Apples

Varieties & Approximate Harvest Dates

Keep in mind that weather plays a large role in ripening dates and availability each year.
During some harvest seasons, some apples are available before or after the dates shown in this schedule. This apple harvest schedule shows typical dates and is posted for customer convenience, but please don't depend solely on it. For the most up-to-date information on our apple crops, follow us on social media!

Fruit Facts

Yellow Transparent

Availability: Most of July

The earliest variety of all and one of the oldest (introduced to the U.S. from Russia late in the 19th century). Yellow Transparent remains a favorite of many (like ninety-one-year-old Minerva Kauffman!) who prefer a tart, full-of-flavor apple that produces an almost white colored and very smooth-textured sauce. Sometimes referred to as "Early Harvest."

Best Alternatives:
Earligold or Summer Rambo

Earligold

Availability: Late July - Late August

This tarty, early ripening apple has caught on fast with Lancaster County applesauce aficionados like Ellen Kauffman, wife of Ken, our former orchard manager and mother of Clair, our current orchard manager - Earligold is her favorite! We think that you, too, will greatly enjoy the light-textured, light-colored and full-flavored applesauce that are hallmarks of this cultivar, which originated in Washington state and which we have been raising in our GMO-free Bird-in-Hand orchards since the late 1980's.

Best Alternatives: Yellow Transparent or Summer Rambo

Summer Rambo

Availability: Late July - mid-August

Almost as green in color as the succulent summer grasses on the Kauffman orchard floor where this sauce, cooking and baking specialty is grown, Summer Rambo originated in Rambures, France in the mid-1500's. That makes it the very oldest variety of the over forty we grow here in Bird-in-Hand! By colonial days the Rambo (then called Summer Rambour) was apparently a well-known apple in the mid-Atlantic area of the New World.

Best Alternatives: Earligold or Smokehouse

Ginger Gold

Availability: Early August - Early September

Easily our top-selling applesauce variety, Ginger Gold's crunch and flavor are sure to please when eaten "out-of-hand" too. This apple is almost as sweet and tasty as Golden Delicious but ripens six weeks earlier! Ginger Gold was discovered by Clyde Harvey, a fruit grower in Nelson County, Virginia a few years after Hurricane Camille ravaged the area in 1969. Mr. Harvey eventually named the exciting find after his wife - and the rest is history!

Best Alternatives: Earligold or Golden Supreme

Sansa

Availability: Early August - Early September

The first "real" eating apple of the season! Harvest time of Sansa at our orchards is always welcomed as the "official" start of "Apple Season". An "offspring" of Gala and also related to Jonathan (now you know why everyone loves this apple!) that originated in Japan, Sansa is well-positioned for success with its tremendous flavor, juice, and crunch.

Best Alternatives: Zestar or Gala

Zestar! (Minnewashta cultivar)

Availability: Late August - Early October

Yes, the exclamation point(!) belongs there! It's an official part(!) of the name of this exciting(!) must-try variety which we have been growing on our farm for a few years! ZESTAR! was developed by researchers at the University of Minnesota, the same organization that introduced the world to Honeycrisp. Larry Kauffman, an employee in marketing and web development here at Kauffman Orchards, considers Zestar! a better eating apple than Honeycrisp, can you imagine?

Best Alternatives: Sansa or Honeycrisp

Gala

Availability: Late August - Most of Winter

Gala has quickly climbed the ladder of fame worldw-i-d-e, throughout the United States - and even at Kauffman Orchards in a corner of the Pennsylvania Dutch Country! It is one of our most popular eating-out-of-hand apples and there are Kauffman Orchards employees like facilities department main-stay Ken Weaver who want you to know there's a few different reasons why! Gala has a glowing red-orange appearance, sweet & wonderful taste, and an excellent "crunch quotient." Other tasteful usages for Gala include apple salads and candy apples. This variety originated in New Zealand and includes Red Delicious (a grandparent), Golden Delicious (a parent) and Cox Orange Pippin, a highly regarded British variety in its ancestry.

Best Alternatives: Zestar or Sansa

Honeycrisp

Availability: Late August - Early October

Kauffman Orchard grown Honeycrisp - not only an apple but an experience! An apple of the present (a most sought-after variety!) as well as Apple of the Future (its popularity, for good reason, keeps increasing exponentially!), Honeycrisp is an "explosively crisp" apple that causes people to exclaim, "WOW," over and over again! You'll love the light, crunchy texture and excellent sweet flavor that are characteristics of this variety! Introduced in 1991 at the University of Minnesota, Honeycrisp is a fine baking apple, and we think, should be considered for applesauce as well.

Best Alternatives: Zestar or Crimson Crisp

Smokehouse

Availability: Most of September

A Lancaster County exclusive! This heirloom variety originated as a naturally occurring chance seedling behind the smokehouse of William Gibbon's Bird-in-Hand farm, was introduced in 1837 and has been a Lancaster County specialty ever since. (Smokehouse has only been a Kauffman Orchards grown specialty since about 1915!) The green skin color and tart flavor invites comparison with Granny Smith, but Smokehouse ripens eight weeks earlier. Any local old-timer can vouch that this apple is ideal for all cooking, baking, salad and (especially!) sauce purposes.

