 The apple, a rose family member, is the most popular temperate-zone fruit, and it grows in almost every state in the United States. Washington produces more than half of the apple crop, and most of it comes from eastern Washington where some twelve bullion apples are thinned and picked by hand.
Health Benefits: Apples contain malic and tartaric acids, which inhibit fermentation in the stomach, making apples easier to assimilate than most other fruits. Apples are an excellent low-calorie source of pectin, fiber and nutrients. Their flavonoids may reduce the risk of heart disease and inhibit the development of certain cancers.
Use: More than 7,500 apple varieties are grown throughout the world today.
Eating Apples: Apples with a crisp, juicy, firm texture include Cortland, Criterion, Elstar, Fuji, Golden Delicious, Gala, Granny Smith, Jonagold, Jonathan, McIntosh, Newton Pippin, Stayman, and Winesap.
Pie and Applesauce Apples: Tart and juicy apples include Courland, Criterion, Elstar, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Jonagold, Jonathan, McIntosh, Newton Pippin, Northern Spy, and Rome Beauty.
Baking Apples: Apples that become tender with baking while holding their shape and flavor include Rome Beauty (considered the best), Cropland, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Ida Red, Jonagold, Newton Pippin, and Northern Spy.
Buying: Select firm, crisp apples with a vivid color.
With deep red skin and a mildly sweet flavor, this is the most popular apple in the United States. A favorite to eat out of hand. Good in salads. Will turn mealy over time. Organic red delicious apples are available year round.
Organic golden delicious apples are all-purpose, yellow-green, mellow and sweet. This apple is good for eating out of hand, baking and salads. Once cut, the flesh stays white longer than other apples. Available year round.
Green, extremely tart, crisp, juicy and versatile, this all-purpose apple is a favorite for baking, cooking and snacking. Organic granny smith apples are available year round.
A cross between Golden Delicious and Lady Williams apples with sweet-tart flavor and charming pink skin.
Pinkish-orange stripes over a yellow background are the signature of this crisp, aromatically sweet apple originally from New Zealand. Snacking and salads are primary uses. Organic gala apples are available September through June.
Introduced to the U.S. from Japan, this super-sweet apple is a great substitute for sugary snacks. It's also excellent for baking and salads. Organic Fuji apples are available year round.
Originally from New Zealand, the color of this apple varies from orange to red over a yellow background. Aromatic, juicy and crisp with sweet-spicy flavor. Our organic braeburn apples are great for snacking and baking. Available October through July.
This orange-tinted apple has a tangy-sweet flavor. Excellent for fresh eating and cooking. Like Beaujolais wine, organic jonagold apples should be savored when young (soon after harvest). Available September through April.
 Honey Crisp is a large, sweet apple with a very crisp texture - no other apple matches its crispness. See article in news section.
If you like sweet & crunchy apples, American Cameo's are for you! Our American Cameo’s combine a fresh sweet yet syrupy juice to create one of the finest tasting apples to date!
The Ambrosia apple has a general conical shape of their parents, Reds and Golden’s, but their color, texture and taste are distinctly superior and unique. Ambrosia apples have a distinct honeyed and slightly perfumed flavor. Aptly named Ambrosia, food of the Gods, they are a delight to look at, touch, bite into and savor. The skin is smooth with a bright almost iridescent pink blush over a creamy background. The flesh is tender and juicy, with a very fine, crisp texture. It is a sweet, low-acid apple with a pleasing aroma. Since when sliced, they do not turn brown as quickly as other varieties, they are ideal for salads, fruit plates, and eating out of hand. Because of its natural sweetness, this apple requires less sugar in baking than most other varieties used for cooking.
Crisp, Juicy & Spritely - Small to medium apple that is red striped over yellow with a fine textured and a sweet-tart (spritely) crisp taste. Liberty's spritely sweet taste actually improves in storage. It is like Paula red in that it makes an excellent applesauce if the skin is left on.
The Sansa is a spectacularly good apple. It has a bright red striped blush over a pale, yellow-green background. The fruit is firm, yet tender, juicy and exceptionally sweet. As with many early apples, Sansa's should be enjoyed fresh, soon after harvest, for a terrific eating experience.
It is an oblong apple, medium to large in size with a yellow-green color and a strong skin that resists bruising. The Sweet Orin is a sweet, juicy, aromatic apple that is low in acid with a subtle pear-like flavor. An unusual new taste you don’t want to miss!
 Enterprise Apples are a late season apple with a brilliant, glossy dark red skin and slightly elongated shape. The flavor profile of an Enterprise is somewhat spicy, meaning it has a complex combination of tart and sweet flavors reminiscent of cinnamon or hot flavors on the tongue. This is a very full flavored apple with a somewhat thick skin making it a great choice for eating, baking, or cooking with. A great recipe for this apple would be a warm apple compote to compliment pork, or an apple cobbler.
 Gold Blush apples are an improved version of the popular Golden Delicious apple. They have a similar pale yellow flesh as a Golden, but with a signature reddish blush. They are sweet with a mildly grainy flesh and slightly thick skin. The Gold Blush is a great all purpose apple to be eaten out of hand or in baking and cooking. These apples are sweet enough on their own to be baked into a pie or cobbler with little or no added sweetner.
 Pinova (also called Sonata and Corail) is a new apple variety with old-fashioned apple flavor. The fruit is exceptionally crisp and juicy, with a firm, dense flesh. It has a mild, well-balanced sweet-tart flavor, which actually improves in storage. The apples have a distinctive dark red blush over a yellow background color with prominent lenticels. If you like a crisp, sweet, and juicy apple (and who doesn't?) you don't want to miss this promising new variety.
 The McIntosh has red and green skin, a tart flavor, and tender white flesh. Many consider it a superior eating apple and well suited for applesauce, cider, and pies.
A fruit which colors solid red. The flesh of the fruit is creamy white, very juicy, lightly flavored, and moderately sweet with low acidity and very little browning.
from Rebecca Wood's The New Whole Foods Encyclopedia |
