all wet and glossy, maybe nibbled out by rabbits and hollowed out by crickets and perhaps with a leaf or two cemented to it... but still with a rich bloom on it, and at least as ripe and well kept, if not better than those in barrels, more crisp and lively than they.”
Before you bite into a Blue Pearmain, take a moment to look at its incredible blue-purple color and the russet blaze around the stem. If you notice a cloudy haze over the surface of the fruit, no need to worry. That natural waxy “bloom” is typical of all apple skins, as well as many grapes and blueberries, but it is more visible on this variety.
The medium to very large fruit is sweet with a bit of a tart background flavor. The flesh is fairly dry, firm, dense and slightly crisp. It is tasty eaten out of hand although the skin is rather tough so you might want to peel it first. We highly recommend it for baking. Blue Pearmain is our favorite for baked apples as its thick skin holds up perfectly. It also makes an excellent pie and a tart, yellow applesauce that cooks up in a couple of minutes although the skins do not dissolve. These apples keep in the root cellar until mid-winter.
This is a local variety of the Granny Smith apple that is grown at the Apple Farm in Fairfield. Steve and Marilyn Meyerhans purchased the trees on a hunch many years ago from a grower in the pacific northwest. It turns out that the trees are hardy enough to survive Maine winters but require such a long season that they often do not ripen sufficiently. A Blushing Granny from Maine is a rare treat. The Blushing Granny does not look exactly like the Granny Smith you’ve purchased in the grocery stores over the years, and we think it tastes a lot better. The apples are less stiff and tart and more friendly than store-bought Grannies. Recommended for eating as a dessert fruit, as well as for cooking. Blushing Grannies will keep all winter.
Blushing Grannies
Red-faced Grannies
"Briggs' Auburn, this is a native and prime apple, is a fall apple, but has been kept till March." Maine Farmer 4/13/1854
I first came across this apple in a small, abandoned, roadside orchard in Waldo (Maine) in about 1983. For the next thirty years I wondered about its identity. In the meanwhile, I grafted branches on a couple of our trees in Palermo and began to get to know the large, round-oblate, clear yellow fruit with its glowing greenish shading and a slight blush.
In 2001, using USDA watercolors from the period, as well as old written descriptions, I began to suspect that the apple might be Briggs' Auburn. Briggs' originated on the farm of Thomas Record on the Androscoggin River in Auburn, Maine, and it was introduced by John Criggs of Auburn sometime before 1850. It was common in western Maine for several decades into the 20th century. My search for Briggs led me to a number of old trees in the Auburn area, including one on the oldest farm in Minot, that is close to the site of the first tree. In the last year I have been working with apple geneticist Cameron Peace of Washington State University to unravel the true identity of this and other apples. In the case of Briggs’ it appears that I may have have been incorrect. The apple may not be Briggs. It may be Naked Limbed Greening or it may be Northwestern Greening. (A rose by any other name?)
Regardless, it's a wonderful apple and a favorite on the farm. It's an all-purpose apple with chewy skin and a bright, well-balanced flavor including hints of banana and blackberry. We consider it good for dessert and very good for cooking. Peel it and it’s highly aromatic. Briggs' produces a thick, creamy, golden yellow, apple sauce that requires no sugar. It's excellent in oatmeal. In a pie the slices lose their shape, but the crust won’t sink, and pie doesn’t get watery.
Brock, a McIntosh x Golden Delicious cross, was bred in 1934 by Russ Bailey, renowned plant breeder of the University of Maine. The apple was named for Henry Brock, the orchardist, who was one of the original testers of the variety. It was at Brock’s orchard in Alfred, Maine where the variety found its early popularity. Brock is the sole apple introduction from the University of Maine Cooperative Extension at Highmoor Farm in Monmouth. Brock has the same parentage as the apple Spencer yet they are very different apples. You can cross the same two varieties a thousand times, and every resulting tree and fruit will be unique.
The original thought was to promote Brock for the sauce industry in part due to its small core and Mac heritage. Instead it has become a cult dessert apple among many small commercial growers around the country. It has a full, dynamic flavor and low acidity. The OOAL crew thinks it tastes “like a pleasant rainfall”.
American Golden Russet is one of the many high-quality dessert russets traditionally grown in Maine. Russet is not a variety but rather a skin condition where the surface of the apple has the appearance and texture of suede or unglazed pottery. Many apples are partly or completely covered with russet. Unfortunately for the apple identifier, many of these russeted apples are similar in looks to one another and most old timers didn't particularly care to distinguish between them - they just called them "Russet" or sometimes, "Golden Russet". But the russets can be distinguished by when they ripen and how long they keep.
The one we call Bullock or American Golden Russet ripens in early October, earlier than most other russets, and keeps until January. The fruit is recognizable by its yellowish (not golden) russet coloring and its long stem. It's delicious for fresh eating.
It is reputed to have originated in Winthrop, Maine by Dr. Vaughan. (The Vaughan estate still has a Black Oxford tree, documented to have been planted in 1799. It's awesome.) Other sources say that the apple originated in Burlington County, New Jersey in the mid-1700's. The oldest documentation of its growing in Maine is when Nathan Foster of Gardiner brought fruit to the Maine Pomological meeting in January 1856.
Bunker Hill is an old New York heirloom that originated on the farm of Dr. Paige [Page] of Dryden, Tompkins County, NY sometime before 1874. Presumably it was named in honor of Bunker Hill in Charlestown, MA, site of the famous battle of that name that took place on June 17, 1775 during the early months of the American revolution. Our scionwood was sent to us by L.D. Davidson of Amsterdam, NY many years ago. Davidson received wood from the last remaining tree on Danny and Ginny Lang’s farm in Cortland, NY, not far from Dryden.
Bunker Hill is a juicy, subacid, dessert and cooking apple. The skin is a pale, whitish-yellow that is striped and splashed with two shades of red over two-thirds of the surface. It is moderately sprinkled with light dots, some of them areolar. The cavity is medium to large and greenish. The flesh is sometimes stained next to the skin. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
Burgundy is as colorful on the inside as it is on the outside.
An all-purpose apple, Burgundy is not well-known, but it has an enthusiastic following among collectors. It is a cross between the more popular Macoun and the Russian apple, Antonovka, that is used by many grafters as a hardy rootstock. Burgundy was introduced by the NY Agricultural Experiment Station in 1974.
Glowing reports from Aroostook County fruit growers, Steve and Barb Miller, convinced us to put it on trial in Palermo a couple of years ago. According to Steve, “It reaches out and grabs you!” It’s Barb’s favorite cooking apple.
The large 3" fruit are a glossy, purple red. The firm juicy flesh absolutely glows with rays of red like a sunset interrupted by clouds. The skin pops when you take a bite. Burgundy has a strong, distinctive aroma and a pleasantly unique flavor - if Sweet Tart made a cherry candy, this would be it. The tart, zingy aftertaste that awakens your taste buds is reminiscent of a refreshing lemon Italian ice on a hot summer afternoon. Makes an aromatic, well-balanced, early cider and very good sauce. When sliced and dried, the apple flavor comes on strong and mixes with raspberry. Color and texture of the dried apples are noteworthy. Stores about two months.
