Cain’s Orchard has 20 acres of apples and all apples are sold out of our retail. U Pick options begin the season with Zestar in early September. McIntosh is the next U Pick option followed by Cortland and Honeycrisp mid-September.
All other varities are sold in the retail shop pre-packed. Most varities are sold in Peck (10 lb) and 1/2 Peck (5 lb) bags. Apple varities in limited amounts will be sold in 1/4 Peck (2.5 lb) bags.
Utility apples and varities are often available depending upon packing schedule. These apples have minor blemishes and bruises. They are often smaller and greener as utility apples are a lower grade than our retail #1 and #2 apples. However, these apples are great economical option for cooking and canning. *We do not hold or guarantee the availability of utility apples as this greatly depends upon demand and packing schedules.
Our Apples
(In order of ripening)
Pristine
A few Pristine trees were planted in 2021 to test out the variety on our property. The trees grew well and an order was placed for 50 custom grafted trees to arrive in 2025. This variety was chosen for a couple of reasons. A plus is the tree and apples were bred to be disease resistant. Scab can be a problem especially on yellow apples. The apple is early and ripens at the beginning of August. Our hope is to be able offer apples to our blueberry customers during this time. This overlap may have been cumbersome under our old structure, but with our new apple sorter this is much more feasible.
A problem with an early variety is they tend to be mealy and don’t keep well. Pristine apples are none of those. The apple is sweet like any iconic yellow apple, but has a little bit of tartness to it. It also has a nice crunch. Again, unusual for an early apple. Todays customers primarily want an apple they can eat and maybe cook with. Pristine checks all those boxes. It is great for eating especially for an early apple, but it also makes a great pie.
We also to hope that this will one day be a future U-Pick option as well.
Whitney Crab
The Whitney Crab apple is an old heirloom apple. Unlike other crab apples, the fruit is very, very sweet. It once garnered popularity for some eating, but was mainly used juice and pickling. If you wanted to make an apple syrup, Whitney crab apples would be an excellent choice. Crab apples, including Whitneys, are high in natural pectin. This makes them a great choice for jams and jellies. It is the reason historically crab like the Whitneys were once sought after. Not everyone had access to pectin to brute force something into a jam.
The popularity of the Whitney Crab apple as dwindled considerably. The apples are small and the younger generation wants big, eating apples. Young grandchildren often look puzzled when grandma wants to pick up a bag. We have taken out a considerable amount of our Whitney Crab apple trees, but we will keep a few of the healthy ones around for those few customers. Not a big money maker, but we like to keep as many apples as we can for those few niche customers.
Duchess of Oldenburg
The Duchess of Oldenburg is known colloquially as just Duchess or by Duchess fans as Duchees. The picking window for Duchess is quite small and can quickly get mealy and overripe. We tend to pick them a tad on the green side to prevent this from occurring. It is an old heirloom apple that was grown by many orchards. It was very cold hardy and has some slight disease resistance. The apple also gave orchards an early apple to sell.
Duchess is not an eating apple. It is a cooking and baking apple. It is an apple that you can make a pie out of in August along with your fresh tomatoes from the garden for that BLT with a side of buttered sweet corn. Many of our older clientele still clamor for them and saddened when we run out. Admittedly, they are not a pretty apple. I’ve had more than one grandchild stop to pick up apples for grandma. Many of them think I am swindling them when I had the bag over. I assure them that it is what grandma wants and if it isn’t, they can come back and I will without question return their money. No one has come back for a return.
Another problem with selling this old jem is samples. When people try a sample, they don’t taste great. However, you can say that about lots of things. Bacon, not great raw. Fish, also not great. Many customers don’t understand that aspect.
With all that said, Duchess are not a keeper. They will not last very long and must be kept in the refrigerator if not used immediately.
State Fair
The State Fair apple was one of University of Minnesota’s first apples out of its breeding program in 1949. The apples ripen in late August. We planted 20 State Fair trees in 2020. This was our first attempt on adding to our repertoire of early apples. It was planted heavily in the upper midwest due to its extreme cold hardiness. While orginally excited about this variety, a number of these trees have already been lost to the bacterial disease fire blight. Another issue is the trees are prone to being biennual meaning they only produce fruit every other year. This is not a great for an orchard business. Looking to the future, these trees won’t be replaced. In 2027 when the University of Minnesota variety Minneiska comes off the patent list, those trees will be planted instead. Minneiska is by far a superior apple ripening at the same time without all the drawbacks.
