Mattamuskeet is a very long keeping(April/ May), long hanging apple from the North Carolina coast. Very firm like Ark Black. Best to store awhile before eating. Can get CAR.
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Early on, the flavor is like a very potent and perfectly ripened Stayman, but with the texture of a Honeycrisp. It’s very nicely balanced. About January, it turned into a sugar bomb. By March, the flavor was like a Fuji. The texture after 5.5 months is freakishly good.
Most of the apples I’m trying were purchased due to mine being damaged by hail and consumed by squirrels. The EC, YP, BMLT, OFLT, GR, were all grown and purchased locally The Everycrisp requires a lot of love according to the owner of Parkers Orchard. The big question for me is vigor. The Honeycrisp simply doesn’t want to grow much in the NW Piedmont of NC.
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Can’t report on evercrisp’s growing habits, but it is definitely a special apple for fresh eating.
By the time I get them in the store, they have almost no acid but still have a good aromatic quality. The flavor reminds me of an Asian pear, with light caramel notes. They have a similar texture to Asian pears too, very dense compared to a honeycrisp. It is a sweet apple, much like Fuji.
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Evercrisp was meant to be a commercial apple that would grow in the midwest and not be as huge a pain as Honeycrisp. My guess is you have to spray it. However, it’s apparently not super painful to grow. It has trouble getting red enough.
I got a bunch locally because they weren’t red enough or sized up enough to sell except in the “seconds” bin, but they were really good. Better than honeycrisp for sure.
To grow Evercrisp you have to sign a 20 yr contract and pay MAIA a 100 per year fee. But that’s not an insane amount if you really loved the apple and want to grow it. And it’s not restricted like some that only certain farmers are allowed to grow.
I had a “Pazzaz” apple last week and I liked it a lot. It’s more flavorful than other things you get in late Feb/early March and crunchy. Apparently, it tastes best stored until Jan or Feb. But only selected growers are allowed to have it and it sounds like a very fussy apple to grow.
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How do people remember all these new apple names? They all sound like marketing-speak to me so they just blur together in my old head. I bought some new apple a few days ago to try it out, but decided to take the label off when I put it out to finish ripening.. now I can’t remember the name! Nor the one I tried a few weeks ago. Evergood, CrispDragon, CandyRed, Sup-r-Crunch, yada yada yada. I think the one I tried recently was a Cosmic Crisp but not sure. It was a nice apple whatever it was and would be great for storage based on how solid the flesh was.
I really wish they would revive some old-timey type names: Uncle Joe, Grannies Knuckles, etc. Those I will remember!
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Yes- Great old names like Hollow Log, Graniwinkle, Seek No Further, Junaluska, Magnum Bonum (corrupted to Maggie Bowman, which makes me laugh). Seed Savers Exchange orchard in Iowa grows one called Left of The Corn Crib, a fabulous name.
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How long before we get “Evermoist”?
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I hope you don’t work for a marketing firm!
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Mortgage Lifter!
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One must poke fun at the vapid Club Apple industry.
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I like making up these apple names just for fun. I thought I’d ask an AI and it came up with ThunderCrisp, HoneyBurst, and CrimsonBolt for names like the modern apples. For old-timey names it came up with Whitmore’s Folly, Bellhaven Select, Parson Grubb, Old Kettrick, Leatherback, and Whistledown. I instinctively want to run from the modern-sounding names and I’m curious about the old-sounding names.
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I always get lured into trying to get apples with those old timey names. Either that or the great story behind the apple.
I agree with you, the newer apple names are very trendy and advertising market speak. Very easy to forget and all have the same dance - just extremely crunchy .
I liked this graphic (designed to make @scottfsmith run away!)
(Jared Johnson and Kate Prengaman/Good Fruit Grower)
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I’ve bee led to believe that the category of crabapple is entirely based on the size of the apple. Many crabapples known for fresh eating quality are bred partially from standard sized apples and many standard sized apples have crabs in their parentage. They seem to be categorized entirely by the size of the fruit.
Varieties of apples vary in best storage methods. Rapping tightly with unperforated plastic may work well for some apple varieties and not for others because varieties react differently to atmospheric conditions and storage temperatures. It would work best at near freezing temps for apples that store well when quite cold.