This ancient, grafted tree in Cornwall, CT was brought to our attention by Peter del Tredici and Susan Klaw in 2020. After some research, I thought I’d found the Barnham Sweet, a cultivar introduced by T.S. Gold, West Cornwall, CT before 1869. More recent research suggests that it may be Burnham Sweet, introduced by Oliver Burnham about the same time, also in Cornwall. The only descriptions of the two cultivars (Bussey, 2016 vol I p 312 and 438) are brief and nearly identical. All that separates them is one vowel and that from a time when most documentation was in handwriting, not print. When does an “a” become a “u” or vice versa? In all likelihood the two apples are one and the same. A DNA profile (AMHO 311) found no match in the reference data set. The DNA results did show that the famous ancestor of many American apples, Reinette Franche, is likely a grandparent or a more distant relative. The fruit is yellow and ripens late in the fall. Our tree—grafted from wood sent to us by Peter—is doing well but has not yet fruited as of 2024. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
This apple is dear to our hearts because it was "discovered" by our friend, the late Roy Slamm. Way back in 1995, though, when Roy introduced himself to John at the Common Ground Fair we had no idea who he was or that we would spend many wonderful hours together. Roy had sought out John to convince him that he had a remarkable old apple on his farm that John should see. Roy called it Canadian Strawberry. John didn't make it up to Roy's South Solon farm that fall, but over the winter he searched his books and the Agricultural Yearbooks for any reference to the apple. Finding none, he assumed that Roy was mistaken about the name and that the apple wasn't worth his time. But when September rolled around again, Roy appeared at the apple display, and this time he insisted that John come see his trees. So John made the trip to see Roy's three Canadian Strawberry trees, and he was not disappointed. The 100+ year-old trees were clustered together in the field adjacent to the house. The fruit that ripens just in time for the Common Ground Fair was like no other fruit John had seen. But one bite told him that Roy was right – this was a winner.
In the twenty years since that first bite, John has pruned those original trees, taught others how to prune them, cut scion wood from them, grafted those scions onto new rootstocks and helped to populate Maine and New England with young Canadian Strawberry trees. But in those 20 years, he has not found even one other Canadian Strawberry tree or any published reference to it. Perhaps we will never know if Canadian Strawberry originated on Roy's farm in South Solon or whether the Davis Family who first settled the farm brought a scion with them when they moved from Acton, Massachusetts to Maine. We would expect that an apple this tasty might have been passed from neighbor to neighbor, but so far no other old trees of that variety have been found in the area.
Recently we sent leaves to Washington State University for a DNA profile. The results indicate that Canadian Strawberry is a match with a Washington County, NY apple called Washington Strawberry. One of Washington Strawberry’s synonyms is Washington of Maine. Somehow the Canadian Strawberry found its way to New York where it morphed into Washington Strawberry or maybe it began in New York and traveled up to Maine—by way of Canada perhaps—where it took the name Canadian Strawberry. Another mystery yet to be solved. For now we’ll stick with the name Canadian Strawberry and let those in New York call it what they will. Whatever the origin, we are grateful to Roy for his persistence, his ability to recognize a great apple, and his willingness to share his treasure with the rest of us.
The medium-large, round-conic fruit is a sight to behold. The deep butter-yellow skin is overlain with a lace of vibrant orange-red. White dots sparkle all over the red skin like stars on a fiery sky. The flesh is firm and juicy, and each bite gives a flavor punch usually reserved for smaller fruit. This is one delicious dessert apple. It is said to make good early season cider, but why would you use it for anything but fresh eating? We can't grow enough of them. Thanks, Roy.
Every year at the Common Ground Country Fair John creates a display of apples grown in Maine. Many people come to see the display at the Fedco Trees booth, and it inspires them to share stories about the ancient apples on their farms. At the 1995 fair, Roy Slamm was one of those fair goers who visited the display. He told John about an apple growing on his farm in South Solon that he called Canadian Strawberry, and Roy urged John to come see his trees and taste the apple. That night, John checked through his collection of 19th century literature for references to the apple. Finding none, he dismissed the apple as nothing too important and forgot about it.
The following year Roy returned to the Fair and insisted that John come to his farm. So a few days later John made the drive to South Solon to visit Roy and his Canadian Strawberry trees. The first thing John noticed was that there were three of the trees indicating that they were grafted. When he picked and bit into the barrel-shaped, yellow fruit with the vibrant orange, red striping, John knew he had never seen or tasted this remarkable apple before. That night he wrote in his journal, “went to Roy Slamm’s and got Canadian Strawberry apples. Yes!”
That was a beginning of a fifteen-year friendship between Roy and John, and the beginning of John’s fascination with the Canadian Strawberry apple. Because the apple ripens in late September, right at the time of the Common Ground Fair, John often includes it in the display and offers this excellent dessert fruit to fair goers in the apple tasting. On more than one occasion it has won the taste test, beating out other better-known varieties, such as Cox Orange Pippin and Chestnut.
Eventually John grafted Canadian Strawberry onto a tree at his farm in Palermo and began to spread it around New England and beyond through the Fedco Trees catalog. He also planted a specimen at the MOFGA heritage orchard of Maine apple varieties. Over the years, with Roy’s help, he was able to piece together some information about the apple.
On April 19, 1775 Isaac Davis of Acton, Mass was killed at the Old North Bridge in Concord, Mass. He was the first officer to die during the Revolution. Later he was memorialized as the Minute Man in the statue at the bridge. Around 1800 Isaac’s son Ephraim Davis moved to Solon and started the farm the Davis family continued to occupy for nearly 200 years. About 1910 Nathaniel and Dora Davis planted three grafted Canadian Strawberry trees on the farm. All three trees were still living and producing when Roy and his wife Abby purchased the farm from Elmer and Asher Davis in 1971.
No one may ever know the origin of Canadian Strawberry - or “Strawberries” as Roy and Abby’s neighbors called them. It might be a synonym of some other apple. One old timer who had been picking them for over 50 years thought there was a possibility that the variety came from New York where it was called “New York Strawberry.” There is a vague chance it may be another New York apple called Washington Strawberry, although John compared the two years ago and decided against it. There is also a chance it’s the same as another apple called Autumn Strawberry, although that variety is no longer available for comparison. A few years ago John located one reference to a “Canada Late Strawberry” grown at the Michigan Agricultural College in 1887, but there was no description accompanying the reference.
More likely it is one of the many localized apple varieties that originated in small towns all over the eastern United States as generations of farmers on small, diversified farms observed and selected the best of what grew well on their own land. The best apples were often named as the scions were shared with friends and neighbors or grafted onto other seedlings on the original farm; those names were never written down, but instead passed on in the oral tradition from farmer to farmer. Who knows – Canadian Strawberry might even be from a seed brought from Concord, Mass.
In this day and age of email and text messages, Roy was an anomaly. He regularly wrote cards and letters the old fashioned way. In November 2007 he wrote, “It was a spectacular apple year. Our Canadian Strawberry apple trees outdid themselves in production. Most of the fruit was perfect and delicious. [Roy never sprayed his trees for pests.] Lamentably we lost one of the triad of grand lady trees. The most venerable, hollowed trunk. Fell in a strong windy day.”
Roy was not a pomologist. He was not really a fruit explorer. He was a fine woodworker, artist, good neighbor and a homesteader. He was also a keen observer who took pleasure in life. And he was a persistant guy. Were it not for Roy, The ‘Strawberry’ apple might have been lost forever. He knew that he was the steward of something very special, and he was determined to see that it was never lost. One of the last cards John received from Roy read, “Hey John, A few frozen apples clinging to the gnarled branches with little snow hats above.”
Thank you Roy.
Cartigny is a French Bittersweet cider apple of unknown origin but possibly originating in Calvados or Manche. We obtained our scionwood from the USDA (PI 162710) and we grafted it in 2015.
The medium-sized fruit, about the size of Tolman Sweet, is angular and lumpy and slightly ribbed. The green skin is blushed with dark reddish-brown over a quarter to a half of the surface. There is a small russet area around the stem. The juice is sweet and insipid - a mixture of cotton, vanilla, and maple with a bit of bitterness and astringency underneath. (13 Brix; 1055 SG) Although our experience with Cartigny is limited, it appears as though the fruit is ready to pick in mid-October in central Maine and should be pressed by about the first week in November. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
Centennial was part of the University of Minnesota breeding program; it's a cross of Dolgo crab and the famous (much larger)Wealthy. It was introduced in 1957 and was named by the University in honor of Minnesota's statehood (May 11, 1858) when Land of 10,000 lakes became the thirty-second member of the union.