As for the apple itself, it is a sweet and slightly tart apple, but a little bit soft for most people’s preference. It is an eating apple, but can be cooked with if one desires. The apples need to be refrigerated as they also don’t keep well at room temperature.
We will keep the few trees that survive for those fans of this apple.
Zestar
Zestar is the daughter of the State Fair apple. It is everything an early apple like State Fair wish it could be. Zestar has been used extensively in breeding program to apples like the SweeTango and Kudos from the University of Minnesota breeding program. It ripens in early September and a block has been planted over the years to be our first U-Pick option in the season. Frost and losing a bunch of trees in the winter of 2023 to deer girdling the trees has slowed that ambitious target. We hope that in 2025 that U-Pick will be an option.
I am a big proponent of the apple. Believe it or not, many prefer the apple over the Honeycrisp. The challenge has been marketing because customers don’t see the apple in the store. It is a U-Pick only apple as it can’t withstand the requirements of our current industrial complex and international shipping.
Zestar is an excellent eating apple. Zestar can be cooked with as well. For an early apple, it keeps fairly well for 4 to 6 weeks, but refrigeration greatly extends that up to 2 months and helps maintain its crispness. Compared to a Honeycrisp, Zestar has slightly less crunch and acidity with a little bit more sweetness.
Sansa
Sansa is another new addition to the orchard with the first 20 planted in 2021. Another 50 were added in 2023 with hopefully another 100 coming this spring. The apple is a Gala and Akane cross. We have tried growing Gala’s before, but the tree is very prone to fire blight and struggles in our colder climate. Sansa is cold hardier and resistant to many diseases. Sansa is another apple we are hoping to eventually offer as a U-Pick option in the future.
If you like Gala, I can almost guarantee that this will be your apple. Personally, I think they taste a little bit better. The Sansa is a nice firm apple giving it a good crunch. The apples are a smaller apple than some apples just like Gala, but they are very pretty.
Sansa is an eating apple. Originally, I thought this would be a good addition, but watching peoples reactions when sampling it to a few customers and employees I have grown to be very excited for the its future at our orchard. As for cooking, I can’t vouch for it for my experience so far has been limited. This is to note that this section will get an update in the near future as my familiarity with it increases.
Paula Red
Paula Red is often referred to as an early Mac. I agree except I would eat this one raw. Paulas are picked about a week ahead of McIntosh. It is a nice apple to have at an orchard except…
This is a classic example of great apple and a terrible tree. Paula Reds are the most susceptible trees to fire blight and the bacteria that causes fire blight kills tree. Fire blight is like cancer for trees. Once the bacteria gets in the tree, there isn’t a whole lot a person can do. Pruning is often the only option. Even worse is those trees act as reservoirs for disease especially in older trees. I have removed most of those trees from my orchard. I’ve kept a couple trees, but Paula Reds will one day disappear from this page.
Paula Red tastes like a Mac and cooks like a Mac. It is good early cooking apple that you can eat.
McIntosh
McIntosh, also known colliqually as simply Macs, is the king of cooking apples. Fun fact, it is the national apple of Canada as it is where it was originally discovered. Those glory days are fading away as less people cook in the home. Don’t worry, we are not getting rid of this jem anytime soon. There are plans in the near future to reinvigorate the block with new sports of McIntosh namely Ruby Macs. Unbeknown to many, apple trees are clones. Cuttings are grafted onto various rootstocks. Once in a great while when this process is done literally thousands of times, every so often a branch will contain a tiny mutation. These are called limb mutations or sports. There are up to some 30 different sports of Gala grown in the U.S for example. McIntosh has had a few sports recently that have slightly reinvigorated Orchardists desire to plant McIntosh. The new sports offer better color and those like the Ruby Mac hang better on the tree. McIntosh are notorious for dropping their apples as soon as they ripen. From an orchard growers perspective, they can be a pain in the tuchus.
McIntosh is thee cooking apple due to its richness and depth of its flavor once cooked. You can bake and cook with it. Primarily, many of our customers come to use McIntosh for their apple sauce. It really does make great sauce.
McIntosh is our first U-Pick option for cooking apples.
