It takes a long time to grow apple seeds into bearing trees and then to harvest and evaluate the resulting fruits. We've been doing that very consistently for 32 years, and we're being rewarded with exceptionally high-quality, unique, exciting apples!
We call our collection "Topper's Apples." The extended discussion of Creme d'Licious below is meant to inform and entertain you. There are more than two dozen varieties in the collection. We've written about Topper's Apples and many other varieties, as listed on the apple index page.
You'll pick up the flavor of our apple world at Sponsel's Minnesota Harvest as you visit the varieties, because the writings are as diverse as the apples they describe. We invite you to click around and read them all.

Glossary of Apple Terms | Apple index page | Apple picking dates page

It's a thrill to get your hands on a big Creme d'Licious when it's hanging on the tree. "Hanging" is the right word. Many other apples are attached to a tree, but this one hangs. It's suspended from a long, swinging spur and sways a little in the wind. It feels dry and textured, not slick or glossy. It's slim at the bottom but fills your hand with its broadness when you pluck it.

We've been growing Creme d'Licious since the early 1980's when Eugene Klein brought us scions of Marion Hagerstrom's unnamed selection. We originally called it Klein's Friend, because Hagerstrom was Klein's friend, and we had never met Hagerstrom. The two were collaborators in their breeding projects. The cuttings we used came from Hagerstrom's 30 year old original seedling, which would date that tree from about 1950 or so.

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