The fruit is oval-shaped, somewhat like a large olive, about 2" tall and slightly less wide. The apple is usually bright-red-blushed; sometimes the blush entirely covers the fruit. It ripens in late August in central Maine.
At a glance Centennial does not look like an apple you'd want to bite into, but don't be fooled by its diminutive size. Centennial is an extremely tasty fresh-eating apple that evokes all the smells of a warm breeze on a tropical island. One bite will drive you mad as you try to decide which starburst flavor it reminds you of. Mango? No. Pineapple? Maybe. Tangerine? Yes, that’s it. Laced with a hint of lemon and peach and a touch of vanilla, the sweetness of this well balanced fruit offsets the slight bitterness of the skin. The aftertaste leaves you feeling sticky. You’ll understand what we mean when you bite into a ripe one. Centennial would probably make decent sauce but why bother? You can eat them like candies.
Charette is an extremely hardy variety that performs best in northern districts. It is thought to have been brought south into Maine by French missionaries. The parentage is unknown but perhaps it is the result of someone planting an Alexander seed. Alexander was brought to Maine from Russia via England in 1813 and somewhat resembles Charette. (Alexander is known to be one of the parents of the equally large Wolf River.) The only known mature Charette tree is located on Charette Hill in Fort Kent, ME. The massive tree, thought to be about 200 years old, is still producing large crops.
The fruit of the Charette tree is distinctive because the blossom end of the apple is often sunken in toward the stem, so much so that when sliced perpendicular to the core, the slices sometimes look like donuts, hence the alternate name, Donut Apple.
For such a large apple, Charette is surprisingly good for fresh eating. Can you detect the taste of banana? We think it is a much better dessert fruit than other huge apples, such as Wolf River. Charette cooks up into a light pink sauce; the banana hints disappear, and other spicy flavors show up. No need to add sugar or peel the apples since the skins chew up easily. We like the apples sliced and lightly sautéed in butter, although they lose their shape if cooked too long. As a baked apple, the flesh became soft, and the flavor reminds us of bananas flambé (yum). Try it in a pie too; hold off on the lemon juice and add a little vanilla - we loved it.
Chenango Strawberry originated in Connecticut or possibly Madison County, New York sometime before 1850. It was thought to have been planted by an African American man named Frank and was known for a time as the “Frank Apple.” At some point it picked up the name Chenango, presumably from the New York county of that name. By the 1870’s it had become popular in Maine.
It’s a classic, late-summer, dessert and cooking apple that can still be found in old dooryards around the southern half of the state. Chenango ripens in early September in central Maine. The fruit is thin-skinned, very conic in shape and colored a light pastel pink and yellow. It’s instantly identifiable once you see it a few times. There’s no other cultivar like it. The flesh is fine textured, tender, moderately firm, pleasantly subacid and aromatic. The quality is good; but beware, the fruit bruises a second or two after you touch it. Use it up quickly. Like many other summer-cultivars, it does not keep.
This high quality, all-purpose fall-winter apple was introduced by Wyman B. Collins of Cherryfield, Washington County, in about 1850. It was subsequently popularized by David Wass Campbell of Cherryfield, and Welton Munson of the University of Maine. The original tree was still standing in 1907, but then the variety disappeared into obscurity for 100 years. Old trees were discovered in 2006 with the help of Majory Brown, Larry Brown, and Kathy Upton, all of Cherryfield. It was grown in Kennebec County under the name Benton Red. DNA profiling now shows Cherryfield and Benton Red to be identical. It is also identical to the mid-west apple, Salome. We’re attempting to sort out which name came first. Stay tuned! (For more information, see John’s Apples and the Art of Detection, chapter 20.)
Cherryfield is medium-large and conic-shaped and washed and striped with pink. The greenish-white flesh is crisp, tender, fine-grained, mild and tart. The fruit ripens in October and keeps until early spring. Cherryfield is very good for fresh eating, excellent in sauce and makes a highly flavored pie. It’s also good in salads and even sliced up on pizza.
This early fall crabapple (Malinda x open-pollinated) was introduced by the University of Minnesota in 1946. For a growing number of people in central Maine, mid-late September is “Chestnut Apple Time”. For many years we put out a bushel a day at Fedco’s booth at the Common Ground Fair and watched them disappear. Neophytes often looked at the fruit with disdain, put off by the small, golf-ball size or the unusual color. Most, however, took one bite, and became instant converts. Chestnut has won the apple tasting at the Fair more than once.
The fruit has yellow and bronze-red skin with some russeting and crisp, juicy, fine-grained, sweet yellow flesh. We think of it as the apple version of “Sun Gold” tomatoes. We usually eat chestnut simply out of hand, although it needs no sugar to make a sweet and subtle sauce. Regina, one of our past apprentices, used them in the apple pickle recipe and thought they made the best batch ever – a strong recommendation since we make apple pickles a lot at Super Chilly Farm. Chestnut is not a great keeper, but it can be stored for a month or so.
Clarence Knight is a huge, old, spreading tree that is almost certainly a seedling. It was discovered by Gene Cartwright of Whaleback Cider in the homestead-orchard on the farm once belonging to Al and Eleanor Wood in Lincolnville, Maine. Al and Eleanor died in the early years of the twenty-first century. Their farm buildings are all gone, but the big tree remains. Gene first called the apple “A and E Red”, then “Knights Bitter” in honor of the original settlers of the property. Finally he settled on Clarence Knight. The Knight family may have been the ones who first planted the seed.
The fruit is 2 1/4", round and slightly truncate, and largely covered with fine red stripes and red blush. The basin is deep and abrupt. Gene describes the fruit as having a “bitterness pronounced before peak ripeness but tapering to a more mild sweetness when fully ripe. I don't find it to be all that astringent, [and I] would be more inclined to call it a bittersweet.” The tree is willowy, rangy, largely tip-bearing, ripening in late October/early November. We obtained our scionwood from the old tree in Lincolnville. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
Cole’s Quince (sometimes called Quince of Cole) originated in about 1830 in Cornish, Maine. It was introduced by Captain Henry Cole . His son, S.W. Cole, featured the variety is his famous pomological publication, The American Fruit Book. This all-purpose summer apple is extremely rare. The variety was historically grown throughout much of southern and central Maine, as well as scattered locations out of state. There are currently no known old trees left in Maine.
No one knows where the name came from, but perhaps it was named because the very ripe fruit resembles a lumpy, yellow quince in appearance. Or perhaps it was called Quince because of what several old books call its “rich, high quince favor”.
The large, flattish-conical, ribbed, bright yellow fruit sometimes has a brownish blush. As the fruit ripens, the blush turns a glowing translucent, rusty red through which numerous yellow spots appear.
This is one of our very favorite early apples that ripens in mid-late August. We love it for late summer pies and sauce. We also like it as a dessert (fresh eating) apple. It was a hit in our taste tests where the white flesh was described as “tangy” and “strongly aromatic” having “zesty zip” and “zing with plenty of sweetness.” The apples ripen over several weeks. Collect them off the ground and use them within a day or two.
Blooms early. About as hardy as Baldwin.
Coloradona is a well-known commercial Spanish cider apple imported by the USDA and currently on trial around the US. We obtained our scionwood from the USDA Geneva collection (PI 4860). A recent check of the GRIN website suggests that Coloradona may no longer be in the collection. We are not yet able to make an assessment of the tree or fruit as ours have not yet fruited. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
Of uncertain origin, this apple was introduced by W.F. Connell of Menomonie, WI in 1957. The accepted story has always been that Connell Red resulted from a bud sport (mutation) of the excellent Minnesota winter apple, Fireside. Recent evidence seems to disprove that allegation. It now appears that the variety originated as a seedling, rather than a bud sport, in an orchard across the border in Wisconsin. Another mystery solved? Maybe…maybe not. These all purpose apples are large, solid bright red, oblate-conic and sprinkled with pinpoint white dots. The flesh is juicy and distinctively flavored. Keeps in well in the fridge (or the root cellar until April or even May.)