Cortland
From an orchard growers standpoint, I love the Cortland. The trees produce reliably even during those years when hit with a frost. If it wasn’t for their propensity for getting a fungal disease called scab, it just might be one of the most perfect apples. Other than that one main problem, the fruit hangs forever. Once the Cortlands have ripened, they are picked throughout most of the apple season.
Cortlands really are the swiss army knife of apples. You can eat them, cook them, back and make a very pleasant sauce. When comparing Cortlands to Macs, Cortland hold their shape especially when used earlier in the season when the fruit is a little bit “greener”. This makes Cortland an excellent choice for things like canned pie filling. As the season progresses, Cortlands start to taste and cook more like a Mac. If you like your apple sauce chunky, an early season Cortland is preferable. Later in the season, the Cortlands will cook down much more readily to make a smoother apple sauce.
Cortlands often is our third U-Pick option. Timing for the beginning of its season can vary considerably with the Cortland. Sometimes we start picking Cortlands right along with the Macs. In 2024, the Cortlands took fooooorever to ripen. In general, expect Cortlands to be available mid September.
Honeycrisp
Honeycrisp was an apple originally snubbed at by the commercial industry. It was U-Pick operations that invigorated peoples love for the apple. It isn’t apple without conflict. From a growers perspective, it is a high maintenance tree. If not pruned properly, Honeycrisp are prone to biennual bearing and the weight of its apples can snap branches and trees. Home grown Honeycrisp end up breaking from people not properly taking care of those trees. Another issue is bitter pit. If you every bought our Utility apples, we allow a small amount to enter those bags. Bitter pit is a calcium deficiency. What most customers don’t realize is most orchard growers go out with their sprayers about every two weeks in the summer to spray their trees (apples) with calcium chloride. Customers who have their own Honeycrisp trees struggle with bitter pit. Well, that is because they are not spraying their trees with calcium chloride.
Honeycrisp is an eating apple. Admittedly, I wince when customers want to cook with Honeycrisp. There are some issues with that. For one, Honeycrisp contain a lot of water. A bushel of Honeycrisp is 20 lbs heavier than other apples due to its water weight. When cooking with Honeycrisp, it is something to be cognizant of as a cook. That extra water can make that apple bread mushy or a pie a bowl of soup.
Some would think with all that juice, Honeycrisp would be useful for wine. Remember that bitter pit problem; that bitterness will crop up into that wine over time. Basically, wine made with Honeycrisp does not age well.
A better use for Honeycrisp are to dehydrate them into apple chips. They make excellent apple chips.
Wolf River
Wolf River are one of the largest apples you will ever see. The largest can be the size of a football. It is also a Wisconsin born and raised apple. It was originally discovered by lumber jacks along the Wolf River up by Green Bay, Wisconsin. This is one of the few Heirlooms still planted in large numbers. Most customers would love to take a bite out of this giant apple. Unfortunately, it is mostly a cooking apple. Another reason for the Wolf River omnipresence in apple orchards is it boasts good disease resistance and winter hardiness. This attributes has made it an excellent choice for orchards in the upper midwest.
Wolf River is a great apple for cooking and its full flavor won’t be realized until cooked. Raw, Wolf River can be taste bland for an apple. For its shear size, the apple isn’t heavy. This ideal for cooking with recipes that are avoiding extra moisture. Customer who pick up these large apples are often surprised how light weight Wolf Rivers can feel in their hand.
Many of our customers utilize this Wisconsin apple for sauce. As mentioned, the lack of water gives a nice smooth apple sauce and not soupy mix.
Ambrosia
For all the all apples to hit the market recently, Ambrosia is by far my favorite. It ripens a week or two after Honeycrisp. The hope is it is another apple to excite our client base after the Honeycrisp season. The goal that Ambrosia will eventually be a U-Pick option as a premium apple alongside Honeycrisp.
Many apples come out as the next big thing like Honeycrisp. While those apples are good to great, they are not anything exceptional in my mind. Ambrosia breaks this trend as it is unique. Comparing it to the atypical yellow apple is close, but not accurate. Ambrosia does have a honey like flavor akin to a Golden Delicious. However, it is distinct in what I would argue is a nectar like flavor. With that said, I believe that the apple is appropriately named Ambrosia.
Ambrosia is a premium eating apple.
As for cooking, our experience is limited. My hunch is it would make a moderately good cooking apple, but time will tell.
