Dennis-

Sounds like you need Garden WebÂs Fruit & OrchardÂs forum "The best of the best" favorite apples results. :-)

For what itÂs worth, I currently have a Granny Smith, 2 Liberties, an Enterprise, a Williams Pride, a Red Delicious, and a 5-1 (Yellow Transparent, Macintosh, Courtland, Summer Red, Red Delicious)

After months of thinking about it, next year I will be adding 4 apples: Honey Crisp, AshmeadÂs Kernel, another Granny Smith, and either a Spitzenburg or possibly a Rhode Island Greening. (Since room is limited, I plan to graft on to existing trees in the future with scions of other varieties) Note: I have only tried the GSÂ the other varieties are just ones I see people recommending over and over and sound like theyÂd work for me.

-Glenn

Here is a link that might be useful: Best of the Best tasting apple varieties

You need Honeycrisp. I'll also recommend Zestar which is an early apple with great flavor, similar to Honeycrisp. I don't care much for apples normally, but Honeycrisp is really great - crisp and sweet with just enough sour to keep it interesting.

Dennis, as your almost neighbor, let me recommend Spygold for eating, Northern Spy for eating and baking (never mind the southerners who despise it, here it is one of the best), and a Jonathan cross, Lucky Jon, which is deep red and very tart.

GoldRush is conspicuously absent from your list, maybe for a reason since it likes such a long season; but the rave reviews merit a try. You're also a bit thin on the Cox crosses, so I'd throw in Rubinette, an easy-to-grow relative.

Applenut

Early varieties I'll throw into the mix - MonArk and Centennial crab.
Monark is exceptional for an early apple(ripens mid-July here), large red-over-green skin, crisp white flesh, and unlike most early-season apples, it will keep well under refrigeration for 6-8 weeks. I just cut-up and dried the last dozen or so I picked back in July and dried them - they were still tasty, but had lost some of their 'crispness', and with all the other apples/pears I've got ripening now, I needed the space.
Centennial - very tasty, and early enough that it misses much of the insect damage.

Ashmead's Kernel! I have yet to taste one, but from everything I've read, it's one to have.

Herbert

I personally like russet apples and limbertwigs. There are numerous varieties of both and most are excellent fresh or cooked and are also great keepers. British apples like Cox Orange Pippin or some Cox crosses like Rubinette or Karmijn De Sonnaville should do good in Michigan. Ellison's Orange is pretty good too. Bramley is a pretty popular variety at the local farmers market as a pie and frying apple. It's also pretty disease resistant. Trees of Antiquity and Big Horse Creek Farms both specialize in antique varieties. Maple Valley Orchards also sells antique apple trees AND scion wood if you want to graft your own trees. All three sites have tons of varieties and good descriptions.

Dennis, I just found a nice website in England which I had not seen before. It has quite lengthy descriptions giving the English perspective on various apples. See below.

Make sure to look into Wickson which has a very unique texture and flavor - it seems like an apple/peach/plum cross sometimes. In general do try to make sure you are not picking too many apples with similar tastes, season, etc. Wickson is a late apple but I think it will just make it for you. If it was a large apple it would be one of the most popular varieties.

Price, I would be ineterested in what Limbertwigs you liked the most. I have a Myers Royal Limbertwig which is an excellent apple, and a Black Limbertwig which will be giving me my first fruits this year.

Scott

Here is a link that might be useful: orangepippin.com

I second Scott's recommendation for Wickson, which seems to do well where ever its tried (including here). I wish we had enough to make cider from, which is what it was bred for. The cider would be killer!

Hello Dennis,

I love these types of questions! :) So, you want us to send you a list of our favorite apples? Gee, that's going to be hard (but fun)! My Papa has an orchard with 100 varieties of apples, and I tried every one that has bared so for. We planted lots of new apple trees early this year in our scab resistant orchard - all of them scab resistant varieties. However, they are all new varieties for us so I can't put any of them in my list because I haven't tasted them yet. Well, except for the famous Honeycrisp apple.
Okay, enough, now for the list. . .

For fresh eating (although I haven't found one that I don't like eating out of hand, except possibly Wolf River) I recommend: Vista Bella (very early apple)
Zestar (early apple)
Summer Treat (early apple)
Blushing Golden (fall apple)
Jonagold (midseason)
Mollies Delicious (early)
Ashmeads Kernel (fall)
Jonalicious (midseason)
Honeycrisp (midseason)
Northern Spy (fall, love the vitamin C flavor)
Empire (midseason)
Snow (midseason) I love the Macintosh flavor plus a little more sweetness.
For cooking, the best all around are:
Calville Blanc D'hiver (late) Thee best cooking apple for everything!
Gravenstein (early) Fav. apple pie!
Northern Spy (late)
Starks Jumbo (midseason)
Idared (late)
Wolf River (midseason)
Spartan Mac (midseason) Great sauce apple!
Plus, you may want to take a look at some of these strange apples:
Court Pendu Plat (Garden of Eden apple)
Kandil Sinap
Lubsk Queen (grapefruit apple)
Chenango Strawberry (smells like a strawberry)
There is also this one I just can't remember the name. It is similar to a pineapple! Sorry, my head is blank right now.

Okay, that's enough for now!

Thanks all for the input, it certainly gives me a LOT to think about. I wish I had room to put in 50 varieties, it's still going to be very hard to narrow this down.

I went out this morning and picked me crop, about a half bushel, of Karmijn de Sonnaville. It is a bit premature, they're "ripe" but not really fully ripe, would have to stay on there a few more weeks, really. But, I was paranoid of something (the fawn that is now resident in my yard, for one) getting them, and of the exceptionally wet weather we are having. Even when not completely ripe, this is one exceptional apple, sweet-tart and very complex in flavor. I can't wait to try baking something with one, I think it would make a fantastic pie or strudel. They are also extremely large apples, about 4 to 5 inches across, I'm sure the largest one is probably at least half a pound in weight, perhaps more.

Bernadette:

Could the pineapple one possibly be Hawaii or Pitmaston Pineapple? Both excellent varieties that do well even here.

Applenut

Ashmead's Kernel and Spigold. Both are really awesome - we always sell out of them!

This is quite late in adding, but I have Winekist, a red-like-a-beet-inside small and rather tart apple that ripens quite early; Bardsey, a late September lemon scented partial tip-bearer and very durable tree (only Raintree sells it so far;) Sturmer Pippin that ripens late and keeps even longer. If you have late frost you may wish to avoid Ashmead's Kernel and try Hunt Russet instead. AK could not set a crop for me and I hope Hunt will set fruit in another year or two. You might check out Lord Lambourne - great apple but cracks from the dryness here. I still await results for some other young trees: Rambour Franc/Summer Rambo, Redfield, Médaille d'Or, Edelborsdorfer (oldest German apple with a hard date: 1175! ripe in October,) and Court Pendu Rose (which grows much like Court Pendu Plat, but has a rich, perfumed taste and some folks find the better tree. I can't say yet.)