Cora’s Grand Greening is an old, high-quality, all-purpose cultivar that may have originated on North Haven Island, ME. The fruit is large to huge, blocky, deeply ribbed, green-skinned and often with a pinkish-red blush. The fruit resembles bell peppers on a tree. It is unlike any apple I’ve ever seen.
It was brought to my attention by Becky Bartovics whose farm is defined by the old, grafted tree in the center of the farm yard that’s been leaning downwind for many decades. Not knowing if it had a name, Becky named it after Cora Ames who farmed the property as a single woman in the nineteenth century. We have not found any other trees of this cultivar in Maine nor any descriptions of the apple that would give a clue to another name. Our scionwood comes from her old North Haven tree. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
Counting Machine is a seedling bittersweet discovered by Gene Cartwright on North Haven Island, ME. According to Gene, it’s “…tucked into a thicket of seedlings. It's 2-3” in size, although who knows how big it would be if the tree were pruned differently and the fruit thinned. The slightly sheep-nosed apple has a green base with a yellow and orange blush that sometimes becomes fully red. The tannins are pronounced but not harsh behind lush, fruity and slightly spicy flavors. Pressed 8 bushels, juice measured 14 brix. Tree seemed very vigorous, slightly weeping habit, willowy rather than bushy, very soft wood.” Gene provided us with scionwood in 2021. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
Court Royal is an extremely rare English triploid cider apple that I obtained from the cider historian and collector, John Teiser through collaboration with the USDA APHIS program (T47936A-2a). The scionwood was originally imported under the name of as Cowarne Red, but recent DNA tests in England show it to be Court Royal.
The fruit is large, roundish, blocky and green-skinned with some orange-red blush and stripes. The flesh is sweet and crisp. It is classified as a “sweet” meaning that it’s low in acidity and tannins. It may be useful as a dessert and cooking apple as well as for cider. We have not produced enough fruit yet to give it a proper evaluation. There is a detailed description with photographs of the fruit in Liz Copas’ excellent book, Cider Apples: The New Pomona.
Court Royal has a reputation of being a vigorous tree which has been the case in our trials. Our young trees are huge. It might be useful for topworking other less vigorous varieties. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
Possibly a seedling of Ribston Pippin, Cox's Orange Pippin originated near Slough, Bucks, England around 1825. The aromatic fruit is red-orange to red with russet striping and wash.
It is revered in the U.K, and deservedly so since this medium-size apple really packs a punch in the flavor department. It is a standout dessert (fresh-eating) apple and good for cooking as well. The perfectly-balanced flavor is citrus forward - a bit like a tangy lemon-lime soda (think Squirt not Mountain Dew). It is crisp and juicy, but not so juicy it makes you drool. An oddity among early apples in that the flavors improve with storage. As a dried apple the caramel flavors mingle with the citrus just enough to make your mouth water.
Cox's has been voted number one at the Common Ground Fair apple tastings many years. Cox's is the parent of many other great apple varieties.
The cultivar that we refer to as Cray is from an ancient tree that I discovered at the Cray farm on the Nutting Road in Perham, ME in 1998. The tree was exceedingly old at that time and almost certainly grafted. It may be a local named apple although we have made no positive identification at this point. We hope it will be DNA tested before too long. There is a possibility that it is the true Nutting Bumpus apple as the Cray farm is less than a half mile from the Nutting farm where the Nutting Bumpus originated. The apple once thought to be Nutting Bumpus has been proven to be Duchess by DNA testing. The Cray apple does not resemble Duchess.
The Cray fruit is roundish-oblate, almost entirely covered with dark red blush and stripes and has a distinct russet patch around the stem. With some specimens the russet extends out to almost cover the entire base. Our scionwood comes from the old tree on the Nutting Road in Perham. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
Cull de Sack was introduced to me by Sandy Nickerson who discovered the bushy plant growing in the front yard of her recently built home in Cumberland, ME. The apple is most likely a seedling, but it could possibly be a re-sprouted graft or a rootstock re-sprouted from the ground. It would probably grow itself into a tree if pruned.
The medium-sized, tart, all-purpose apple is one of our best finds in recent years. The fruit is beautiful and multi-colored, resembling Golden Ball, Wealthy, and Fameuse. Some are definitely red while others are nearly all yellow with a few wispy red stripes and a russet splash around the stem.
The fruit has an unusual flavor that is dense and crisp, slightly acidic and crunchy. It makes a distinctively tasty sauce well into May. In 2018—a bad year for a lot of apples—the SG was 1.061. It ripens very late and holds onto the tree. Not growing at Super Chilly Farm, but it should be.
Dabinett is one of the most well-known English, bittersweet, cider cultivars in the world; it is grown throughout the cider-orchard regions of the UK and the US. Dabinett originated in Middle Lambrook, Somerset. Although it was previously thought that one parent might be the famous English bittersweet, Chisel Jersey, DNA profiling has shown that to be incorrect. One of its parents is the cider-apple mega-founder currently known as “Unknown Founder 6.” The other parent has not been identified.
The small-medium-sized fruit is partly to mostly covered with a brownish, brick-red blush and darker brick-red stripes. Many fruit are half soft green and half red. As a result, the fruit often appears rotten, even when it's quite firm. The coloring makes it easily recognizable.
Dabinett is a true bittersweet. Because it can be found almost anywhere cider apples are growing, we have not put much focus on it other than to have a couple trees in the orchard to keep an eye on. It is written about extensively in practically any apple book or article that touches on cider apples. We obtained our scionwood from Poverty Lane/Farnham Hill Cider in Lebanon, NH, and we know it to be true-to-type. It’s currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
Damelot is a well-known, French, bittersweet cider apple (1080 SG/19 Brix) that may have originated near Vitre, France. The small to medium (5.5 cm- 2 1/4”), roundish-oblate fruit is slightly irregular, and a cheerful yellow with a slight pinkish-orange blush, small, russet cavity patch, many prominent, russet dots and not much of a stem or a cavity. It has an axile core with large open cells and a short conic or urn-shaped calyx tube.
The flesh is moderately juicy and not very bitter or astringent; it’s mostly mildly sweet or as the French say "douce legerement-amere" (slightly bitter). We recommend Damelot for those looking for a late ripening bittersweet. Our fruit is still hard in mid-November. It is probably hardy to zone five or even four. We obtained scionwood from the USDA (PI 162722) in 2015. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
The seedling cider apple known as Dandeneau has become one of our favorites. It was discovered in about 2012 on a hillside in Rowe, MA by Steve Gougeon of Bear Swamp Orchard. In November, 2013 Steve took me to a magical hillside which was sprinkled with dozens of seedling apples. The Dandeneau family allowed him free-reign of the “orchard”, and there he collected many apples for Bear Swamp’s cider. Steve initially called his discovery “Henry’s Green Russet” but later changed the name to Dandeneau in honor of the owner, Henry Dandeneau (1924-2013). It is possible that Steve has other selections from the hillside grafted into the Bear Swamp orchard in Ashfield, MA. I have one other of his discoveries from the site - a small-fruiting and red-leafed apple that Steve called “Rowe Crab.”