Golden Supreme
Finding a good yellow apple has its challenges. Customers put a premium on large apples and most typical yellow varieties are challenged in this regard. When Gold Supreme was originally released, it was heralded as thee new yellow apple on the market. While it does impress with its size, the apple has its challenges from a grower perspective. The tree itself is nonprecocious. Precocious is an apple term to how early a tree will fruit. Golden Supreme. The long wait to turn a profit has made industry apple growers turn sour upon their initial excitement. The apple also has a short picking window. The apple can quickly go from bland to overripe. A grower needs to keep a constant eye on this apple for optimal picking.
Besides it”s apparent downfalls, the Golden Supreme is a very good yellow apple for eating. The flavor is typical for a yellow apple with a bit extra crunch to its texture. A unique characteristic is a well developed apple will have a hexagonal shape. It is a unique physical property among apples.
As for cooking, it will cook like any Golden Delcious variety. Most apple sauce on an industrial scale are made with mostly or in part with Golden Delcious apples.
Northwest Greening
Northwest Greening is another Wisconsin native. The apple is commonly referred to as just Greening. The apple can be often found it northern midwest due to its winter hardiness. It is also one of the first “keepers”” of the season. Before the advent of apples being offered 365 days a year, many households in the past would go to the orchard in the fall to acquire keepers for the winter. Keepers are what people would wrap in newspaper and stick in the cold cellar. These apples provided access to fruit through those cold months. Northwest Greening was heralded for its longevity in storage. My grandfather in particular loved it when I brought a bushel of these apples to him every Christmas. He would make apple dumplings with Greenings all winter long.
This apple can be an eating apple, but is an acquired taste. If you like Granny Smith, this is a close second. Granny Smith ripens too late in the season for the cold upper midwest as the picking season is late November. A frost in late October makes Granny smith unviable.
As for cooking, Northwest Greening will cook just like a Granny Smith. It holds it shape which makes it ideal for recipes that customers want some texture. Pies or canned pie filling makes Greening an excellent choice.
Sweet Sixteen
Sweet Sixteen is another original University of Minnesota variety out of its breeding program. It once claimed to have the highest sugar content of any apple on the market. Sweet Sixteen is also known as the Song of September in other growing areas. While its sweet flavor is exceptional, it has fallen out of favor. This is mostly due to Sweet Sixteen being a soft eating apple. Today’s customer expects their apples to have a distinct crunch or crisp texture.
This is not to say Sweet Sixteen doesn't have a loyal fanbase. Many customers vouch for Sweet Sixteen as being their favorite apple.
For a late apple, Sweet Sixteen is not an a keeper. It should be refrigerated to prevent it turning overripe. We pick these apples a little “green” to maintain their firmness. Once bought, the apples should be refrigerated immediately.
Honeygold
Honeygold was one of the first attempts at a better Golden Delicious. The apple does have a better crunch that its parent. However, this aspect doesn’t put it ahead. The apple still struggles with coloring. With a name like Honeygold, customers expect a nice yellow apple. Honeygold can often still appear greenish is appearance. This has no relevance to flavor, but it is not what customers expect. As a grower, it is one of my least favorite trees to prune.
Otherwise, Honeygold is an excellent golden apple. The flavor is like any golden apple with its honey like flavor.
Honeygold makes an excellent apple sauce. As an industry insight, most apple sauce and baby food is made with Golden Delcious and its siblings. Many customers will only make apple sauce with Honeygolds.
As for cooking, there are many other better options in my mind. It is an eating apple primarily followed by sauce making. Cooking with Honeygold can be done, but I would say there is much better options in that category.
Spartan
Spartans are often referred to as a late McIntosh. The apple is a bit firmer than a Mac and can be eatern. It is primarily used as a late season cooking apple and can be keeper if properly stored. This is one of many varieties bred as a newer McIntosh. While Macs have a superior flavor for cooking, it has many downfalls as an apple and tree. Spartan was one of those attempts. While I will say that it does have a superior texture, it lacks in size. And with todays customer preference, size matters. To the present day customer, bigger size equals quality. While I would argue that this is not the case, it is what the customer expects. They want a big apple. To this end, Spartan doesn’t deliver.
As for cooking, Spartans cook almost equivocally to a McIntosh. It may not cook down as well, but this may be a quality that an experienced chef is look for in an apple. It will hold its shape bettter, but will cook down for a sauce with a little bit more heat and time.
As for eating, it is not really an eating apple. If McIntosh is your apple for eating, Spartans offer a little bit more crunch.