An apple skin’s ability to protect juiciness and prevent wrinkling also varies greatly for apples. Many modern storage apples like Pink Lady and Fuji are resistant to wrinkling while Goldrush is particularly susceptible. Ideal storage methods would be different for Goldrush because of this.
Another thing, this year all my stored apples have a varying degree of rot flavor because I failed to promptly remove rotting fruit. I should have gone through my stored apples maybe about once a week to eliminate this problem but I have a busy life and a lot of apples in storage. The rotten taste is mostly prevalent in the first couple bites and fades after that. Somehow my mind adjusts.
There is no precise categorization but nearly all crabs are genetically more than the standard malus domestica. They have some baccata or sylvestris or floribunda in them. They have a different range of flesh and skin types along with the size, based on this genetic difference.
Re storage apples I didn’t get good production on any of my storage apples this year, except for Yates. Right now is the perfect time for them, they are a bit softer but the flavor is excellent and the Brix is over 20. I might put in one more tree of Yates, it is my most dependable apple by far.
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According to whom? Admittedly, CHAT makes its mistakes and if you can identify error in this it would be educational.
I asked, “pomologically speaking, is the only difference between a crab and standard apple a matter of the size of the fruit”:
Yes—in formal pomological usage the distinction is almost entirely fruit size, not genetics, species, or tree characteristics.
The standard definition
In modern horticulture (used by breeders, nurseries, and extension services):
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Crabapple: fruit ≤ 2 inches (≈5 cm) in diameter
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Apple (dessert or culinary apple): fruit > 2 inches
This convention is widely used in breeding programs and cultivar descriptions.
Here are sources:
1. Purdue / Janick pomology reference
In the major academic text The Apple: Botany, Production and Uses (edited by Jules Janick and James N. Moore, CABI Publishing, 1996):
“Crabapples are generally defined as Malus cultivars bearing fruits less than about 5 cm in diameter.”
This is one of the most widely cited technical definitions in modern pomology.
2. U.S. National Arboretum
The U.S. National Arboretum, which maintains one of the major crabapple collections in North America, defines the distinction this way:
Crabapples are apple trees with fruits 2 inches (5 cm) or less in diameter, while trees with larger fruit are considered apples.
3. Royal Horticultural Society
The Royal Horticultural Society similarly describes crabapples as apples with fruit smaller than about 5 cm (2 inches).
4. Minnesota Extension
The University of Minnesota Extension, which bred apples such as Chestnut crabapple and Centennial crabapple, uses the same rule:
Crabapples are defined as apples with fruits 2 inches or less in diameter.
Why pomologists settled on size
Historically the terms were fuzzy, but modern pomology standardized the distinction because:
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the genus Malus forms a continuous hybrid swarm
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many crabs and apples cross freely
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fruit size became the simplest consistent criterion
So the boundary is conventional rather than biological.
Historical note
Older literature (19th-century American pomology) sometimes used crab to mean:
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wild apples
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very sour apples
But modern breeding and taxonomy shifted the definition almost entirely to fruit diameter.
Some people define it that way but it’s not a universal definition. Ask your bot some more questions. e.g. “What are some common definitions of crabapple today”. Just because bots sound authoritative doesn’t mean they are. Also look up “sycophancy”, they are biased to give you the kind of answer you want to hear.
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I’ve only seen a few of these at the supermarket. I’ve tried the Ambrosia and while its skin color is appealing, I would never buy it again. Other apples on my never again list are the Cameo, Cosmic Crisp, Lemonade, Suncrisp, Cripps Pink. I found the Crimson Crisp interesting due to its texture, but the tartness was very one dimensional.
I would rather eat a American Golden Russett over most of the new varieties. Although I did enjoy the Evercrisp very much and find the longevity impressive, the best tasting apple flesh I consumed in 2025 was a locally grown Spitz. I should say they do not grow well in NC so unless you’re a pro, don’t try this one at home. This tree is the worst of the worst when it comes to diseases in NC.
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Now what are the storing champions of old school apple storage? Apples layered in leaves in Oak Barrels….lol