When I was little my mom made applesauce out of Granny Smith apples. She occasionally made pie, probably also Granny Smith, but I was ignorant and didn’t like apple pie so I didn’t pay attention. Cherry pie was a different story and I lobbied hard for it. I also suspect that no-one was too worried if I didn’t like apple pie. More for everyone else, you know!

I was aware of Red and Golden Delicious apples and there were apples called MacIntosh and Jonathan but the only real reason I knew about them was because of a delightful book called Mr. Apple’s Family by Jean McDevitt. It’s very difficult to find, but there are some second hand copies on Amazon, from an effort to reprint it in 2019. Part of the premise of the book was that Mr. Apple wanted to name all his children after apple varieties and proposed things like Spitzbergen to his wife. She wasn’t interested in that one. They ended up naming their boys Jonathan and MacIntosh. This meant that I was aware that, once upon a time, there was an apple called Spitzbergen, and another called Snow (a name used for one of the daughters), but I’d never seen either one. And in one of my favorite childhood books, Understood Betsy, there was an apple called Northern Spy. It was described as incredibly hard.

I was absolutely delighted later in life to discover that yes, there are in fact hundreds of apple varieties. They mostly aren’t carried by the grocery stores, but orchards do have varieties and some orchards have a serious commitment to lots of varieties. My local farmer’s market has a vendor from Pennsylvania who has twelve or fifteen kinds of apples each week, though the specific varieties change throughout the season. I tried an apple called Smokehouse which was fantastic. Naturally the following week they were all gone. He occasionally has an apple called Swiss Arlet, but I overheard him telling another customer that the Swiss Arlet tree only produces when it feels like it. When it does produce, the apples are lovely, crisp and sweet. This particular vendor was horrified at the idea of making apple sauce from Granny Smith apples and didn’t quite believe me when I said my mom made it. However, I have discovered that among apple devotees there are lots of passionate differences. Do you want your apple to stay in shape as you cook, or not? Same with pie. Mush or slices when it is done? Make a choice. This vendor does carry Northern Spy but I haven’t tried it. The description of an apple so hard you could fire it through a plank did not inspire a wish in me to put such and apple in my mouth.

I have been amusing my grandchildren by bringing several kinds of apples from that farmer’s market, when I visit. At snacktime we try the different varieties and discuss what we think. At first I didn’t worry about names but when the five-year old told me to take a pen to the market I finally did. Over the last month we’ve tried Nittany, Cosmic Crisp, Cameo, Autumn Crisp, Smokehouse, Suncrisp, Apple X, and Sweet Zinger. We have also tried Ludacrisp, which is spelled Ludicrisp online, and Crunch-A-Bunch. The Crunch-A-Bunch is a great hit and supposedly will still be around at Thanksgiving. Crossing my fingers.

For a rabbit hole of entertaining depth, try looking up the names of apples and then reading about the orchards and associations that are breeding new ones. North Star Orchard is responsible for Ludicrisp. https://northstarorchard.com/ The farmer/orchardist who developed Ludicrisp started with seeds in 1993. This is not the usual way new apple varieties come about but it is very entertaining. Several other new apple varieties were simply found as sports on an established tree, or a wild tree was found somewhere. An apple sport can appear when a branch on an established tree starts producing a totally different kind of apple. North Star Orchard has a long list of old breed apples that they are testing and trying to save, along with newer varieties, many of which they helped develop.

The best applesauce I ever made was from a random bunch of different apple varieties. I don’t know which ones I used so I can’t repeat it! I’ve tried… Also, I use instant tapioca to thicken my apple pie filling, rather than cornstarch or flour. I tried using maple vinegar instead of lemon juice in the filling once, and it was … interesting. The dark vinegar made the filling very dark as well, and the maple flavor itself did not come through as strongly as I would have wanted. The pie tasted as if it were spicy plums instead of apple. Quite edible but not worth trying again, is my verdict.

More links to enjoy.

https://www.albemarleciderworks.com/orchard/apple-varieties Lots more apple names.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/heritage-appalachian-apples There are actually a lot of stories about this gentleman who has rescued hundreds of old apple varieties. Cider was the drink of choice for a lot of the American colonies in the 1700’s. Plain water of course was likely to have germs. This meant that there were thousands of orchards and thousands of apple trees as well. Fascinating.