Apple Index - "O"

Old English Milam

Two Red Apples

Description: Fruit medium or slightly larger, oblate; skin pale green mostly covered with dull red with faint darker stripes; dots numerous. Ripe August.

History: In 1997, Greg Lam found several huge old trees of Old English Milam in the back yard of Bobby Comer near Shenandoah. He said the trees were big when Mr. Comer was a child sixty years ago.

Old Fashioned Limbertwig

Two Red Apples

One of the oldest Limbertwig varieties. A good keeper that is good for eating fresh, pies, and cider. Somewhat rough skinned. A greenish yellow with red blush.  Ripens October.

Uses: Cooking, Cider, Fresh Eating, Stores well

Old Fashioned Striped Rome

Two Red Apples

Description: Fruit medium, skin greenish, completely covered with brick reddish color with darker stripes especially on sunny side; dots large, white, fairly numerous; cavity somewhat shallow, acuminate, sometimes slightly russeted with medium length stem; basin shallow, medium, with mostly closed calyx. Ripens October.

Oliver (All-over Red, Oliver’s Red, Senator)

Two Red Apples and Watercolor Print

Description: Fruit medium or above, varying in shape from roundish to slightly oblate; skin thick, smooth and glossy, mostly covered with red with many broken stripes of darker red; dots large and very conspicuous, whitish, sometimes areole. Flesh yellowish often stained red, rather fine-grained, crisp, juicy, mild subacid. Ripe September/October and an excellent keeper.

History: This apple originated in the early 1800s on the farm of John Oliver, seven miles south of Lincoln in Washington County, Arkansas. It was first propagated about 1850 by a local nurseryman, John Holt, who called it Oliver’s Red or All-over Red.

Uses: Fresh Eating, Stores well

 

Ooten

Two Yellow Apples

Scions came from James R. “Sammy” Hall of Logan, West Virginia.  He also wrote the following description and history: “The Ooten apple has been in the Trace Creek and Pigeon Creek areas of Mingo County since prior to 1895, when Mingo was part of Logan County.  The name comes from the family who discovered, maintained and shared this majestic apple with friends and neighbors.  Locally this green apple, colossal in size, ripens in mid-late August. When the green skin takes on a yellowish tint, they should be picked.”

Uses: Sauce

Opalescent

Two Red Apples and Watercolor Print

Description: Fruit above medium to large, roundish conical, sides sometimes unequal; skin nearly covered with dark red; dots small and large, irregular-shaped, yellowish and russet, often submerged, sometimes the skin shows flecks of russet. Flesh yellowish, crisp, juicy, aromatic, mild subacid. Ripe August/September and becomes greasy in storage.

History: According to Virginia apple historian, Tom Burford, Opalescent originated in the 1800s with George Hudson of Barry County, Michigan. He found it as a seedling while clearing oak stumps from a piece of land and named it Hudson’s Pride of Michigan. It was later renamed Opalescent. Sold by Virginia and Maryland nurseries in the 1920s and 1930s.

Uses: Fresh Eating, Cooking, Stores well

 

Ophir

Two Red Apples

Description: Fruit medium, roundish or slightly oblate, lobed, skin mostly covered with red; dots small, gray. Flesh crisp, very juicy, mild subacid. Ripe late August/September.

History: In 1987, Nellie L. Williams of Kittrell, North Carolina wrote to Lee Calhoun: “My husband was a minister before his recent retirement, and one church he served was in the Ophir community near the Uwharrie Mountains. Mr. and Mrs. Robert Saunders of Ophir are retired and have an apple tree set out by Mrs. Saunders’ parents when they first married.”

Uses: Cooking, Sauce

 

Ortley (White Bellflower, Ortley Pippin, Detroit, Greasy Pippin, Hollow Core Pippin, Ohio Favorite, Woolman’s Long Pippin, Yellow Pippin, Crane’s Pippin, White Detroit, Willow Leaf Pippin, Woodward’s Pippin, Green Bellflower, Marrow Pippin)

Two Yellow Apples with Watercolor Print

Description: Fruit medium to large, roundish to oblong, conical; skin waxy or greasy, greenish yellow becoming yellow at maturity, sometimes with greenish stripes, occasionally with a slight blush. Flesh white or creamy, fine-grained, tender, juicy, subacid. Ripe October.

History: An old New Jersey apple first described by Coxe (1817) under the name Woolman’s Long Pippin. It was better known in the South as White Bellflower, White Detroit, or White Pippin.

Uses: Cooking, Fresh Eating, Apple Butter, Stores well

 

Ozark Beauty

Three Yellow Apples

Description: Fruit medium or above, roundish conical, flat on the ends; skin tough, lemon yellow with a faint reddish blush on the sunny side; dots faint, numerous, russet or greenish. Flesh whitish, juicy, crisp, sweet. Ripe August/September.

History: This is most likely not an old apple, but rather Ozark Gold, an apple developed at the Missouri State Agricultural Station in 1970, using Golden Delicious as one parent.

Uses: Fresh Eating