At our farm in central Maine, Dandeneau is precocious. prolific, annual, beautiful and ripens late in the fall. The fruit is round-conic, small (1.75"- 2"), long-stemmed, with an occasional pinkish blush around the stem, a small, russet, stem splash, and russet patches and netting. The flesh is very dense, slightly juicy, mild flavored, moderately bitter, slightly astringent, tart and lemony. We pick them towards the end of October and press them late. We obtained our scionwood from Steve. We highly recommend Dandeneau for trial in colder districts. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
Danziger Kantenapfel probably originated in Danzig (Gdansk) Poland before 1760. In 2014 a Danziger tree was discovered by Yves Van Damme growing in the front yard of a sea-side cottage in Harpswell, ME. Ives introduced it to our fruit exploring buddy, Roberto McIntire who in turn brought it to our attention. No one knew what this deeply ribbed apple was. Roberto called it “Lumpy Red” which described it perfectly. I did the identification using Johann Hermann Knoop’s 1766 highly stylized book of European cultivars called Pomologia. Danziger Kantenapfel can be found on the plate labeled “TAB IV” adjacent to page 8. It has to be it. How this amazing out-of-place apple got to a cottage by the sea, I imagine no one will ever know although the cottage sits across the road from the location of the former Hotel Germania which dates from a time when the coast of Maine was the preferred summer retreat for the rich and famous.
The fruit which also goes by the alternate spellings Danziger Kantenappel and Dantziger Kantapfel is large-very large, nearly solid red, and deeply ribbed. The basin is bunched up, lumpy and furrowed with extra bunches of flesh like puckered up lips. It’s so deeply ribbed that you might not believe it was an apple. It makes good late fall, fresh eating and sauce; it’s probably not a pie apple but we haven’t tried to cook with it. Not currently growing at SCF but should be!
Davis Purple is a mid-late fall apple introduced to me by Don Essman who found the tree growing in Standish, ME. Although it looked a lot like Black Oxford, Don called it "Davis Purple,” presumably after the owners of the tree. That tree died in 1999, but by then we had the apple grafted at SCF. I was never able to visit the tree so I never got a sense of its age or determined if it was grafted or a seedling.
In 2015 after contacting the folks from the Buxton-Hollis Historical Society, I wondered if Davis Purple might be the long lost Harmon apple that was introduced by J.H. Harmon in Buxton in about 1887. Buxton is not far from Standish where Don Essman found the Davis Purple tree. Buxton was first settled in 1728 as "Narragansett Number 1," and was incorporated as Buxton in 1772. By the late 1800's there were many Harmons in town, including John and Jacob. One of them was most likely the J.H. responsible for the apple. J.H. also introduced another apple, Narragansett (from the town's original name and not to be confused with the very different Narragansett Crabapple.) Recent DNA profile suggests that the apple may not be Harmon though that is yet to be sorted out.
The fruit is roundish-oblate, medium-sized, white-dotted with purple-black skin that resembles Black Oxford. It is a flavorful dessert apple. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
Dawn’s Late Duchess is a Duchess-type, probably a seedling, discovered by Evelyn Isgro Desplat in the Rangeley Lakes area of Maine. It ripens considerably later than the early-September ripening Duchesss of Aroostook County. We have not yet tried fruit as of 2024. We obtained our scionwood from Evelyn. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
In October 2005 I went to Tory Hill in Franklin County, Maine to visit the Rothschild family with the goal of identifying four old trees in their orchard of Baldwins and Wealthy. I identified them as Deane, an old Maine variety introduced by Cyrus Deane in Temple not far from Tory Hill about 1858. Recent DNA profiling has thrown that into question. The tree grafted from the Tory Hill trees at the Maine Heritage Orchard DNA profiled as Milwaukee, an apple with no record of having been grown historically in Maine. Could Milwaukee have been grown here with no record of it having been so? Could the Deane apple have been taken as scionwood to Wisconsin by folks going to harvest timber in the mid-nineteenth century? It’s one of the mysteries we’re attempting to solve—one we may never solve.
The apple we’ve been growing as Deane, is all-purpose, large, striped and blushed red, juicy and subacid. The flesh is white, fine textured with the consistency of McIntosh but none of the scab. It cooks up pretty quickly into orange-apricot colored, coarse, slightly loose sauce. It ripens on about October 7 and keep for a month. (For more information, see Art of Detection, chapter 19.) Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
Fall. Unknown parentage. Cyrus Deane farm, Temple, ME, late 19th c. Also called Nine Ounce. A Maine all-purpose variety once popular from Orono to Bath, now all but vanished. The medium roundish oblate fruits even weighed 9 ounces apiece. Looks a bit like a cross between Northern Spy and Duchess. Maybe it is? Light yellow skin mostly covered with red blush and short “Spy”-pink stripes. Slightly lobed. Fine-grained white tender juicy subacid fruit. Melting with the consistency of a Mac but no scab. Our scionwood came originally from Michael Rothchild’s orchard in Phillips, just nine miles from Temple.
Dec Pip is a fresh-eating and cider seedling selection discovered on Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) land in New York state by Tim Graham of Left Bank Cider in Catskill, NY who wrote to us in March 2021, “I have even included a bottle made from one single tree, I'm calling it Dec Pip because its on DEC land which is… New York City watershed land. This apple tree is quite a producer and even had a few apples last year - its "off" year.
The medium/small size fruit has great flavor for fresh eating. We are awaiting our first crop of Dec Pip. We obtained our scionwood from Tim in the spring of 2021. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
Delong Red is a bittersweet seedling with cider potential, one of the wild apples selected as part of the Shacksbury Cider ‘Lost Apple Project’ by David Dolginow, Colin Davis, Michael Lee and others in the Middlebury, VT area. The tree they named Delong Red was discovered on the edge of a field off the Delong Road in Cornwall. The moderately juicy, red-skinned fruit ripens in mid-October and makes a full bittersweet, somewhat spicy cider. Cammy and I visited them all in the fall of 2015 and asked that they send us one of their favorites. Michael Lee sent us this one. It’s doing quite well in the orchard though it hasn’t yet produced a usable crop. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
Denniston Red is a wild seedling discovered in an old abandoned orchard in Denniston Ford, Sullivan County, NY by Andy Brennan of Aaron Burr Cider. The apple is a bittersharp fruit that Andy highly recommends for cider. In his book, Uncultivated, Andy Brennan devotes much of an entire chapter to this apple. He calls it, “the tree of my dreams… as a cider maker it was hard not to get attached to Red. I know that no one variety represents the best characteristics of a cider apple, but if I were to pick one that best sums up my type of cider, I would pick this one: Denniston Red. … The apple is medium-sized, squat, oblong or round; it’s blood red and doesn’t ripen until October, remaining green and unsuggestive until the fall equinox. … When it dents like Styrofoam, you know the apple is ready to pick.” Our scionwood comes from Andy Brennan. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
Domaines is an early-mid fall, French, bittersweet cider apple that probably originated in Normandy before 1900. It is sometimes known as De Clou or Domaines du Calvados to differentiate it from a distinct cultivar, Domaines de L’eure. We had tried growing Domaines years ago, but the trees did not do well. Then we starting hearing good things about the apple and the tree and decided to try again. We’ve only been testing it since 2023 so we don’t have much yet to report except that others like it on this side of the Atlantic.
The fruit is medium-large, roundish-oblate, yellow, splashed and striped with red, said to be tender and bitter with an SG around 1.067. We obtained our scionwood from Gene Cartwright of Whaleback Cider in Lincolnville, ME. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
Dots is an extremely old, grafted tree in Belgrade, ME, introduced to us by the owners, Janetha Benson and Russ Dejong. They named the tree for the very prominent dots on the fruit. The tree was ancient when I first visited it with Laura Childs on September 18, 2011. The DNA profile (AMHO 011) indicates that Dots is a triploid with no match in the reference panel. It does, however, match another unidentified tree, this one being the NH State Champion tree (AMHO 052), submitted by Jared Kane. The site where Dots is located is an old farm known as the Sabins Farm after Emma Sabins who was a single woman—likely a widow—who lived on the farm in the early 1900’s. At some point the farm was owned by J.C. Taylor, the father of the well-known orchardist, Joseph Taylor (1804-1882). Dots could be one of Joseph Taylor’s missing introductions such as Rome of Maine, Rockwood or Zachary. It might also be a southern New England apple that the Taylors were growing, which would explain its being identical to AMHO 052. The Benson tree is still alive (2025) though nearing the end of its life.