Best Alternatives: Summer Rambo or Grimes Golden

McIntosh

Availability: Mid-September - Thanksgiving

McIntosh, one of North America's truly great varieties, is a quite aromatic apple with snow-white flesh and a distinctive and refreshing mildly tart flavor that's great for drying, snacking, most cooking purposes and for applesauce. Sam Kauffman's wife Mattie and their branch of the Kauffman family think that Kauffman Orchards grown McIntosh (GMO-free, of course) and Summer Rambo blend is THE way to go for sauce - and have thought so for decades!

Best Alternatives: Cortland or Empire

Jonathan

Availability: Mid-September - Early-December

One of Grandpa Raymond Kauffman's favorite earing varieties - he liked them tart and spicy! It's another of those old favorites that just doesn't go away and we here at the fruit farm are not surprised. It is one of the best all-around apples we grow on our nearly sixty acres of GMO-free apple orchards. Jonathan is especially valuable as a source of "stay firm when baked" flesh of pies and dumplings and may be THE classic apple in size, shape, and flavor for making some of the world's best candied apples!

Best Alternatives: Jonagold or Idared

Red Delicious

Availability: Mid-September - Spring

The best known apple, primarily used for fresh eating. Discovered on a farm in Iowa in the 1870's. Originally called "Hawkeye" before Stark Brothers Nursery bought the rights to the apple and renamed it.

Best Alternatives: Golden Delicious or Cameo

Grimes Golden

Availability: Mid-September - Early November

Excellent for pies and cooked-apple dishes. Also a great-tasting fresh eating apple with a mellow texture. Discovered by Thomas Grimes in West Virginia in 1804 and believed to be a parent of Golden Delicious.

Best Alternatives: Ginger Gold or Golden Delicious

Cortland

Availability: Mid-September - Early December

An excellent all-around apple with mellow texture, "stay-white-longer" flesh, and makes red-colored applesauce. Originated in New York State as a cross between McIntosh and Ben Davis.

Best Alternatives: McIntosh or Empire

Crimson Crisp

Availability: Mid-September - Most of Winter

A crunchy, sweet-tart fresh-eating and salad apple that rivals Honeycrisp.

Best Alternatives: Zestar or Honeycrisp

Empire

Availability: Late September - Most of Winter

Combines the best traits of both its parents, Red Delicious and McIntosh. Great for snacks, desserts, and salads, as well as the main ingredient in apple pie.

Best Alternatives: Cortland or Red Delicious

Golden Delicious

Availability: Mid-September - Spring

Kauffman's best selling apple. In 2014, our orchard crew harvested 2423 bushels of Golden Delicious in three weeks' time. Great for all purposes.

Best Alternatives: Golden Supreme or Grimes Golden

Jonagold

Availability: Late September - Most of Winter

A large, beautiful apple with mellow texture and great taste. A cross between Jonathan and Golden Delicious. Great when blended with a sweet variety for a great no-sugar-added applesauce.

Best Alternatives: Jonathan or Crispin

Idared

Availability: Late-September - Mid-December

Developed at the University of Idaho's Agricultural Experiment Station and well-suited for baking, cooking, and drying uses. Used at Kauffman's for making tart apple schnitz.

Best Alternatives: Jonathan or Rome

Crispin

Availability: Early October - Spring

A sweet, juicy, firm textured, crispy, white-fleshed variety developed in Japan, where they call it Mutsu. Great for salads and cooked apple dishes, too.

Best Alternatives: Golden Delicious or Cameo

Stayman

Availability: Mid-October - March

Discovered around the close of the Civil War by J. Stayman, this variety is one of the most popular cultivars grown at Kauffman's. Rich, snappy, and distinctive taste and texture.

Best Alternatives: Rome or Goldrush

Rome Beauty

Availability: Early October - Spring

A better keeping variety that is firm and attractively colored. It has a mild flavor and is good for all baking and cooking purposes. Used at Kauffman's for peeling and coring apples for bakeries and restaurants and in Arianna’s Apple Dumplings.

Best Alternatives: Stayman or Idared

Fuji

Availability: Mid-September - Spring

Unusually sweet and extra crunchy. Developed in Japan and claims Red Delicious as a parent. A classic apple for fresh eating and salads and is an outstanding keeper.

Best Alternatives: Cameo or Braeburn

Cameo

Availability: Early October - Most of Winter

Pleasingly sweet flavor, big crunch, and good keeping qualities. The thin skin enhances its fresh-eating pleasure. Believed to be related to both Red Delicious and Golden Delicious, Cameo was discovered in Washington State in 1987.

Best Alternatives: Fuji or Braeburn

Granny Smith

Availability: Late October - January

The famous green baking apple discovered by Margaret Smith in Australia before 1900. Hard, juicy, and tart. Perhaps the most widely known cooking apple.

