APPLES

EverCrisp apples are a cross between Fuji and Honeycrisp, combining the best qualities of both. This American variety, released in 2014, features a firm, juicy texture with a remarkably sweet flavour. Its skin is a rosy blush over a yellow background. Peak Freshness: November to April How to Enjoy: EverCrisp apples are superb for snacking and salads due to their long-lasting crunch and sweetness. They also hold up well in baking, making them an ideal choice for pies, tarts, and other desserts.

The Nicola apple, another Canadian gem, originated from British Columbia. This late-season variety is known for its rich, sweet flavor and dense, crisp texture. The skin is a vibrant red with yellow undertones, offering an appealing visual and taste experience. Peak Freshness: November to February How to Enjoy: Nicola apples are perfect for fresh eating and add a sweet crunch to salads. They are also excellent for baking, retaining their shape and enhancing the flavour of desserts with their natural sweetness.

As a fantastic start to the apple harvesting season, Sunrise is a new apple developed in Summerland, BC. Its heritage is a fine blend of McIntosh and Golden Delicious: A medium to large, uniform oval round (similar to Gala) with an excellent tart yet sweet flavour, as well as a juicy and crisp texture. More good news is that it is not prone to skin russet. Bright red stripes going to blush on the exposed side with about 50% red color makes each apple quite unique. The flesh is white to cream in colour. Peak Freshness early August. ​ How to Enjoy: Its crisp, juicy and sweet flavour makes it wonderful as a dessert or summer salad. Sunrise apples are at their best when kept refrigerated.

Originally developed in New Zealand and available commercially since 1985, the Braeburn is an excellent keeping apple with a wonderful blend of tart and super sweet flavours with very firm, crisp, and juicy flesh. Medium to large, with a barrel shape, Braeburns are most commonly red with gold sections. Peak Freshness early November to early March. ​ How to Enjoy: While it can be used in a number of ways (i.e. desserts and juices), the Braeburn is superb for eating out of hand and is one of the best all-around cooking apples, holding their shape. Whether it is used for its juices, sliced into salads, or cooked into desserts, a nice applesauce, or apple pie, you will enjoy a perfected sweet and tart balance. Oh, and it doesn’t brown as quickly as other apples, once cut, so is nice for fruit platters.

A tart-tangy, crisp flavour that is especially appreciated when baked or sautéed. Good quality granny smith apples will be crisp and firm with smooth and clean skin, deep green with random pink blush of the cheeks. Originally from Australia, this variety was introduced to North America just prior to 1970. Peak Freshness late October through March. ​ How to Enjoy: Great for eating out-of-hand and a very good all-purpose apple. Its talent for retaining flavour makes it a good choice for cooking. Wonderful for apple pie, caramel apples, juicing, eating with cheese platters, and for salads. Fun Fact There really was a Granny Smith. In 1868, Mrs. Thomas Smith discovered this tart green apple in Australia. North America didn’t get a taste until the 1950s.

This heart-shaped crisp, firm fruit is as beautiful as it is delicious. A 1980 Golden Delicious hybrid originated in New Zealand is one of the world’s favourite apples, smelling fresh, sweet and perfumed when you sink your teeth into it. With a distinctive, thin yellow-orange skin with red striping, its fine-grained texture, and rich, intensely sweet juicy flavour contains a hint of spiciness that makes it the perfect crunchy tasty snack. Peak Freshness late August through March. ​ How to Enjoy: Their skins make it easy for mom, since your kids will eat them without being peeled. Though it can be cooked, it is so wonderful fresh in salads and as snacks that it seems a shame.

The Salish apple, a product of natural cross-pollination, was developed in British Columbia and released in 2012. Named after the indigenous Salish people, this variety boasts a delightful balance of sweet and tart flavors. Its crisp and juicy flesh is enclosed in a smooth, bright red skin with hints of green. Peak Freshness: October to November How to Enjoy: Salish apples are fantastic for snacking, salads, and desserts. Their firm texture holds up well in baking, making them a great choice for pies and tarts. They also add a refreshing bite to salads and fruit trays.

Developed at a West Virginia, USA farm around 1900, this apple is unrelated to the Red delicious. Pale green initially and ripens to become pale yellow, sometimes with light brown flecks. It is semi-firm, juicy, and sweet with an elongated shape and five bumps on bottom. ​ A good quality ‘Goldens’ are rich, mellow in flavour, with a firm and have smooth, clean tender skin; ranging in colour from light green to pale or creamy yellow. A keen eye will observe an unripe Golden Delicious by its light green complexion and somewhat tart flavour. More mature one, on the other hand, will be sweeter with a clean lovely yellow colour. Moreover, thin-skinned goldens may have a wash of pink colour or blush across the ‘shoulder’, the result of warm sunny days and cool nights. Peak Freshness late September through June. ​ How to Enjoy: One of the finest salad and dessert apples grown. However, it cooks firm, so this apple variety is considered an all-purpose apple great for pies, baked, rich, mellow sauces, and the best choice for cider. Pies and sauces need less sugar. Golden Delicious also freezes well.