Dots is a winter-keeping, dark red, furrowed, Baldwin-type apple. We have a young tree grafted at SCF although it is not yet fruiting. We obtained our scionwood from the Belgrade tree. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
Photo credit: Claude Jolicoeur
Douce de Charlevois (aka Douce Charlevoisienne or Charlevoix Sweet) is a seedling discovery of Claude Jolicoeur in the village of Baie-Saint-Paul, county of Charlevoix, Quebec. Claude thinks it is likely a seedling rootstock that overgrew the grafted variety. The tree is annually bearing, productive, vigorous and hardy. The relatively scab-free fruit is about 2.5”, conical, and orange-red striped on a greenish background. It would be classified as a sweet or mild bittersweet, suitable for early season cider. Claude describes the juice as having an excellent flavor with a mild bitterness. S.G. ranges from 1.047 to 1.057, and titratable acidity expressed as tartaric acid is from 0.25% to 0.4%. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
Doux Normandie (Sweet Normandy) is one of the two last trees in our orchard to leaf out—let alone bloom. It leafs out after nearly every other apple tree has leafed out, bloomed and dropped all its flowers. Every year I think the tree is dead. Doux Normandie fruit is small to almost medium-sized, roundish and slightly oblate or conic, sometimes with a slanted axis. The smooth, McIntosh-like skin is mostly covered with rosy-red stripes and blush, russet in the cavity, basin or both and sometimes with a bit of yellow around the cavity. This is a mild, sweet, cider apple, that is crisp and juicy without much bitterness. It is prone to developing watercore. We obtained our scionwood from Dan Bussey. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
Duchess originated in Russia in the 17th century. In 1835 the Massachusetts Horticultural Society imported the first of many apple varieties from Russia. These were Alexander, Tetofsky, Red Astrichan and Duchess of Oldenburg. Mass Horticultural was the early precursor to the USDA, the University breeding programs and Cooperative Extension. They regularly imported, tested and disseminated fruits and other plants from around the world. Until Duchess of Oldenburg was imported, northernmost Maine remained without apples. Neither the varieties of Europe, nor their seedlings, were hardy enough to withstand the winters north of Bangor. Duchess brought the apple to the coldest parts of our state, as well as to the coldest areas of New York and New England, the plains states, the upper midwest and much of Canada. Duchess was planted extensively wherever growers needed varieties with extreme cold hardiness. It is still popular today in most of northern New England, especially Aroostook County where its name is practically synonymous with the word apple. In talking with Duchess growers over the years, it has often sounded to as though each Duchess is unique. All the trees were referred to as “Duchess” but growers would be likely to say that this Duchess was better than that Duchess. John suspects that up there most -or perhaps even all – the Duchess trees were planted as seedlings, not as grafted trees. In a culture with a long tradition of planting apples from seed, this is not too surprising. What is remarkable though is that Duchess is one apple that produces generally true to type seedlings. There are old fields in Aroostook that have been overgrown almost entirely with Duchess seedlings. You can wander through thickets of apple trees for hours tasting Duchess seedlings. They are all variations on a theme, and nearly all taste quite decent.
Duchess is the parent of one Aroostook variety and thought to be the parent of another. In fact, it has been the parent of a great many varieties in the past century. It is a variety with a multitude of desirable qualities, not the least of which are its incredible ruggedness and hardiness. Duchess seedling trees also make very good, uniform rootstock called Borowinka on which to graft other varieties.
Highly esteemed for all sorts of cooking, Duchess is an excellent pie apple. It makes a zesty pie, and it cooks up quickly into thick, creamy sauce. Duchess fruit is also excellent for tart fresh eating. The flesh is juicy and reminiscent of a mac. The flavor resides somewhere between a citrus fruit and new mown grass. It is lemony and herbaceous all at once , almost like munching on a fresh leaf of sorrel. Mixed in you may discover a note of kiwi or honeydew melon. The skin is chewy but not chokey.
Dunkerton Late Sweet is an English sweet cider cultivar that originated in Baltonsborough, Somerset, UK in the 1940’s. The fruit is a small-medium in size (5.5-6.2 cm—2-2.5”), oblate, clear greenish-yellow with a faint, pinkish blush that covers 20% of the surface with a medium to large-size, russet stem splash. The large russet splash extends to the edge of the cavity but not over. The basin is shallow, and the calyx is partly to entirely open. The fruit visually resembles a small Rhode Island Greening or Northwestern Greening. We obtained our scionwood from the USDA in Geneva (PI 589666). Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm, but, as yet, we have not had a large enough crop to do a critique.
Dudley Winter probably originated from a Duchess of Oldenburg apple seed, pollinated by Hyslop Crab, and planted by Mary Dudley about 1870. The apple was introduced by her husband, John Wesley Dudley, in Castle Hill, Aroostook County, in 1880. The apple became popular in northern Maine because it is one of the few storage varieties hardy enough to be grown in The County. It also became popular in Canada and in northern districts of New Hampshire, Vermont, New York and the upper mid-west, often under its synonym, North Star. In central and southern Maine, it ripens in September. Old trees can occasionally be found in northern and central Maine.
Dudley Winter fruit is medium-large, red-striped, red-blushed and slightly ribbed. It resembles Duchess of Oldenburg, the classic Russian variety grown on nearly every Aroostook County farm for over a hundred years. The fruit is susceptible to scab, but that won’t affect the taste.
"Dudley" is best used for pies, sauce and other cooking. It is too tart for most apple lovers to enjoy as a dessert apple although it would make a good garnish for a cocktail or as a slice to pair with a piece of cheese.
Dymock Red is a famous historic English bittersharp cider apple which dates from the mid 1600’s. Charles Martell describes it as being a “cider..[and] eating apple…[with] quality on par with the Kingston Black…” Recent DNA work has revealed that there are two similar apples—half-sibs—that have both been called Dymock Red. They share a important unidentified parent (currently called Unknown Founder 30). It is unclear which of the two Dymock Reds (if either) is the true Dymock Red. Maybe they both are! In 2013 I imported from John Teiser what is now being called DR2 (or Dymock Red 2). That apple (TH47928A2-6a) received final release from APHIS in 2024, and we grafted it into our Finley Lane test orchard in 2024 where it is currently growing.
In an email discussion about the apple in January, 2025, Nick Howard wrote, “I have this genotypic profile in my database named "Dymock Red (1)" with the genotypic profile of John's [Teiser] sample named "Dymock Red (2)". Neither of these has any offspring in the database and I haven't identified any parents for them. Both accessions of 'Dymock Red' are half-siblings, with their shared unknown parent being an offspring of what I've named as "Unknown Founder 30", which is an ungenotyped, unknown but imputed parent of some old cultivars from England including 'Cherry Pearmain', 'Cowarne Red', 'Eggleton Styre', 'Frederick', 'Longvilles Kernel', 'Merchant Apple', 'Red Styre', 'Redstreak', and 'Skyrmes Kernel'. 'Reinette Franche', the prolific mega founder, is also a close ancestor of both 'Dymock Red' profiles - possibly as a great-grandparent of Dymock Red (2).”
Early Genitan may be an ancient cultivar from the UK, France or Maine. It may also be a synonym of White Joaneting, Geneting, Geniton or Yellow Gention, the last of which was historically grown in midcoast Maine. It might also be a really interesting seedling. In the fall of 2001 Sharon Merrow of Rockland contacted me looking for information about a yellow apple in her yard that she was told was called Early Gentian. Although I subsequently visited the tree on several occasions, I never learned how Sharon came up with the name.
