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 Plum Crabbie 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

  Many other new varieties have come about in this way, very unintentionally, and have become famous, as well. So growers know to keep an eye out for this sort of thing. And just so you don’t think we fall in love with any old thing that grows and calls itself an apple, I’ll tell you that we’ve discarded many because they were no fun at all. By nature, I think everything has value. But we’ve tasted some junkers, and, wherever their value is, we don’t presently have the wisdom to find it.

  So Jon had discovered this fabulous-tasting, unique-textured, long plum-shaped crab apple on a tree that had grown bigger and bushier than the Haralson trees that surrounded it. We came up with a description of its flavor almost immediately, saying it was like licking the inside of the lid of a Welch’s frozen concentrated grape juice can. That’s right, concentrated Concord grapes. What a kick!

  Now, we know they’re a little strong for most people. There’s a lot of acid in there, and a wallop of concentrated, purple grape-ish flavor. I claim it’s at least 5x concentrate. Maybe 7x. The texture of the flesh is refined, super-crisp and delicate to chew, and wet with juice. The skin, too, is the easy-to-chew kind, which I find most enjoyable.

  We’ve propagated a hundred or so Plum Crabbie trees and planted them in the orchard. I picked my pockets full from the young trees at just the proper harvest time when we passed the new planting on a wagon ride with friends. I’m still holding some in the fridge, but the ones I ate were some of the best apples I’ve ever eaten.

  Yes, I did give everyone on the wagon one to try. Like I say, they’re too strong for most people, which is what we’d expect when we’re so far to an extreme. But some of us really like it over here on this edge.

  Another variety with flavor similarities to Plum Crabbie is our Nectarapple.

Photos courtesy of Jayne Richards-Sullivan

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