Connell Red
Connell Red is another born and raised Wisconsin apple. Originally discovered in Menomonie by the Connell family, it was a sport of the Fireside apple. The Connell Red is often times marketed as a Fireside or both. The Fireside is in essence a striped apple while the Connell Red exhibits a more solid coloring. As expected by experience, customers prefer a more solid colored apple. This can also be seen in our McIntosh sports as customers prefer solid colored Macs over the striped variety of Macs. While it has no impact on flavor, the Connell Red can have a waxy feel especially on older trees. This has been a downfall of Connell Red as customers don’t appreciate its waxy feel in their hands.
Connell Reds claim to fame is its resistance to browning. This property makes it an excellent choice for salads and plating. Connells are also a great cooking option. Connells have an extra depth to its flavor that I often describe as a vanilla like flavor. Connells can be thought of as a late season Cortland with a little bit more flavor and keeping potential.
As a side note, this is one of my wife’s favorite apples to cook with.
SnowSweet
SnowSweet is a new apple out of the University of Minnesota apple breeding program. It is the daughter of the Connell Red. It is an improvement from my perspective. It ripens at the same time as a Connell Red with, in my opinion, a slightly better flavor. The apple also so far appears to avoid the waxy hand feel of its parent the Connell Red. SnowSweet’s claim to fame is that it literally doesn’t brown. Hence the name, SnowSweet.
With its natural immunity to browning, SnowSweets are excellent for plating and salads.
SnowSweet, like its parent the Connell Red, it can be cooked with as well. Later in the season when the Cortlands have disappeared, I often point customers towards the Connell Red. As our availability grows, this will include the SnowSweet.
Connell Red will continue to be an offering at our orchard. However, in the future, Connell Reds won’t be replaced as I foresee that SnowSweet is a superior option for replanting.
Triumph
Triumph is one of the newest offterings out of the University of Minnesota. The cross is between Honeycrisp and Liberty. While the Liberty apple has some flavor desirability, it hosts a number of disease ressistances. This marriage creates an apple with the best attributes from both worlds. While it may not live up to its parents shadow the Honeycrisp, it is an excellent apple. Many were planted in 2021. We were able to sampel a handful in 2023 and were impressed with its crispnes and flavor. Triumph ripens a week or two after Honeycrisp. The planting of Triumph is another way for us to bolster our post Honeycrisp offerings.
The flavor of Triumph very much tastes like they smashed a Liberty and Honeycrisp together. The flavor is very crisp and deeply satisfying. By that, it is an apple a person doesn’t consciously say it is their favorite apple. Subconsciously, the bag gets devoured. The customer will either come back for another bag or buy two the next time. People won’t say it is their favorite apply, but we will sell a lot of them.
Triumph’s have a long storage life and will keep a long time. It is one of the few eating apples that I would call a keeper.
Jonathan
Jonathan is one of the great heirloom apples. It has been used countless times in apple breeding programs and has many progeny. It was a great apple for eating, cooking, sauce and cider. Unfortunately, the Jonathon tree has struggled in colder climates with winter injury. Disease has been challenging as well as Jonathan is highly susceptible to all of them. To make matters worse, it is a struggle to get Jonathan to a decent size for todays consumer. As such, this an apple slowly getting fazed out of our orchard.
Jonathan has a hint of floral notes. A good Jonathan will often have some pink to its flesh and sometimes stripes. Apple sauce made with Jonathon can sometimes appear pink as well. As for cooking and baking, I venture to say it cooks somewhere between a Cortland and McIntosh. It holds it shape better than a Mac, but cooks down easier than a Cortland.
We will continue to offer a few of these apples as long as the few trees we have left stay healthy.
Haralson
Haralson is a local favorite of Minnesota and Wisconsin area. It is rarely seen outside of this area of the Upper Midwest. The apple is a late keeper of an apple that is very tart. From an orchardist perspective, it is one of my least favorite. Thinning and pruning the trees is difficult. The apples themselves are challenging as they are prone to russeting, cracking and a challenge for size. The trees are relatively healthy, but one day they may find themselves face to face with a chainsaw.
It is too bad because many people adore this apple. Haralson is a great cooking and baking apple for those recipes calling for large amounts of sugar. The tartness of Haralson makes great pie or crisp. If you like eating a tart apple, Haralson is your apple. The tartness of the Haralson makes it a suitable candidate for cider.