When I was giving a talk a month after she first contacted me not far from Rockland at the St. George Historical Society, an elderly man named Dana Smith told me about an apple from Appleton, ME that he remembered from his boyhood. That apple was called “Genitan.” That tree of his memory was apparently long gone, but perhaps they were both speaking of the same variety.
The tree in Rockland was on Mechanic St. across from a small park overlooking the harbor. It had five trunks and an upright, brushy habit, with a nice spread and a massive number of fruit spurs. It had the look of a seedling while simultaneously resembling no seedling I’ve ever seen. While I’m not convinced that it’s the ancient Genitan apple, it is something quite unusual. The round fruit is medium-sized (2 1/8"- 2 3/4") with yellow skin, a rusty-orange blush, and numerous, small, russet dots. It is tart, astringent and oddly flavored, suited to cider and cooking. It holds it shape in a pie or crisp. It ripens in mid-fall. We obtained our scionwood from the tree in Rockland. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
Early Harvest, with its nearly thirty synonyms, is one of the oldest North American summer cultivars, probably originating in New York well before 1800, and introduced into Winthrop, ME around 1830 under the name Yellow Harvest.
The fruit is medium-sized, roundish-oblate, light yellow-green colored with a distinct splash of russet surrounding the stem cavity. The basin is shallow with an open calyx. The fruit turns a rich buttery yellow as it drops during the first week of August in central Maine. Early Harvest has been recommended for generations for both dessert and cooking. It’s quite tart unless it’s fully ripe. We think of it more as a cooking apple than a dessert apple. It makes a complex, interesting sauce that’s tart but not too much so.
Our scionwood was sourced originally from the USDA collection in Geneva NY (PI 589015) although I think I’ve also found trees in Maine. We lost ours to fire blight in 2020. We will replace it in the near future. Currently not growing at Super Chilly Farm.
Edna was discovered in central Maine by Angus Deighan and Abbey Verrier in about 2014 near another of their discoveries, Triple Pink (which we also grow). They think Edna is an old rootstock, and they selected it for its cider potential. We’re still waiting for our first decent crop in Palermo so we don’t have much to report.
The fruit is small (about 1.5-2”—4.5-5cm), round to slightly conic, with practically no basin, and colored a clear yellow, occasionally with a translucent, pink-orange blush and yellow dots that show through the translucent blush. We obtained our scionwood from Angus and Abbey. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
In his wonderful 2021 book, Odd Apples, William Mullan writes about how his love affair with apples began, “…it was the Egremont Russet that caught my eye, with its particularly funny moniker and even more peculiar resemblance to a gold-sprayed potato. …I can remember feeling completely compelled to buy several pounds of Egremont Russet without ever having tasted it. On the way home, I ate one, and you could say it was love at first bite…”
Egremont Russet is a high quality, highly-prized, English dessert cultivar that probably originated at Petworth, the estate of Lord Egremont, in Sussex, England sometime before 1872 (although Hogg did not list it in his 1884 Fruit Manual). It was probably introduced by the famous nurseryman, John Scott whose extensive 1873 catalog, Scott's Orchardist; or Catalogue of Fruits, Cultivated at Merriott, Somerset, continues to be valuable for English and American apple historians. Egremont was probably first introduced to the U.S. by South Meadow Nurseries in Michigan in the early 1990’s.
Simon’s annual haul of Egremont Russet
Although it is nearly impossible to find at farm stands in the US, Egremont is still available in markets in the UK, and it’s also become popular in Australia and New Zealand. Every year a friend from Melbourne, Australia sends us a picture of the Egremonts that he buys from the one market stall that offers them. It is the fleeting highlight of his fruit year. “I cleaned out the organic fruit stall at the market - this is the last of this year's crop..Since I eat 4-6 apples a day (including cores but excluding the sticks), this will last a few days only.”
As Simon attests, Egremont Russet is excellent for fresh eating. The small to medium-sized, roundish fruit is entirely covered with russet. The flesh is firm, and the skin is easy to chew. The complex flavors are well balanced and have hints of lemon and mint. It ripens later than St. Edmond’s Russet but earlier than Roxbury and the Golden Russet types. We harvest our fruit about October 15 here in central Maine. The fruit keeps a month or so, but should be used up by mid-December.
We received our Egremont scionwood in about 1995 from a member of North American Fruit Explorers (NAFEX). Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
Ellis Bitter is an early-fall, English bittersweet cider cultivar that originated in Newton St Cyres, Devon, England. We originally imported our Ellis Bitter though APHIS thinking incorrectly that it was Broxwood Foxwhelp (H47925A4). That has now been cleared up by DNA profiling. Despite the fact that Ellis Bitter is fairly commonly in the US, we decided to keep ours in the orchard. (The Ellis Bitter generally available elsewhere in the US is probably correct.)
Because it ripens in early fall, Ellis can be useful to cider-makers who look to add bitterness to early season pressings. The large, conic fruit is red-blushed and red-striped, mildly bitter, sweet, astringent, crisp and juicy. The tree is fast-growing, large, upright, rangy, open, vigorous, and productive. We grafted a tree at The Apple Farm in Fairfield in about 2010. That tree has been bearing for a number of years, every other year. We recently added it to our orchard in Palermo, although it is not yet bearing. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
The Empire apple comes out the New York State Fruit testing program in Geneva, New York, one of the last remaining apple breeding programs in the US. Despite its less-than-perfect parents (McIntosh x Red Delicious), it’s probably one of their best introductions. Although mostly abandoned in recent years because of small fruit size, the apple can still be found in small quantities in commercial Maine orchards.
Empire is often recommended for dessert (fresh eating). It should also make very decent sauce though we haven’t tried it. It stores quite well in the refrigerator or root cellar.
Esopus Spitzenburg (correct pronunciation is most likely "e-SOAP-us SPIT-zen-berg") originated in Esopus, New York sometime before 1776. Although it is forever damned to be pigeon-holed as Thomas Jefferson’s favorite apple, it vastly prefers New York and New England to Virginia. And Jefferson is not the only person who is a fan of this apple - for over than two hundred years “Spitz” has been a choice dessert and culinary variety, mentioned in nearly every list of best apples. Herman Melville wrote in his 1853 Bartleby, the Scrivener," Copying law-papers being proverbially a dry, husky sort of business, my two scriveners were fain to moisten their mouths very often with Spitzenburgs, to be had at the numerous stalls nigh the Custom House and Post Office”.
The flavor is slightly subacid, crisp and juicy, an excellent acid source for sweet or fermented cider. It cooks up quickly into a somewhat coarse, slightly tart, very good quality sauce. In central Maine the fruit ripens in mid-fall, a bit earlier than the Spys, Baldwins and Black Oxfords. The medium-large, round-conic fruit is almost entirely covered with a blush of bright-to-slightly dull red, covered with russet dots, notably small and round towards the basin and elongated towards the cavity. The tree itself is moderately vigorous with easily trained, wide-angle branches. It is moderately susceptible to scab though we have never sprayed ours with fungicides, and the fruit has been great.
Etter’s Gold is one of Albert Etter’s (1872-1950) most well-known introductions. (His most famous is Wickson, an apple we love.) It was released by Etter in 1944 and patented (American plant patent #659). Etter’s Gold is said to be a cross of Wagener and Transcendent Crab, although I don’t think the parentage has been confirmed by DNA profile.
