Apple Index - "V"

Valle Crucis Meg. Bonum

Two Red Apples

Doug Hundley found this apple variety in Avery County, North Carolina.

Description:  Fruit Medium, roundish; skin yellowish completely covered with red; dots brown, conspicuous; cavity medium, acute, often with russet spilling over top, stem medium; basin medium in width and depth, sometimes lobed, calyx mostly closed.  Ripe September.  Sweet apple with desert quality.

Uses: Fresh Eating

Vandevere June (Vandever, July, Crouch)

Two Yellow Apples with Watercolor Print

Description: Fruit medium size, roundish or occasionally slightly oblong, often oblique; skin pale greenish or yellow, washed and striped pinkish and grainy red under heavy scarf skin. Ripe July/August.  Found by Tom Brown near Statesville, NC.

Uses: Sauce, Cooking, Does not keep well

Vandevere® (Fall Vandevere, Gibbon’s Smokehouse, Gray Vandevere, Green Vandevere, Vandiver, Imperial Vandevere, Lasting Vandevere, Mill Creek, Old Vandevere, Ox Eye, Pennsylvania Vandevere, Red Vandevere, Staalcubs, Stalcubs, Striped Vandevere)

Two Red Apples and Watercolor Print

Description: Fruit medium, oblate; skin greenish yellow with faint red stripes but more red on the sunny side, becomes greasy in storage; dots numerous, yellow or green. Flesh yellow, firm, juicy, tender, mild subacid to almost sweet. Ripe September/October.

History: Praised in many old southern nursery catalogs and said to be well adapted for growing in the South. This is the most likely history of the Vandevere apple: Swedish settlers built Fort Christiana about 1653 (near what is now Wilmington, Delaware) and a “plantering” of fruit trees brought from Sweden was made or commissioned by Governor Risingh. A year later the Dutch captured the fort, and most of the Swedish settlers moved away. As the orchard passed through various owners, an apple from that orchard likewise changed names, from Stalcop or Stalcub to, eventually, Vandevere.

Uses: Multipurpose, Stores well

Vanhoy (Van Hoy’s No Core, Van Hay’s No Core)

Two Red Apples and Watercolor Print

Description: Fruit medium or large, roundish, slightly conical; skin smooth, thick, mostly overspread with dull red and stripes of darker red; dots conspicuous, pale yellow or russet. Flesh yellowish, firm, crisp, juicy, slightly coarse, mild subacid. Ripe late.

History: This unusual apple originated in Forsyth County, North Carolina, and is notable for its very small core, usually having few seeds. A tree identified as Van Hoy No Core was found in an old orchard near Valle Crucis, North Carolina. Family lore is that a scion was transported to Watauga County in the early 1800s and was kept alive by being stuck in a potato.

Uses: Fresh Eating, Stores well

 

Vine (Vine Apple)

Two Red Apples and Watercolor Print

Description: Fruit medium or above, round to oblong, conical, distinctly lobed; skin rough, yellow, sometimes with a blush on one side; heavily dotted with large, irregular, russet dots and cracks, which are often areole. Flesh yellowish, fine-grained, juicy, crisp, subacid. Ripe October and keeps rather well.

History: Sold from 1895 to 1910 by the J. Van Lindley Nursery of Greensboro, North Carolina. It originated in Patrick County, Virginia, and was grown mostly in the Piedmont along the Virginia-North Carolina line. Its name comes from its thin, wiry, new growth.

Uses: Fresh Eating, Cooking, Drying

Virginia Beauty (Zach's Red)

Two Red Apples and Watercolor Print

Description: Fruit medium to large, variable in shape, but usually roundish conical, often lopsided; skin smooth, entirely covered with purplish or bronzish red, rarely showing dim, darker red stripes; dots numerous, variable in size, light-colored and russet, some indented. Flesh pale yellow, fine-grained, tender, juicy, mild subacid to almost sweet. Ripe September/October.

History: The original tree grew from a seed planted about 1810 in Zach Safewright’s yard in the Piper’s Gap District of Carroll County, Virginia (at that time still part of Grayson County). This original tree began bearing apples about 1820. It was first called Zach or Zach’s Red, but about 1850 it became known as Virginia Beauty.

Uses: Multipurpose, Stores well

 

Virginia Greening (Green Mountain Pippin, Ross Greening, Rose Greening, Virginia Apple, Virginia Blush)

Two Green Apples with Watercolor Print

Description: Fruit medium to large, oblate or roundish; skin thick, tough, green changing to greenish yellow with a light blush or bronzing on the sunny side; dots scattered, large, usually irregular russet or reddish. Flesh yellowish, compact, breaking, coarse, subacid but almost sweet when ripe. Ripe late September/October.

History: The origin of this very old apple is unknown, but certainly it originated in Virginia in the 1700s. It was briefly described in an 1829 issue of New England Farmer magazine from apples received from Virginia.

Uses: Cooking, Stores well