Haralson will keep for a long time and traditionally one of the stalwarts for keepers in the fall. Some apples loose their tartness with age, but Haralson apples will retain that characteristic.
Autumn Crisp
Autumn crisp is a newer apple to hit the market. While it is a Golden Delicious cross, it is on par with the tartness of a Haralson. A test plot was planted in 2022. The hope was that Autumn Crisp would be a new and improved apple to replace the Haralson. With its parentage of the Golden Delicious, there is a bit more sweetness. This fact makes the Autumn Crisp more palatable to a wider audience. Autumn Crisp tree and apple doesn’t have all the challenges that the Haralson brings to the table. It’s one downfall is that Autumn Crisp is not a keeper to the extent that Haralson can be. In this day and age, I honestly don’t think it matters. People don’t store apples in a cold cellar for the winter no longer.
Autumn Crisp will play dual roles of being a late fall eating apple and apple that a person could cook with if they so desire. Autumn Crisp is another apple that is resistant to browning. Along with its added tartness, Autumn Crisp is a great choice for cheese plates. Like the Connell Red, it is a good choice for salads as well. It is a more versatile apple than at first glance.
CrimsonCrisp
CrimsonCrisp is another apple I am super excited about for many reasons. I finally planted 50 CrimsonCrisp trees in 2024. It took awhile to pull the trigger on planting CrimsonCrisp is due to its 5-8 zoning. With the updated USDA map and warmer winters, I finally decided to give CrimsonCrisp a shot. There are many attractive qualities to CrimsonCrisp. A big reason is that is scab immune. Not resistant, immune. This means it will not get scab. It will be an apple that will become prominent in organic orchards. Combining its great hanging qualities and incredible storage life is just the cherry on top.
From my conversations with other orchards growers, I’m told that it is the one apple that they can charge Honeycrisp prices. Admittedly, I do want to make money, but this also tells me that it is a great tasting apple that customers love. I can love an apple, but it doesn’t necessarily translate to the general public.
CrimsonCrisp’s flavor is complex. Whenever I am on the hunt for a new apple to plant, I don’t want an apple that tastes like an apple I already have. CrimsonCrisp has this slight caramel undertones along with that yellow apple honey flavor balanced some tartness. Like I said, its complicated to explain. Also, as the name suggests, its great crisp apple.
Redlove
Redlove is a novelty apple out of Europe. Red fleshed apples have a long history out of California where it was bred extensively. Many of those red fleshed apples varieties have many troubles with disease. Redlove was crossed with a number of disease resistant varieties to give its scab resistant and other attributes. About 60 trees were planted in 2021.
The highlight of the red varieties is they are high in the antioxidant anthocyanin. It was gives the apple its red coloring and very fruit almost strawberry like flavor. The major shock from the Redlove apples is its extreme tartness. The acidity of the apple can wain with age, but it does take a long time to mellow. This apple will be mostly relegated to those fans of tart apples.
Besides eating, Redlove apples can be cooked with for sauce and the like. The red pigment does not cook away. This means that apple sauce will retain that red color.
Red Delicious
Red Delicious has its fan, but I often wonder if it isn’t more out of nostalgia than actual taste. Part of the problem is Red Delicious is a keeper. It was an apple that was meant to be wrapped in newspaper around the fireplace and placed in the cold cellar. Red Delicious was an apple to be eaten in February or March, not right off the tree. Many of our Amish customers rave about how good their Red Delicious were in March.
Red Delicious was an apple planted mainly due to its keeper qualities, but also that it grew almost anywhere and was cold hardy. It was an apple tree for dummies. Industry groweres didn’t help matters as they selected trees for grafting that sported the best size, not for taste. Many in the industry will admit that they bred the flavor out of this apple.
Our Red Delicious dodges some of these issues due to the fact that our trees are 30 some years old. They still retain the flavor of the original Red Delicious. I can understand when customers turn their nose up at this apple. If I was eating apples from the store, I would probably have the same opinion.
Tolmen Sweet
Tolman Sweet is one of the last apples to be picked for the season. The apple has much of the same flavor of a golden apple, but with a lot more crunch. As an orchardist, the trees have been challenging. Since it is an heirloom apple, it has no disease tolerance and that includes fireblight. Many of the trees had to be amputated years ago to try to save them from the gangrene effects of the fireblight bacterial disease.