The fruit which is excellent for fresh eating is medium-large (2 1/2 - 3”), round-oblate, yellow-green, sometimes with a pinkish-orange blush and a darker green cavity (like potatoes when they get solanic/solanine acid green areas). It ripens in mid-late October in central Maine. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
Everett Cunningham was the name of the old-timer who lived in a small farm house in Hibbert’s Gore between the towns of Palermo, Washington and Somerville, ME. The apple of the same name is a large, old seedling that emerges from the foundation in the back of Everett’s house. That seedling probably dates from about 1900 and was fermented into a locally famous cider for many years. Karen Keller, the owner of the home and tree for the past few decades, brought us fruit from the tree in 2014 along with fruit from a second old tree in her front yard that she refers to as “Grandfather.” Apparently the two apples were Everett’s preferred cider apples. Betty Glidden, who grew up next door to Everett, told Karen, "Why we just always called them Old Everett’s Cider Apples…People came from as far as Newport to buy Everett's cider.” We had the tree DNA profiled (AMHO 314), and the results identified it as being closely related to the famous apple, Reinette Franche.
The fruit is small-medium sized, roundish-oblate, and yellow-skinned with a large russet patch that fills the cavity and spills out over the sides. It closely resembles the English Bittersweet called Silver Cup. It’s astringent, not very bitter and mildly sharp, with a 1050 SG.
We’ve used the apples from the Gore tree in our cider. We harvest Everett Cunningham in late October. The apples will store in the root cellar until June—if you don’t press them first. We obtained our scionwood from Karen’s old tree and are excited to have it growing in our test orchard. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
Fallawater is a large, green, winter-keeping apple that was grown historically in Maine. It is thought to have originated in Bucks County or Montgomery County, PA or maybe even Germany in the early 19th century. It has been called (perhaps originally) Pharrar Walther, then Farawalder. Other synonyms include Winter Blush and Tulpehocken. It was brought to Maine well before 1900. Old trees can still be found here and there across the central part of the state. Maine orchardist, Francis Fenton, called it Fallswater. Our two favorite trees are growing side-by-side in the yard of a house on the outskirts of Oakland, ME. The trees are old, massive and bear huge crops every other year.
Fallawater has distinctive, large, blocky fruit (sometimes up to 4") with bluish-green skin and a rusty-pink blush. Sometimes it can be an intense, magenta red. We like this apple very much. It is excellent for cooking; it cooks slowly in the sauce pan and makes a very decent sauce. It’s ready to pick in the late fall and keeps in the root cellar until well into spring. We obtained our scionwood from the old trees in Oakland. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.
Fallawater is a winter apple of German ancestry. It may have been brought over from Europe, but more likely it originated in Pennsylvania from German seed. As with many heirloom varieties, there has been a lot of speculation about the name over the years. Some say it’s a mispronunciation of Pharrar Walther, the pastor who grew the apple in the mid-nineteenth century in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. It also might be a take-off of Fallenwalder meaning “the apple of the cut down woods”. It was also called Tulpahocken, Winter Blush, Pollywaller, Pollywolly and several other variations on these themes.
The apple arrived in Maine post Civil War. Perhaps the scionwood came back tucked into the bedroll of a returning Maine infantryman. Once in Maine it became popular throughout the central and southern part of the state. Occasionally we still find old trees like the one in Harpswell discovered by the Robert McIntyre or the two gigantic side-by-side specimens in Oakland. Francis Fenton grafted it onto one of his trees in Mercer though we never did learn where he obtained the scionwood. He always called it “Fallswater.”
The big blocky fruit is a light bluish green, often with a blush. Typically the blush is a faint pink, and keeps in the root cellar until April or May. Long considered a cooking apple, it cooks slowly in the sauce pan and makes a very decent sauce. We’ve also used it chopped up in pancakes and other concoctions.
The Fameuse apple, also called Snow, is one of the oldest North American varieties. Historians have speculated that the apple may have originated in France, although evidence suggests that it is more likely to have originated in French Canada sometime before 1700. By the 1700’s it was widespread in the Champlain Valley of Vermont, and it may have made its way to Maine via that route. Old trees can still be found in Maine dooryards and orchards. Fameuse resembles McIntosh in many respects, and it is possible that Fameuse may be one of “Mac’s” parents. (McIntosh originated in Ontario in about 1800.) Like McIntosh, Fameuse is very susceptible to the disease, “scab”, a cosmetic blemish that can be removed by peeling and does not affect flavor.
The apple’s other name – Snow- comes from its “snow white” flesh. It is really, really white. The 1865 Department of Agriculture yearbook summed it up: “Flesh-remarkably white, tender, juicy...deliciously pleasant, with a slight perfume... No orchard in the north can be counted as complete without this variety... It is just so good that everybody likes to eat of it; and when cooked, it is white, puffy and delicious.”
Recently we heard another explanation of the name Snow: that the apples rot and “melt” into the ground shortly after dropping.
We recommend Fameuse for fresh eating and also for sauce and cider. Here’s an 1889 recipe for something called Apple Snow that might be perfect to prepare using these apples: Pare and core tart, juicy apples; stew with just enough water to keep from burning; sweeten with white sugar; flavor with lemon, the juice is better than the extract; sift through a potato masher or beat it until light; eat with whipped cream.
This apple keeps until late December although we suggest eating it when it is picked for the best texture.
Fireside is another of the many McIntosh offspring developed by the University of Minnesota in 1943. Although there is no official confirmation of this, we suspect it was named to commemorate Franklin Delano Roosevelt's 26 "Fireside Chats" given between between March 12, 1933 and June 12, 1944. The large fruit is shiny red with red and orange stripes and splashes covering a yellow base. The yellow flesh is juicy and crisp with a mild sweet flavor. We recommend it as a desert fruit and also for salads, baking and sauce. Holds its shape in a pie, and dries well. Fireside is an excellent keeper that will hold up to fresh eating when the snows are flying.
Fletcher Sweet is a historic, dessert cultivar that originated on the Jonathan Fletcher Farm in Lincolnville, ME. I rediscovered it in the fall of 2002 with the help of Lincolnville historians, Rosey Gerry and Diane O’Brien, and Lincolnville farmer, Clarence Thurlow. They took me to the ancient tree at the base of Fletcher Mountain (now called Moody Mountain) in what was long ago referred to as Fletchertown. That tree died that winter, but before it did, I was able to take scionwood and graft about a half dozen trees from one of the last living twigs. One of those new trees is now growing at Breezemore Park in Lincolnville. I later found a second old tree just outside Hope Village that was said to have been grafted by Clarence Thurlow from the Fletchertown tree. The DNA profile has shown that the two trees are identical.
Fletcher Sweet fruit is medium-sized, round, light green, and sometimes with a faint orange blush. It resembles Tolman Sweet visually although the flavors are different. It’s not a true “sweet” variety. Rather, it’s subacid, crisp and juicy. It cooks down into a light yellow sauce with a hint of blackberry and vanilla. It doesn’t seem to get scab and keeps until about December.
Fox Hill is a wild seedling that I discovered on a hillside along the Nutting Road in Perham (Aroostook County) Maine in 1998. I named it for the Fox family who were living there on the site at the time. The Fox place was the homestead where one of my apple mentors, Garfield King, grew up. Garfield eventually moved to Fort Kent where he taught school and was an administrator for many years. In his spare time he combed the old farms of the County, discovering old apples and other fruits, sometimes taking me along with him. Our fruit-exploring adventures together are described in my book, Apples and the Art of Detection.
The Fox Hill apple is considered a Duchess-type. It might well be a seedling of Duchess, the quintessential Arootstook apple. Fox Hill is is roundish-oblate, about the size of Duchess or McIntosh, and colored mostly yellow with a few thin, red stripes.
Fox Hill is aromatic and juicy. When you bite in, the flavors envelop you. They are fruity and tropical. They will transport you to a Caribbean Island, far from the County. It is hard to believe that so much sensation can be packed into this plain looking fruit - truly a surprise. If you must cook it, it makes a quick and delicious sauce like its Duchess relatives. It ripens in mid-September in central Maine. It should be hardy to zone 3. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.