Apple Index - "F"
Fairgrove
Description: Fruit medium, roundish conical, obscurely lobed; skin mostly pale red with some faint darker stripes; dots inconspicuous, gray and russet. Flesh fine-grained, moderately crisp and juicy, scarcely sweet. Ripe September.
History: Harold Punch found a young seedling tree in the 1980s growing behind the Fairgrove Methodist Church near Hickory, North Carolina. The original tree is now gone.
Uses: Fresh Eating, Stores well
Fall Orange (Holden, Hogpen, Glass Orange, Summer Orange, Speckled, Red Cheek, Jones Pippin, Westbrook, White Graft, White Newell, New York Bellflower, Long Island Graft)
Description: Fruit large, roundish conical; skin pale yellow, sometimes with a pinkish or brownish blush or some russet splotches; dots conspicuous, numerous, large and small, russet or reddish, areolar. Flesh white, moderately fine-grained, crisp, tender, juicy, aromatic, subacid. Ripe late August/September.
History: An old tree of Fall Orange was found in Chatham County, North Carolina, belonging to Inez Mann. Fall Orange seems to have been grown to a limited extent in Virginia and North Carolina for home use, both fresh eating and cooking. The original tree grew up before 1770 near the hog pen of Deacon Allen in Holden, Massachusetts, and was called Hogpen or Holden. It was taken to western New York about 1825 where it acquired the name Fall Orange. An apple named Summer Orange was sold by a Julian, North Carolina, nursery from 1920-1928.
Uses: Fresh Eating, Cooking, Sauce, Apple Butter, Does not keep well
Fall Pippin (Autumn Pippin, Yellow Mammoth, Carolina Pippin, Episcopal, Cobbetts’ Fall, Large Fall Pippin, Philadelphia Pippin, Pound Pippin, Pound Royal, York Pippin, Golden Pippin, Prince’s Large Pippin, Summer Pippin, Pond Apple)
Description: Fruit large or occasionally very large, irregular, roundish to roundish oblate but sometimes slightly oblong conical; skin thin, smooth, becoming clear yellow when ripe, sometimes faintly blushed; dots numerous, small, pale gray and russet, some greenish and submerged. Flesh white or tinged with yellow, almost fine-grained, tender, juicy, aromatic, subacid. When fully ripe, can sometimes have a pineapple flavor. Ripe late August/September.
History: Widely sold in the South and quite popular at one time in the Shenandoah Valley as an early winter apple. The Southern Apple and Peach Culturist (1872) calls Fall Pippin “first among Autumn apples in Maryland and Virginia. Fall Pippin is a very old variety predating 1800 and popular in the nineteenth century in most apple-growing areas of the United States. Its origin is unknown, but it is thought to be an American apple.
Uses: Fresh Eating, Cooking
Fall Pound
No description.
Fall Premium
Description: Fruit medium or above, roundish to oblate, slightly conical; skin yellowish with a pale pinkish blush and faint, broken pink stripes; dots large, gray, often with a pink areole. Flesh firm, crisp, juicy, subacid. Ripe September/October.
History: Several old trees have been found by Tom Brown near Newland, Spruce Pine, and Plumtree, North Carolina. Doug Hundley, former county agricultural agent in Avery County, North Carolina, says the Hughes community in his county still prizes this apple.
Uses: Fresh Eating, Cooking
Fallawater® (Mountain Pippin, Green Mountain Pippin, Kelly, Fornwalder, Tulpehocken, Molly Whopper, Falder, Pound, Pim’s Beauty of the West, Walldower, Waldour, Pharawalder, Fallenwalder, Brubacker, Winter Blush, Brubaker, Benjamite, Baltimore Pippin)
Description: Fruit large, round, sometimes slightly oblate, usually symmetrical, uniform in size and shape; skin tough, usually dull or dirty green shaded with dull red or red stripes or bronze on the sunny side; dots conspicuous, whitish, often large, some areolar with russet centers. Flesh greenish white, tender, somewhat coarse, juicy, mild subacid. Ripe October at higher elevations, but September in warmer areas.
