Matt,
Hooples is another apple I’m looking at very seriously. Roxbury will be on the list because of your glowing review!
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Had two green Newton Pippins from two different orchards while on vacation in Virginia in late October. Pretty sure they had been recently picked (maybe picked too early?) and not cold stored. It was my first time to taste NP and I was quite disappointed, both apples tasted about same - very bland, no sweetness or interesting profile. NP is well liked here on the forum, what am I missing? Is it one of those varieties that need cold storage to enjoy for fresh eating or is NP just better as a cooking apple?
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Pixie Crunch
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Chris you are not alone. Back in early Oct, I picked Newtown pippin at PTO. Bland, uninteresting and disappointing. I might still have some in the fridge.
I read so much about how good it is. I asked myself, too, what did I miss? The ones I picked were on a smaller size.
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Found 3 Newtown apples in the fridge. Had it for breakfast and taste-tested with my daughter. She said it was sour. I did not detect much sweetness at all.
The apples were ripe as seeds were dark. It was still crunchy two months later.
A number of people here like apples on a sour side. You probably will like it.
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Chris
NP is a lot like Goldrush. Both are OK when first picked, but improve dramatically after storage. We put both apples side by side during a taste test done in early March from apples grown in Virginia and bought from refrigerated storage. Both were excellent, but more folks preferred the taste of GR rather than Albemarle Pippin (NP)
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This is my final updated list. Thank you for all the great information! All on 111 rootstock.
Chestnut
Etters gold
newtown pippin
green newtown pippin
Saint Edmund’s
Golden Russet
Goldrush (6)
Black Limbertwig (2)
Fuji
King David
Spitzenberg
Pitmaston Pineapple
Staymans
Enterprise
Mott’s Pink
Grimes Golden apple
Calville Blanc
Roxbury Russet
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Albemarle/Newtown Pippin also improves greatly when you let it hang late, if you’re in an environment where that’s practical. Here in coastal Northern California, I leave them on the tree until January. They’d hang longer, but the robins will come in and devour them pretty quickly after that. Here, they seem to reach their peak of crispness, sweetness and flavor just about now - and they are very, very good. I eat a lot of them in December. I’ll end up drying whatever’s left when it’s time to pick the tree clean, as I don’t have a good place to store them whole. (I may have to try the old chest freezer method.)
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Anyone else notice the yellow apples seem to wind up being a lot of peoples favorites? It seems to me they tend to run a bit sweeter. I realize that’s not always true I’m just saying a higher than expected number of the most loved apples tend to be yellow.
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Clark, few experts bother to distinguish the green and yellow Newtowns. They are likely different sports and Burford and other experts don’t think there is enough difference to bother with.
Newtown is an apple requiring storage if you are eating it fresh, they don’t develop their flavor until a few months in storage. This year my whole tree rotted, the worst rotter in my orchard this year, so nothing to store 
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Scott,
Rot can be a big problem here as well. Sorry to here they are not working out for you. Might be better off to plant a couple more gold rush instead of those.
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Good to hear that Alberarle/Newtown Pippin does well in California. It does not do well in my hot/humid NC climate but excels just a few hours north of me in central Virginia.
Folks in Virginia (especially those in Albemarle County) refused to accept that these two apples were actually the same for a long time. Its still common to see these apples in Virginia sold as Albemarle Pippin rather than Newtown. I believe that Adams County Nursery still sells the trees as “Albemarle Pippin.”
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Indeed, according to Calhoun, “Today the main commercial area for this variety is Northern California where four million bushels were produced in 1990, about 2 percent of American apple production.” His Old Southern Apples has a good description of it.
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Good Fruit Grower magazine this month has a good article about all the old Newtown orchards in California. It sounds like there is a lot less acreage now compared to 1990 but thanks to Martinelli there still is a demand.
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Far too many Northern California apple orchards have lately been cleared and replaced with vanity (“lifestyle”) wine operations, even around Sebastopol. Don’t get me started on that!
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Scott,
Thanks for pointing that out. Sounds like a wonderful article! I’m going to renew my subscription
My wife was raised in Virginia next to a 10 acre block of what they called “Pippins” -which turned out to be Newtown Pippins.
I like love the history and the taste of this apple but its a lot easier for me to grow Goldrush. Hope to do better on NP.
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“The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The next best time is NOW!”
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Glad to see you’re including Chestnut. One of my favorite tasting apples. It hasn’t fruited for me in Iowa yet, so I can’t speak to disease-resistance.
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Yep. Newtown Pippin is what yer drinkin in Martinelli’s famous apple juice.
Comedian Aziz Ansari drinks Martinelli’s:
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kshaunfield,
I agree more apples are always better than having less and wishing you planted more! I spend some time prepping soil prior to planting which in my area is more important than planting sometimes. Thanks to everyone who helped me out here with my apple decisions. Maybe I can grow as many apples as I grow pears in the next couple of years.
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