Best Alternatives: Stayman or Pink Lady

Goldrush

Availability: Thanksgiving - Spring

Great for fresh-eating and in baked apple dishes. A disease-resistant apple developed through the combined efforts of Purdue University, Rutgers University and the University of Illinois. Firm texture and spicy taste.

Best Alternatives: Granny Smith or Pink Lady

Pink Lady

Availability: Early November - Spring

Developed in Australia and includes Golden Delicious in its ancestry. Sweet-tart, outstanding flavor and very crisp texture. The pink skin and white flesh add to the attractiveness of this variety.

Best Alternatives: Braeburn or Goldrush

Arkansas Black

Availability: November through December

An old-tyme beauty that's relatively new for us at Kauffman Orchards, this is a GREAT apple for months-long storage in refrigerator or cellar - and its flavor improves to almost sweet by Christmastime or later. A classic for apple pie. Can you guess where this dark, dark colored variety (the second part of its name, you know) may have originated back in the mid-1800's?

Best Alternatives: Gala or McIntosh

Blondee

Availability: End of August through September

"Delight at First Bite." A brilliantly golden colored offspring of Gala with many fine characteristics, Blondee's flavor and crunch will remind you that beauty is sometimes more than skin deep! Most often used for snacking and salads, you and yours just might discover that baked and cooked apple dishes are well within Blondee's element as well. originating in an Ohio orchard in the waning years of the 20th century, Blondee is an apple worth coming back for, again and again, as the days are becoming a bit shorter and cooler.

Best Alternatives: Gala or Crispin

Evercrisp

Availability: Mid-October through December

The newest taste sensation here at Kauffman Orchards! The color, crunch and zing, of course, are derived from Evercrisp's parents, Honeycrisp and Fuji, so no one need be surprised that it delivers pretty much everything that anyone could possibly value in a healthful fresh-eating super-snack package. This variety maintains its shape well when cooked - are you thinking of apple crisp, apple pie, apple cobbler, apple chutney and ____?

Best Alternatives: Fuji or Nittany

Nittany

Availability: October through December

A true Pennsylvania apple, Nittany was introduced by Penn State University back in 1979, and always features a mild tarty flavor with a crunchy texture and outstanding baking qualities. It also produces an especially attractive colored pie filling or applesauce. Nittany compares nicely with York Imperial, one of its parents, and like York, stores well throughout the winter months.

Best Alternatives: Pink Lady, Fuji

Frequently Asked Apple Questions

What is the best variety for fresh eating?
We are constantly looking for the "perfect" apple. We haven't found it yet, but we think some of the varieties we grow get really close! Although everyone has their own preferences, there are some apples that seem to "have it all" when it comes to fresh eating.

If you want a sweet, crunchy apple:
Try Sansa, Honeycrisp, Gala, Golden Delicious, Crispin, Cameo, or Fuji.

If you want a mildly tart and crisp apple:
Try Honeycrisp, Empire, Jonagold, Braeburn, or Pink Lady

If you want a tart and crunchy apple:
Try Smokehouse, Jonathan, Stayman, Granny Smith, or Goldrush.

If you want an apple that is flavorful with a more mellow texture:
Try McIntosh, Cortland, Idared, or Jonagold.

How many quarts of applesauce can I expect from a half-bushel basket/bag of apples?
10 quarts.

What is the best variety for applesauce?
Our most popular applesauce apple is Ginger Gold; however, personal preference comes into play quite a bit on this question.
The opinions we hear generally fall into one of these categories:

For a thin, smooth sauce: The early varieties - Transparent, Earligold, & Summer Rambo - supply this texture.
For a mildly tart and crisp applesauce: Try Honeycrisp, Empire, Jonagold, Braeburn, or Pink Lady.
For a naturally sweet sauce that doesn't need a lot of sugar added to it: Try Jonagold, Fuji, Cameo, Gala, Golden Delicious, Golden Supreme, Ginger Gold, or Crispin. Some of the Kauffman wives cook the apples in apple cider instead of water to add natural sweetness.
For a tart applesauce, if you don't mind adding sugar: Varieties listed in category #1 are good options. You may also want to try Smokehouse, Cortland, McIntosh, Stayman, Goldrush, or Granny Smith.

Is it a good idea to blend varieties when making applesauce?
We recommend it! Just as the flavor, body, smoothness, and sweetness of apple cider are enhanced by using a mix of varieties, so it works for applesauce. We suggest using at least one tart and one sweet apple.

Which apple is the best variety for baking?
Again, this depends heavily on your preferences. Most people use a tart or slightly tart apple for optimum flavor. Our top-selling baking apples are Jonathan, McIntosh, Idared, Rome, Stayman, and Granny Smith. New varieties that are baking favorites of our employees are Ginger Gold, Empire, Jonagold, Cameo, and Goldrush. Give these a try, you'll love them!

What is the life expectancy of an apple tree?
Our orchards are replaced roughly every 20 years. This is not necessarily so much because of the trees' health, but rather to stay abreast of trends in varieties, orchard training systems, and customer preferences.