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Home » Fruit » Hard Fruit » Apples » Crab Apples

Crab Apples

Originally, all apple trees were crab apple trees, producing small, sour fruit. Over the millennia, we have used selective breeding to produce the large, sweet apples that we now have. Anything over two inches (5 cm) is an “apple.” Anything under two inches is a “Crab Apple.” Crab apples may be as small as ¼ of an inch (½ a cm) — smaller than some berries!

Though crab apples can be red, green or yellow, all are very sour. Some are used for jam and jelly making; some are used for cider and crab apple wine; some, such as Snowdrift Crab Apples, are so small and fiddly they are best left on the tree for our feathered friends.

Good jelly can be made from Adams, Centennial, Chestnut, Montreal Beauty, Robinson, and Transcendent Crab Apples. Doglo Crabs make a good applesauce and a ruby-red jelly. Hyslops make a deep, orange coloured jelly.

Varieties include Adams, Almey, Centennial, Chestnut, Dolgo, Hyslop, Katherine, Montreal Beauty, Professor Sprenger, Profusion, Radian, Robinson, Royalty, Snowdrift, Transcendent, Van Eseltine and White Angel.

Cooking Tips

Crab apples are very sour to eat raw, but a good sweetened jelly can be made from them. Some crab apples contain very good tannin for blending into apple cider to give the cider an edge. Crab apples can also be pickled.

Types of crab apples

Adirondack Crab Apples

Adirondack Crab Apple trees are compact, upright trees. They grow up to 12 feet (4 metres) tall and 6 feet (2 metres) wide. The trees first produce bright pink buds, then white flowers which bloom for a long time. The crab apples which follow...

Anaros Crab Apples

Anaros Crab Apples are round, and about 1 ½ inches (4 cm) wide. They have yellow skin with a red flush. Inside, the yellowish, crisp flesh has a good, tart flavour. The fruit ripens late September / early October. Cooking Tips Good for...

Atalanta Apples

Atalanta Apples are a small crab apple hybrid. They have golden skin with pink or dark red dots on it. The skin is tender, so it can bruise easily. Inside they have white, firm, crunchy, aromatic, juicy flesh with good flavour. Some people...

Bedford Crab Apples

Bedford Crab Apples grow to be 1 ¼ to1 ⅜ inches (3 to 3 ½ cm) wide, with ribbing. They have thin, yellow, waxy skin, flushed with pale red. Inside, the flesh is yellow, firm, crisp, and juicy, with a tart taste. The fruit ripens in September. Cooking...

Chipman Crab Apples

Chipman Crab Apples grow up to 1 ¼ inches (3 cm) wide. They have green skin with red flushes on the side that got the sun. The off-white flesh inside is crisp and juicy. It has a tart flavour, but once fully ripe, it is not sour. Ripens early...

Dawn Crab Apples

Dawn Crab Apples are quite round, growing to be 1 ¾ to 2 inches (4 to 5 cm) wide. They have thin pale yellow skin covered with pale red. Inside, the off-white flesh has good flavour and a mild, tart taste. The fruit ripens late July / early...

Florence Crab Apples

Florence Crab Apples grow to be 1 ½ inches (4 cm) wide. They have thin, tough off-white skin covered with bright red. Inside, they have crisp, juicy flesh that is yellow tinged with red, with a small core, and tart but good flavour. The fruit...

Geneva Crab Apples

Geneva Crab Apples are medium-sized Crab Apples with red skin. They have red flesh with a very tart taste. The fruit ripens late August / early September. The leaves on the tree are red / purplish. Cooking Tips Good for cider, jelly, and...

Hyslop Crab Apples

Hyslop Crab Apples grow to be about 2 inches (5 m) wide. They have red or dark red skin, with a bluish flush to it. The yellow flesh is firm. It is juicy when ripe, then becomes drier and mealy. It has a tart taste. The fruit grows in clusters,...

Montreal Beauty Crab Apples

Montreal Beauty Crab Apple is one of the largest crab apples so it is easier to use. The tree produces white blossoms, then plum-sized apples up to an inch in diameter (2.5 cm.) The skin is orangey-yellow-green, sometimes with red splashes. Cooking...

Nelson County Crab Apples

Blooms early. Good for cider. No other information available at this point.

Osman Crab Apples

Osman Crab Apples are round, and about 1 ½ inches (3 ½ cm) wide. They have relatively thick, pale yellow skin, flushed with pale red. Inside, they have yellow, crisp but tender flesh, with a tart, astringent taste. The fruit ripens late...

Quality Crab Apples

Quality Crab Apples are round and grow up to 1 ½ inches (4 cm) wide. They have pale-yellow skin flushed with red. Inside, they have coarse yellow flesh with an astringent, tart taste. The fruit ripens late September. Cooking Tips Good...

Siberian Crab Apples

There are different varieties of Siberian Crab Apples. Some use the term to refer to the entire subspecies of "Malus baccata." The fruit may be the size of a pea -- ¼ to ⅓ inches, with a calyx on it still when ripe, or up to 1 ½ inches (3 cm)...

Trail Crab Apples

Trail Crab Apples are round, growing up to 1 ½ to 2 inches (4 to 5 cm) wide. They have pale yellow skin with orangey-red flushes. Inside, they have yellow, firm, crisp, juicy flesh with good flavour and a tart but not astringent taste. The...

Transcendent Crab Apples

Transcendent Crab Apples can be up to 2 inches (5 cm) wide, with golden-yellow skin that has a red flush on one side, and some ribbing. Inside, they have creamy yellow juicy flesh with a tart and astringent taste but good flavour. The tree is...

Wickson Crab Apples

Wickson Crab Apples grow to be 1 ½ to 2 inches (4 to 5 cm) wide. They have yellow skin with a red flush. The flesh has a spicy, tangy, very sweet taste: it has a sugar content up to 25%. The fruit ripens mid-October. Patented. Cooking...

Yellow Siberian Crab Apples

Yellow Siberian Crab Apples have clear skin that is either a pale yellow or darker golden-yellow. The fruit ripens in September. The tree is an abundant bearer and starts fruiting when it is young.

Other names

Scientific Name: Malus sylvestris

This page first published: Jan 31, 2004 · Updated: Sep 22, 2020.

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