Ring in the apple season with this delightful sweet, tangy, and juicy-crisp fruit that may have a faint taste of pears. Gingergolds are a recently developed apple that is medium sized smooth oval with a fresh golden-yellow hue with a hint of red blush. ​ Peak Freshness As one of the earliest varieties of apple season, gingergolds tell us that fall is on its way. The growing season of this variety is short – a few weeks from August into September. ​ Good-quality Ginger Gold apples will be firm with smooth, clean skin and have good colour for the variety. Resist the temptation to push with your thumb as you test the firmness of the apple by holding it in the palm of your hand. It should feel solid and heavy. ​ Avoid product with soft or dark spots. Also if the apple skin wrinkles when you rub your thumb across it, the apple has probably been in cold storage too long or has not been kept cool.

With an undercurrent of honey flavouring, both sweet and spicy-tart with extra crisp, juicy, firm, cream coloured flesh characterizes this medium-sized, round Japanese apple. Good quality Fuji apples will be firm with smooth and clean skin. The base colouring is usually vibrant yellow and green overlaid, with orange-red highlights, but will sometimes have a pinkish blush or be nearly red. They are excellent eaten fresh and store longer at room temperature than most varieties. This fruit has an appealing flavour, versatility, and shelf life. It’s no wonder that it has been an extremely popular apple in North America since 1980. Peak Freshness late October to late February. ​ How to Enjoy: It is quite versatile and can be eaten raw, sliced into salads when cooked into a nice applesauce or apple pie, use less sugar than called for.

Canada’s national apple is a soft, juicy variety, blushed green to yellow with red stripes with white flesh, and has a mildly tangy to sweet aroma and taste as ripened. When eaten fresh, their trademark tough skins break against your teeth with a pleasing snap. Peak Freshness mid August through early June. ​ How to Enjoy: The perfect apple for a snack! Nevertheless, it is, also, delicious raw tossed in a salad, as well as pressed for cider. ​ Although Macs have a very nice flavour in pies, their texture does disintegrate with heat, but making a pie somewhat mushy. Adding a little thickener is a must. Like pies, everyone has a different opinion on the texture that they like for applesauce: Macs tend to make a watery sauce. Fun Fact It was discovered in the 1700s by a Canadian, John McIntosh and is the most popular apple in North America.

Introduced by the University of Minnesota in the 1990s, the Honeycrisp apple is renowned for its explosively juicy texture and honey-sweet flavor. Its skin is a beautiful mix of red and yellow, and its flesh is cream-colored and exceptionally crisp. Peak Freshness: September to February How to Enjoy: Honeycrisp apples are excellent for fresh eating, adding a sweet crunch to any snack. They are also fantastic in salads and sandwiches, and their firm texture makes them a great choice for baking and roasting.

Being a long-time favourite of apple-lovers, this apple should make every Canadian proud as it originated in British Columbia in the 1920s. This medium, round apple has a snowy-white flesh with skin a darker red colour than its McIntosh parent that was crossed with the Newton apple. A completely different taste experience that is noticeably rich, crisp, juicy, and sweet. Although they soften a bit with age, the refreshing flavour intensifies some. They have a wonderful aroma and the white flesh provides a stunning contrast with the gorgeous crimson red exterior. Peak Freshness early October through July. ​ How to Enjoy: Spartans make excellent all-purpose apples: eaten fresh for snacks and salads, baked in pies, and cooks up soft making it perfect cooled for applesauce.

The Ambrosia apple was discovered in the 1980s as a chance seedling in our own backyard of Cawston, British Columbia. This proudly local variety is considered a cross of a Golden Delicious and Starling Delicious. It is appealing to all the senses – the eyes, mouth, nose, and hands with its super sweet, honey taste and almost a perfumed smell. This attractive, crisp, juicy, super sweet, tender, and aromatic apple has a combination of red stripes over a creamy yellow background that produces an iridescent pink blush with a fine-grained, cream-coloured flesh. Peak Freshness October and November. ​ How to Enjoy: Gloriously slow to oxidize, the Ambrosia is a great choice for fruit trays, salads, and fresh displays. Naturally sweet, they not only hold their shape well for cooking, they require very little sugar.

The Pink Lady variety has a uniquely beautiful pink blush over a greenish yellow background and a refreshing and sweet champagne-like taste. This bright, distinctive oblong apple is crisp, firm with a crunchy white flesh that is tart yet sweet to taste. With Australian beginnings in 1973 it was the crowning result of crossing a Golden Delicious and a Lady Williams. Slightly more acidic than Golden Delicious, the Pink Lady is fairly juicy apple and contains a solid texture that bites cleanly. Peak Freshness late November through mid January – but the very long storage life means they are available almost all year round from northern or southern hemisphere orchards. ​ How to Enjoy: Excellent eaten out-of-hand. Slow to browning, so it is good for salads besides traditional baking, especially scrumptious pies, and applesauce.