Apple Index - "Sally Gray to Slope"

Sally Gray

Two Red Apples

Description: Fruit medium or below, roundish oblate; skin rough, light yellow, russeted at the stem end, with faint red stripes on the sunny side but much more red on fruit fully exposed to the sun; dots scattered, irregular, russet. Flesh crisp, juicy, brittle, fine-grained, compact, almost sweet. Ripe late July/August.

History: Sally Gray is a very old apple that was listed for sale by a nursery in the November 4, 1763, Virginia Gazette newspaper. It was also included in the 1849 listing of a nursery in Stone Mountain, Georgia. The tree was rediscovered in Wake County, North Carolina.

Uses: Drying, Cooking, Fresh Eating

Salome

Two Red Apples and Watercolor Print

Description: Fruit medium or below, roundish oblate, conical, often ribbed; skin tough, smooth, pale yellow mottled with pinkish red and obscurely striped with carmine, usually with a whitish bloom and often having some russet blotches and streaks; dots conspicuous, whitish or pale gray, often areolar with russet points. Flesh tinged yellow, firm, crisp, tender, juicy, sprightly subacid. Ripe October.

History: Originated about 1853 in a nursery in Ottawa, Illinois, and introduced in 1884.

Uses: Fresh Eating, Cooking, Stores well

 

Sam Hunt

Two Red Apples

Description: Fruit medium or above, roundish, often oblique; skin partly to mostly covered with red and some obscure stripes; dots numerous, large and small, gray. Ripe September/October.

History: Lee Calhoun received a letter in 1995 from Sylvia Walker of Jackson, Mississippi: “I decided to walk through the woods where our old orchard used to be. I was amazed to find a giant, gnarly apple tree still alive but consumed by the forest. We call it Sam Hunt because we got it from our uncle Sam. My mother says this very tree was old when she went there in 1929.”

Uses: Fresh Eating

 

Sam Whitson

Two Red Apples

Description: Fruit above medium to large, roundish conical; skin heavily striped with two shades of red; stem almost short; dots scattered, large, whitish. Ripe September.

History: Originated with Sam Whitson (1859-1952) on his farm on Bean’s Creek in Mitchell County, North Carolina. Local farmers in the Honeycutt community prize this apple for applesauce and apple butter. An old tree was tracked down by the late Maurice Marshall, whose aunt was a granddaughter of Sam Whitson.

Uses: Apple butter, Sauce

San Jacinto

Two Red Apples and Watercolor Print

Description: Fruit medium, roundish, often oblique, sometimes slightly oblong, lobed; skin smooth, partly to mostly covered with pinkish red with broken darker red stripes; dots tiny, numerous, grayish, often areole. Flesh whitish, fine-grained, moderately crisp and juicy, mild subacid. Ripe July/August.

History: Some years before 1900, Dr. A. M. Ragland of Pilot Point, Texas, bought some apple trees labeled Mrs. Bryan from the Fruitland Nursery, Augusta, Georgia. A few years later Dr. Ragland realized that the trees obtained from Georgia had been mislabeled and were not Mrs. Bryan at all but were an unknown variety not identifiable by Fruitland Nursery or anyone else. Dr. Ragland then renamed this apple San Jacinto.

Uses: Cooking, Fresh Eating

 

Sawmill

Two Red Apples

Description: Fruit medium to above medium, slightly roundish conical; skin yellow completely covered with a pinkish red with darker red stripes; brown raised lenticels present, can have light bloom. Ripens late September.

Uses: Fresh Eating

Schell (Schull, Shell)

Three Yellow Apples

Description: Fruit medium or above, roundish; often oblique and lobed; skin clear yellow, sometimes with a slight pinkish blush on the sunny side; dots few, submerged or russet. Flesh yellowish, fine-grained, juicy, moderately crisp, mild subacid, very aromatic. Ripe August/September.

History: A West Virginia apple first described in 1839 and sold in 1871 by the Fruitland Nursery, Augusta, Georgia.

Uses: Fresh Eating, Cooking

 

Schuler

Two Red Apples

Description: Fruit above medium, oblate; skin greenish yellow covered completely with light red with darker red stripes, often dark red in color, can have moderate bloom, large brown raised dots, numerous; cavity acuminate, russeted, with short stem; basin shallow, narrow, with open calyx. Ripens October.

Origin unknown. Found by Tom Brown of Clemmons, North Carolina.

Schumacher (Shoemaker)

Two Red Apples

Description: Fruit almost large, roundish conical, often irregular and oblique; skin yellow, partly to mostly covered with bright red with faint darker red stripes; dots numerous, faint, whitish or russet. Flesh pale yellow, moderately crisp and juicy, subacid. Ripe late July/August.

History: As written by T. C. Moss of Cameron, South Carolina in 1996: “The story is that in the late 1700s a Mr. Shoemaker came from Germany and brought this apple with him when he settled in our area.”

 

Shannon (Shannon Pippin)

One Yellow Apple

Description: fruit large to very large, three to four inches in diameter, oblate to roundish oblate, conical; skin smooth, bright yellow, sometimes faintly blushed, with a dull overcast of whitish blotches and streaks; dots small, inconspicuous, whitish or pale green, often submerged, sometimes with russet points. Flesh yellow, rather firm, juicy, tender, breaking, subacid. Ripe September-December.

