About Apples

Varieties

More Info

There are thousands of apple varieties that have evolved throughout history. Not all varieties are good for all purposes and some varieties have unique characteristics for specialty uses. Most consumers are familiar with fresh apple varieties that are most commonly found at the grocery store and used for a fresh eating. Varieties are classified as follows:

For fresh eating
For making applesauce or juice
Dual-purpose (used for eating or for making sauce or juice)

Apple varieties (in order of largest volume grown in the U.S.)

Look	Variety	Usage	Characteristics
	Red Delicious	Fresh	Sweet, juicy, crisp.
	Golden Delicious	Dual purpose	Mildly sweet, juicy, crisp.
	Gala	Fresh	Mildly sweet, juicy, crisp.
	Granny Smith*	Dual purpose	Mildly tart, firm.
	Fuji	Fresh	Very sweet and juicy, very crisp.
	Rome	Sauce/Juice	Mildly tart, firm.
	McIntosh	Dual purpose	Sweet and tart, very juicy, tender.
	Jonathan*	Sweet/Juice	Tart, spicy tang, juicy, crisp.
	York Imperial*	Sweet/Juice	Mildly sweet, juicy, crisp.
	Idared	Sweet/Juice	Sweetly tart, juicy, firm.
	Cortland	Dual purpose	Tart, tangy and very juicy.
	Rhode Island Greening	Sauce/Juice	Tart, greenish/yellow skin.
	Twenty Ounce	Sauce/Juice	Tart, firm, and juicy.
	Crispin	Sauce/Juice	Sweet, crisp, juicy, refreshing.
	Jonagold	Dual purpose	Sweet-tart, crisp and juicy.
* Photos courtesy of U.S. Apple Association. All others courtesy of New York Apple Association New York Apple Association.