Apple Varieties Guide

Use this handy guide to help identify the apples you pick at Catoctin Mountain Orchard during pick-your-own season!

Helpful hint for future visits: set your apple on our labeled crates to remember which variety is which to help compare once you get home. 

Autumn Gala

This sweet crunchy apple is one of our mid September apples for our Pick Your Own. With its great color of a light red and yellow, not only do they look pretty but they taste great as well!

Blondee

Blondee has a Smooth bright yellow skin with slight russeting at the stem and scattered tan-colored pores. It has a unique sweet-tart flavor, with a crisp & juicy white flesh. Excellent for eating fresh and for cooking in your favorite recipe!

Crimson Crisp

Our customer favorite is what keeps them coming back for more. Its great medium tart flavor and crunchiness will WOW your taste buds! Very dark red skin with a slight green/yellow bottom and yellow freckles. Very noticeable hard and yellow meat.

Cortland

What better apple to bake with than Cortland itself! Being a medium tart apple its not too sweet for a pie but also not too tart. Its white flesh is the key to baking because it allows the apple to soften down when you bake with it.

Jonagold

The Jonagold is popular to most of those that love either a Golden Delicious or Jonathan because those are the two apples that the Jonagold is crossed with. When you put a sweet and tart apple together it gives it a taste like honey. Crunchy, hard and full of flavor. This  apple is distinct for its freckles on the skin and dark red blush.

Mountain Honey

Mountain Honey is a relatively new apple to Catoctin Mt Orchard with a red blush on a buttery yellow skin close in comparison to our Autumn Gala. It is a sweet, crunchy apple with a thin and tender peel.

Cameo

Cameo apples are covered in red stripes with a thin skin and delicate texture. Its flesh is dense and creamy white to yellow in color with a crisp and juicy texture. The Cameo’s flavor is the perfect balance of sweet and tart with nuances of both honey and citrus.

SummerSet

SummerSet Apples are a mid-season variety known for their sweet and tangy flavor. They have a firm, crisp texture and a beautiful red blush over a yellow base. These apples are excellent for eating fresh, cooking, and baking.

Evercrisp

Evercrisp is a mixture of Honeycrisp and Fuji both with equal parts. This is a hard, crunchy, sweet/ tart apple with a dull red blush and yellow freckles. This is a great apple for eating, comes in season the first of October and available for u-pick. 

Stayman Apple

Stayman apples, known for their firm, tangy flesh and wine-like flavor, are medium to large with a reddish-purple skin over a greenish-yellow base. They’re excellent for baking, cider-making, and fresh consumption.

Pink Lady Apple

Pink Lady apples are a crisp and juicy apple variety with a tart flavor that finishes sweetly. They have a beautiful blush-pink skin, and are perfect for both eating raw and cooking.

Fuji Apple

Fuji apples are known for their crisp texture and sweetness, making them a popular choice among apple lovers. They have a beautiful red-pink hue and are great for both eating fresh and using in cooking.

Crunch-A-Bunch

This apple has tropical flavor similar to a pineapple. Dark yellow skin very similar to a Goldrush. This apple has a slight pink blush on one side and red freckles on the skin. Very crunchy, juicy and full of flavor. Available for u-pick last weekend of October and in our farm store.

Granny Smith

Granny Smith apples are known for their bright green color and tart, crisp taste. They are excellent for baking, cooking, or eating fresh, and their high acidity makes them perfect for pies and preserves.

Goldrush

Goldrush is one of the last apples to come for the year. This is a medium tart, very crunchy apple that likes to take your taste buds on a whirl offering a zingy flavor. Dull yellow color, slight rusting by stem with freckles on the skin. Universal apple, used for cooking, eating and baking. Will last several months in your fridge in a clean plastic bag to prevent shriveling. 
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Guidelines for Pick-Your-Own Fruit

  1. You must purchase your Pick Your Own bags at the check-in building located above the market on your way to the playground. You will see apple signs on the building indicating the check in for pick your own apples.
  2. Park your strollers and leave your pets, containers, bags, backpacks, coolers & blankets at home or in your car. These items are prohibited inside the orchard.
  3. You must take the wagon ride to and from the field. The wagons run continuously
  4. All Apples picked must fit inside the bag you purchased. You cannot carry any apples out of the orchard. If you do, you will have to buy an additional Bag for them.
  5. Before leaving home, please check back on this page or call 301-271-2737
  6. for picking availability and hours depending on weather conditions. Catoctin reserves the right to close the Apple Orchard due to inclement weather that may include heavy rain, thunder, lightning and/or severe winds without advanced notice in order to protect our customers and employees.
  7. No picnicking in the orchard. Picnic tables are located at the playground.
  8. No walking in the orchard. We have moving tractors and other large machinery at work.
  9. No pets in the orchard.
  10. If you drop an apple or an apple falls off the tree while picking, we kindly ask you to pick it up to ensure no apple goes to waste. Thank You.
  11. All sales final, no refunds.