History: Shannon apples were exhibited at the New Orleans World Exposition in 1884 and were awarded more premiums than any other southern apple. The early history of the Shannon is not clear. One story is that a man named Granville Shannon bought some apple trees from a tree peddler near Evansville, Arkansas, before the Civil War. By the time the trees fruited, the labels had been lost, so Mr. Shannon named the best variety for himself.  Rediscovered by Tom Brown, although his Shannon ripens much earlier in August and is quite mealy; does not store very well at all.  Would make a very good applesauce apple. 

Uses: Sauce, Fresh Eating

Sheepnose

Two Red Apples

Several Virginia nurseries listed a summer apple named Sheepnose from 1910 to 1928: “We have fruited it for several years and pronounce it the best eating apple we have seen for August. Fruit large at the base, tapering to the apex, covered with brown russet red. Tender and fine. Tree rather a crooked grower; said to live to a great age.  Found by Tom Brown.  Ripens Late July/August.

Uses: Fresh Eating

Shell

Two Red Apples

Description: Fruit medium or above, roundish to oblate, conical, very irregular shaped; skin yellowish mostly covered with a bright red blush; dots very small, often areolar. Flesh pale yellow, moderately crisp, juicy, almost sweet with a faint pear flavor. Ripe July.

History: The following information is from the History of Escambia County Alabama by Annie C. Waters: “Green Shell was an enterprising agriculturalist who was born in 1841. He planted an apple orchard near the intersection of present day highways 49 and 40, about 10 miles north of Brewton, Alabama. This enterprise developed into a business that gave the town its name—Appleton…During harvest, Mr. Shell’s son, Andrew, made two trips a day by wagon to deliver barrels of apples to the freight office in Brewton. They were shipped to northern markets as “Shell Apples.”

Uses: Fresh Eating

Shenandoah ®

Two Red Apples

Description: Fruit round, conical; skin waxy, tough, almost solid red; flesh firm, sprightly subacid to almost acid. Ripe Late Aug/September.

History: In the 1940s and 1950s, Dr. George D. Oberle did apple-breeding work at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Blacksburg, Virginia. Shenandoah is a cross of Winesap x Opalescent made in 1942.

Uses: Cooking, Sauce, Cider, Stores well

 

Sherrill

Two Red Apples

Description: Fruit medium, roundish conical; skin smooth, dull, almost covered with red and obscure stripes; dots numerous, rather large, grayish russet. Flesh quite yellowish, crisp, moderately juicy, rather coarse, mild subacid. Ripe October/November.

History: Listed without description in 1902 by the Startown Nursery, Newton, North Carolina. In 2000, Tom Brown found an eighty-year-old tree of Sherrill in Catawba County, North Carolina.

Uses: Fresh Eating, Cooking

Shockley (Waddell Hall, Sweet Romanite, Neverfail, Horse Bud, Dixie)

Two Red Apples and Watercolor Print

Description: Fruit medium size or often below, roundish; skin tough, smooth, mostly to almost completely overspread with bright red; dots few, gray. Flesh yellowish white, crisp, juicy, mild subacid to almost sweet. Ripe October.

History: Shockley originated with a Mr. Shockley of Jackson County, Georgia, and was brought to public notice when exhibited at the Georgia State Fair in 1852. Shockley is one of the inner circle of apples that were grown all over the South.

Uses: Multipurpose, Stores well

 

Short Core (Garden Red, Short Core Winesap?)

Two Red Apples

Description: Fruit medium, roundish or slightly oblong, flattened on the ends, often irregular in shape; skin mostly deep or purplish red; dots numerous, white. Flesh fine-grained, yellowish, juicy, subacid. Ripe October.

History: Originated before 1850 in an orchard belonging to a Mrs. Todd near Berea, Kentucky. Described by the USDA as a good dessert-quality apple borne on a small, productive tree.

Uses: Fresh Eating, Stores well

Silver Hill

Three Red Apples

Description:  Fruit small roundish to sometimes oblate; skin greenish yellow completely covered on sunny side with pinkish red and darker red stripes; dots brown, large; cavity narrow, acuminate with russet spilling over top, stem long; basin somewhat shallow and narrow with mostly open calyx.  Ripens July.

Uses: Fresh Eating, Cooking

Sine Qua Non (Cornel's Early)

Two Yellow Apples

Description: Fruit medium, roundish; skin smooth, pale yellow, sometimes with a brown blush; dots gray. Flesh white, fine-grained, tender, juicy, aromatic, sprightly subacid. Ripe July.

History: An early apple rather widely grown in the South until well into the 1900s. It originated before 1831, probably in or near the famous nursery of William Prince on Long Island, New York.

Uses: Fresh Eating

Slabside

Two Red Apples

Description: Fruit medium, roundish conical, lopsided; skin tough, pale greenish but mostly covered with bright red and a few broken red stripes; dots numerous, small, gray. Flesh fine-grained, moderately crisp and juicy, whitish, mild subacid to sweet. Ripe August.

History: Lee Calhoun got scions of this apple in Old Fort, North Carolina.

Uses: Fresh Eating

 

Slope

Two Red Apples

Description: Medium to large, roundish to slightly oblate, often oblique; skin covered in red; flesh firm, crisp, fine-grained, mildly acid. Ripe October.

History: A single tree dating back to the 1920s was found by Tom Brown belonging to Jack Harold of Hays, North Carolina.

Uses: Fresh Eating