Gravenstein

Gravenstein is a high-quality dual-purpose apple variety, originally from Europe, but well-established in North America. Gravenstein has never achieved great commercial success, but "Gravs" remain extremely popular with apple enthusiasts around the world. The flavor, both for eating fresh and (especially) for cooking is unusually good for such an early-season variety.

Like most early-season apples Gravenstein does not keep that well but, usefully, the apples tend to ripen individually over the course of a couple of weeks so you are not necessarily faced with a sudden glut. (This lengthy ripening time is one of the reasons Gravenstein is not successful as a commercial variety, but is a plus for the home orchardist).

Gravensteins have a distinctive flushed coloring, which begins in mid-August as a few streaks of red, and spreads to cover the whole apple by the end of the picking season in mid-September.