Apple Index - "T"

From The New American Orchardist (1841): “The fruit is the size of a grape shot, or from one to two inches in diameter; of a white color, streaked with red; with a sprightly acid, not good for the table, but apparently a very valuable cider fruit. This is understood to be a Virginia fruit, and the apple from which Mr. Jefferson’s favorite cider was made.”  Thomas Jefferson said of it: “The most juicy apple I have ever eaten,” and he described its cider as “with a taste more like wine than any liquor I have ever tasted which was not wine.”

Uses: Cider, Fresh Eating

Description: Fruit medium size, oblate; skin greenish with a faint blush on the sunny side; dots numerous, russet, areolar. Flesh pale greenish, chewy, juicy, subacid. Ripe October.

History: An old apple from the mountains of north Georgia sold by Lawson’s Nursery in Georgia.

Description: Fruit is small to medium, red striped, often borne in clusters. Good for cooking, drying, jelly, and fresh eating. Ripe August.

History: This is an old Georgia apple that originated with Humphrey Tarbutton in the 1800s in the Cherry Grove area, and root sprouts were used for many years to propagate it.

Uses: Cooking, Drying, Fresh Eating

Description: Fruit medium, roundish, often lopsided; skin pale yellow partly covered with pale red and darker red stripes; dots scattered, russet. Flesh fine-grained, moderately crisp and juicy, mild subacid. Ripe August.

History: A local apple from Yancey County, North Carolina. Mr. Arnold Proffitt says Taylor Sweet was grown on his farm when his father was a boy, which would make it at least a hundred years old.

Uses: Cider, Fresh Eating

Description: Fruit medium size, roundish conical, often oblique; skin tough, mostly washed and striped with light red; dots small, numerous, russet and white. Flesh juicy, somewhat chewy, almost fine-grained, mild subacid. Ripe September/October.

History: Grown in the 1930s and 1940s in North Carolina near the Wilkes-Alexander County line. Tom Brown found a tree belonging to James Ford near Taylorsville, North Carolina.

Description: Fruit medium or below, roundish, flattened on the ends, sometimes oblique; skin thick, tough, covered with dull strawberry red with a few broken stripes and a heavy gray bloom; dots numerous, medium size, whitish and russet, many areole. Flesh almost white, fine-grained, crisp, juicy, mild subacid. Ripe October/November and an excellent keeper.

History: Terry Winter originated before the Civil War on the farm of a Mr. Terry in Fulton County, Georgia. It was first grafted and sold by a local nurseryman in 1868, and by 1886 it was being sold by several Georgia nurseries and was spreading from Georgia to neighboring states.

Uses: Multipurpose, Stores well

Description: Fruit medium, round, slightly oblate, sometimes lopsided; skin light green mostly covered with blotches of golden russet and a pale red blush; dots numerous, russet, large, irregular. Flesh yellowish, fine-grained, not very juicy or crisp, brisk subacid. Ripe late July/August.

History: Sylvia Walker of Jackson, Mississippi writes: “We call it the Thompson apple because we got it originally from a Mr. Thompson. It has been in my family well over a hundred years. It cooks very smooth and is good for drying.”

Uses: Cooking, Drying

Taron Jones, who owns an orchard near Asheville, North Carolina, wrote to Lee Calhoun in 1997: “This is a seedling discovered in my grandfather’s orchard 50 or 60 years ago…it is a medium to large apple, green in color with a slight bronze or reddish blush when ripe. The flesh is firm and crisp until overripe. The taste is slightly tart but good for eating and very good for applesauce.”  Ripens October.

Uses: Sauce, Fresh Eating

Description: Fruit above medium, roundish, flattened on the ends, sides often unequal; skin dull greenish turning to light green when ripe, without any blush or stripes; dots numerous, large and small, irregular, russet and submerged green. Flesh greenish, fine-grained, tender, juicy, subacid. Ripe August/September and a good keeper.

History: A local apple of the Martha community in Randolph County, North Carolina. Local lore says the original tree was grown by a man named Tommy Johnson over 150 years ago.

Uses: Fresh Eating, Stores well

Description: Fruit small to below medium, roundish conical; skin light greenish yellow, usually lightly blushed on the sunny side; dots few, large, whitish and russet. Flesh fine-grained, white moderately juicy and crisp, subacid. Ripe September/October.

History: Tony Apple was once widely grown in Rowan, Stanly, and Cabarrus counties in central North Carolina where it was considered unsurpassed for sauce, apple butter, pies, and drying.  According to stories, this apple dates to the mid-1800s.

Uses: Sauce, Apple Butter, Drying

Description: Fruit medium, roundish, flattened on the ends, often lopsided; skin smooth, light yellow with a rosy blush and a few faint, darker stripes on the sunny side; dots inconspicuous, gray or russet. Flesh light yellow, fine-grained, moderately crisp and juicy, subacid. Ripe July/August/early September.

History: Previously believed extinct, this variety was rediscovered in the yard of Harry Tucker Smith of Pleasant Garden Road, Vandalia, North Carolina. The Tucker apple originated there with his grandfather John R. Tucker. From the 1920 catalog of the J. Van Lindley Nursery of Greensboro, North Carolina: “A new sort called to our attention three summers ago. Begins to ripen in June and continues all through the summer.”

Uses: Cooking

Description: Fruit medium or above, roundish, flattened on the ends; skin greenish with red stripes, becoming mostly red when ripe, resembling Ralls Janet; dots numerous, white. Flesh yellow, firm, juicy, crisp, subacid. Ripe October-March.

History: Originated about 1840 on the farm of Abram Tull, Grant County, Arkansas.

Uses: Fresh Eating, Stores well

Description: Fruit medium or above, roundish, flattened on the ends; skin almost covered with red without any stripes; dots medium size to large, whitish, few to many. Flesh pale green, crisp, juicy, subacid. Ripe September/October.

History: A seedling of Winesap bred in Orleans, Indiana about 1910 by Joe E. Burton. It is excellent for cooking but not as good as Stayman for fresh eating.

Uses: Cooking, Fresh Eating