Yellow Transparent apples are an antique variety with a long-standing history in Garrett County as the “Applesauce Apple to beat all others”. Ripens extremely early in July to early August. Yet, it is unbelievably cold hardy. The Yellow Transparent has good disease resistance in this area except for Fire blight.
The Yellow Transparent does have one interesting quirk. It only bears every other year. However, it is an apple that is worth the wait. It has a softer flesh, which makes it a little less desirable for fresh eating, but it is a great all-around cooking apple. The Yellow Transparent is known for its use as a home-canning applesauce apple because of its exquisite taste and texture when cooked down. Newer varieties lack the same acid balance and texture and cannot replicate the taste or consistency of a yellow transparent sauce.
This is that apple that Grandma prized for her sauces and blue-ribbon fair baked goods. Remember those August days of seeing Grandma in the kitchen peeling buckets of yellow apples? Well, this is most likely that apple! You don’t see it in the grocery store because it cannot be grown and stored for commercial sales. But try this apple, and you will never go back to the Golden Delicious! It is naturally disease resistant when grown in Garrett County, cold hardy to subzero temperatures, and withstands growing conditions that would make newer apple varieties shrivel.
Last summer I sent a jar of Yellow Transparent applesauce along with my daughter to college. After a taste, Yellow Transparent garnered a whole new generation of fans. There isn’t another apple that makes sauce that tastes the same. When college kids make a point of singling out a jar of applesauce, you know it has to be good!
Pollinate with Liberty, Summer Rambo, Smokehouse, or Sansa. Tree will grow to be 18′ to 20′ at maturity. Be aware that this tree is slightly taller than the Yellow Transparent trees we sold the past two years. Tree will tolerate some heavy clay as long as it is not overly damp. Tree will be self supporting at maturity. Fruit ripens in August.
