Apples: Classic Fruit

I'm sure everyone knows about apples, but I believe they seem so common that many don't realize that the 'best' apples are grown locally.  There are environmental reasons to buy local fruit (Check out my brief "Sustainable Ideas" blog entry on "Fresh Fruit - from 1000 miles away"), but I believe that the varieties we can grow on the prairies are just as good and occasionally better, depending on one's palette, than standard supermarket fruit grown in BC or Ontario.  Everyone has heard of Gala and McIntosh, Pink Lady and Golden Delicious.  But there are hundreds of varieties with subtle flavour and texture differences.  Prairie Magic, Odyssey, Prairie Sun, September Ruby, Norkent, Norland, Goodland and Goodmac; Dexter Jackson, Heier #12, Gemini, Fall Red and Red Sparkle and more all grow well in Manitoba.  A good cultivar description list is found here.  When I help a customer in choosing an apple tree to buy, my first question is: " do you prefer crispy or soft; sweet or tangy?"  To me the taste is the #1 priority; to a supermarket, durability and length of storage are often a higher consideration. 

I recommend taste-testing as many varieties as you can, and growing your favourite at home if possible; I may or may not sell apples in the future, but the varieties I currently grow are:

Fall Red
September Ruby
Gemini
Prairie Sun
Praire Magic
Prairie Sensation
Goodland
Norland
Norkent
Dexter Jackson
Rescue (crab)
Honeycrisp (not very hardy)
Red Sparkle

My apple trees will likely not be producing enough of a single variety to sell to the public; we love juicing our apples at the only apple press in Manitoba.  They don't advertise, and they really should - they operate one day per week because they can process way more than their current customer demand.