Our Apple Varieties

Here on the farm, we pride ourselves on our wonderful variety of apples, but with over 30 varieties how do you pick which apple is best for you?

We've put together a quick guide on the flavour profiles, uses and seasons of our apples to help you make your choice. As always, all our apples are free to try!

The harvest season begins in August with the early apples and ends in November as the late apples finish the season. To find out when our apple varieties are ripe, take a look at our apple chart.

Akane

A sweet, well-balanced variety with significant sharpness. A good cider apple with high acidity and strong aroma. Harvested between mid-August and mid-September.

Belle De Boskoop

A firm, succulent, sweet apple with moderate acidity. Its high sugar and acid content make it a good choice for cider. Very good for baking, eating fresh, or storing, and harvested between mid-September and early November.

Bramley

Juicy, sharp, and with a strong traditional apple flavour. Their high acidity makes Bramleys good cider apples. They’re also excellent for baking and store well. Harvested between mid-September and early November.

Bulmers Norman

The moderate bittersweet flavour and high level of bitter tannins make Bulmer’s Norman a distinctive, pleasant variety for cider, but not for eating fresh. Harvested between mid-September and early November.

Dabinette

A strong-tasting bittersweet variety that’s great for cider making. Harvested very late in the year.

Empire

A crisp-textured apple with a similar flavour to Macintosh, the national apple of Canada. Makes a good North American-style cider. Very good for eating fresh, and they store well. Harvested in mid-late summer.

Freedom

A firm, succulent, moderately acidic apple that can be used for a classic North American-style cider. Freedom is a good variety for either eating fresh or baking with and is harvested between mid-September and early November.

Gibsons Golden

Sweet, juicy, and slightly soft, Gibson's Golden is a smoother-skinned version of Golden Delicious.
Ripe earlier in the season.
One of the best eating apples.

Golden Russet

Succulent, crisp, and sweet in flavour, the Golden Russet is an outstanding cider apple, but also very good for eating fresh or storing. Harvested between mid-September and November.

Grimes Golden

Sharing it's name with my husband, we had to have this apple. The Grimes Golden variety is juicy and crisp with a distinctive, almost spicy taste. It makes great cider with a green apple flavour. An excellent choice for baking, eating fresh, or storing. Harvested between mid-September and November.

Honeycrisp

A beautifully textured juicy and sweet variety with low acidity. Not generally used for cider making, but stores well. Harvested between early September and January.

Jonagold

Succulent, crisp yellow flesh. Jonafree is the best of both worlds. A cross between Jonathon and Golden Delicious. It has high acidity and sugar, producing good-quality, high acid cider. Very good for baking, eating fresh, and storing. Harvested between late September and early November.

Kerr

A firm, juicy apple with a good balance of sugar and acid. Produces excellent cider with a high level of tannins. Also a very good choice for baking, eating fresh, and storing for up to six months. Harvested between September and November.

King Of Thompkins

A deliciously complex variety with a juicy texture and beautiful aroma. Produces great cider, with the sorbitol sugars resulting in retained sweetness. An excellent choice for baking, but also very good for eating fresh or storing. Harvested between mid-September and November.

Liberty

A juicy and sweet apple with a wonderfully well-balanced taste. Produces great cider and is used by many North American producers to add juice and sugar. Very good for baking, eating fresh, and also stores well. Harvested between September and November.

Northern Spy

A particularly fruity apple with a strong flavour. Produces good-quality, traditional-style cider. An excellent variety for baking, but also good for eating fresh or storing. Harvested very late in the year.

Novamac

Crisp texture and a light, sweet flavour. Like the Nova Easygrow, the taste improves with storage, making this a great apple to keep for longer periods. A great apple to eat fresh or bake with. Harvested between Septermber and November.

Prima

A crisp tart with high acidity and a lovely tart flavour. A great apple for eating fresh or storing. Harvested between September and November.

Priam

A delicious, firm, and tart apple with a distinctive oval shape. An excellent variety for eating fresh or storing. Harvested between September and November.

Scarlet

Very popular due to being super sweet, and having a tropical tang to it. Very tasty. Harvested between August and September.

Sweet Sixteen

A crisp, aromatic, and sweet apple with mid-level tartness. Makes a good, subacid cider. Very good for baking, but also excellent when eaten fresh. Harvested between September and November.

Winter Banana

Aptly named due to its tropical fruit notes and late harvest, the Winter Banana is a crisp, aromatic apple with balanced sugar and acid levels. This versatile variety makes a good, balanced cider, but also very good for eating fresh, baking, or storing.

Wolf River

Great for baking, as they impart a caramel like flavour when cooked. The Wolf River variety is moderately sweet and generally large in size. Harvested between August and September.

Yarlington Mill

This English cider apple has a lovely bittersweet taste and produces a very high-quality cider. Harvested very late in the year.