History: The exact origin of Fallawater and the meaning of its strange name are not known, but theories abound. We know for a fact that it is a Pennsylvania apple, from Bucks County, said to have grown up near Tulphocken Creek before 1842. There are many trees approaching a hundred years old scattered from North Carolina to West Virginia. Lee Calhoun said he has never seen a Fallawater apple as colorful as the fruit in the watercolor illustration; most are rather drab.
Uses: Fresh Eating, Cooking, Drying, Stores well
Fanny
Description: Fruit medium, roundish to slightly oblate but sometimes varying to oblong, slightly ribbed; skin thin, smooth, mostly covered with crimson and indistinct darker red stripes; dots few, small, whitish. Flesh whitish or tinged yellow, a little stained red next to the skin, tender, juicy, fine-grained, mild subacid. Ripe September.
History: A Pennsylvania apple that originated in Lancaster County before 1869. Its size, crimson color, and good eating quality made Fanny a useful market apple in much of the South. The tree is vigorous, productive, and an annual bearer. Scions were obtained from Joyce Neighbors who got her tree from the Alabama Agricultural Extension Service, Auburn, Alabama.
Uses: Fresh Eating, Cooking
Faust's Winter (Faust, Foust)
Description: Fruit medium or larger, round or roundish oblate; skin smooth, bright yellow, overspread with a thick white bloom, sometimes shaded red in the sun; dots few, light-colored, usually submerged. Flesh yellow, tender, not very juicy, aromatic, subacid. Ripe October.
History: Originated with the Foust family of Guilford County, North Carolina, and introduced by Squire Kinney (who also introduced Magnum Bonum). It was described in one old catalog as “much admired by many for its peculiar, aromatic flavor.” A single limb grafted years ago onto an apple tree in Watauga County, North Carolina, has been identified as Faust’s Winter by its owner.
Uses: Fresh Eating
Flat Fall Cheese
Description: Fruit medium size, oblate; skin tough, light yellow with a rosy blush and faint stripes on the sunny side, often almost entirely red, sometimes with a slight bloom; dots whitish, larger. Flesh yellowish, moderately crisp, juicy, almost sweet. Ripe September.
History: The state of Virginia established a heritage orchard on the historic farm of Cyrus McCormick (inventor of the reaper) near Steele’s Tavern. This orchard was poorly maintained and was removed in the 1990s, but Lee Calhoun managed to rescue Flat Fall Cheese before the tree was cut down.
Uses: Fresh Eating
Fleming (Perkins of North Carolina)
Description: Fruit medium to large, roundish conical; skin light yellow with a few pale red stripes; flesh juicy, almost sweet. Ripe August/September.
History: Bryant Lowe or Moravian Falls, North Carolina, has a tree in his orchard found by Tom Brown. He can date this variety back to 1942, but it is much older.
Uses: Fresh Eating
Fugate
Description: Fruit above medium, roundish or slightly oblate; skin light yellowish green with a rosy blush on the sunny side, some apples are completely red; dots few, inconspicuous, whitish and green, often with a red areole. Flesh white or yellowish, fine-grained, crisp, juicy, subacid. Ripe July.
History: Originated in the Fugate community on the French Broad River in Cooke County, Tennessee. It is a high-quality apple for fresh eating or cooking and was sold for years by the late Henry Morton’s nursery in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
Uses: Fresh Eating, Cooking
Fyan
Description: Fruit medium, oblong to round, conical, often oblique; skin rough, tough, partly to almost completely covered in dark red with a light blue bloom; dots numerous, small, pale gray. Flesh greenish, crisp, juicy, mild subacid. Ripe September/October.
History: As Lee Calhoun searched for apples, several southerners remembered an apple pronounced “Finn” that is actually the variety named Fyan. Fyan originated at the Missouri State Fruit Experiment Station from a cross of Ben Davis X Jonathan made in 1901 and was released to the public in 1935. Some trees made their way into the South where a few still exist.
Uses: Fresh Eating, Cooking