Monroe County Master Gardener Association

McIntosh is not on most lists of heirloom apple varieties, perhaps because it is so commonly available, in fact still commercially important. So even though I knew it had been around awhile, I was surprised to learn from the November issue of John Deere’s “Furrow” magazine that it is now 200 years old.

According to Lorne McClinton’s article in this magazine, here’s its story:  some native Americans in Ontario snacked on a settlers’ ‘Fameuse’ apples and discarded the cores, which then produced several seedlings along a path on John McIntosh’s farm. He came across the small trees and transplanted them closer to his house where only one produced desirable apples. His wife sold the apples which became locally known as Granny’s apples until a neighbor suggested giving them the family name.  For decades the single tree supplied an increasing following until someone happened along who knew how to graft, in 1835.  John’s son Allen then began to propagate the trees and to sell them on his travels as a country preacher. The popularity of McIntosh apples soared around 1900 and in just a few years it was being grown all over Canada, the US and Europe. Today it is the most widely grown apple variety in North America but is still most popular in eastern Canada and New England. All of the McIntosh trees are clones of clones of that original seedling tree that lived until 1906. And yes, the Mac computer was named for the Mac apple.

It is a very versatile apple, good for fresh eating and excellent for processing into cider and fine textured applesauce.  Its one known parent, ‘Fameuse’ or ‘Snow’ is my husband’s favorite heirloom variety, and McIntosh has been crossbred with others to produce some very successful modern apples such as ‘Empire’, ‘Cortland’, ‘Macoun’, ‘Jonamac’, ‘Spartan’ and probably ‘Paula Red’.  Two of those stories illustrate the vagaries of apple breeding. Spartan is notable for being the first new breed of apple produced from a formal scientific breeding program, (not at MSU, nor even in Michigan), in 1936. However it was supposed to be a cross between  McIntosh and  Newtown Pippin. Recently, it was discovered through genetic analysis that it didn’t have the Newtown Pippin as one of the parents and its paternal identity remains a mystery. Paula Red apples were discovered around 1960 by grower Lewis Arends near a McIntosh block in his orchard in Sparta Township, Kent County, Michigan. He named the apple after his wife, Pauline.

I usually choose the more modern offspring rather than Macs although I like them in combination with firmer kinds for pies, but after reading this I picked out a bag of premium Macs at Applewood orchard in Deerfield and put some into a bowl.