Our Produce — Magicland Farms

Here are some of the produce we grow at
Magicland Farms.

We grow over 100 different varieties and strains of apples. However, we have only one or two trees of around fifty of the apple varieties we grow. While some years we have a good supply of these often hard-to-find cultivars, during other years our supply is very limited. I will only mention here the apple varieties that we have grown in rather substantial numbers. These will be the kind that our customers will have a fair chance of finding in season at our market. Keep in mind that we have a wide variety of apples, such as Quinte and Melba that are picked in mid to late July. You won’t likely find these extra-early apples at our market if you come in August. We also have some extremely late apples, like Granny Smith, Fuji, and Braeburn which we don’t start picking until late October (around Halloween) and sometimes even in early November.

Usually the first apple we pick is Quinte. It often starts to ripen in mid July and even though this is super early, we still find ourselves impatiently waiting to try our first fresh apple of the season, which is almost always this variety! Quinte’s quality, for such an early-ripening apple, is fantastic. Even when we are still picking Quinte, our Melba apples start to get ready. This tender apple is a delight to look at as well as savor in the mouth. Harold B. Tukey, who was for many years a professor of horticulture at Michigan State University and its department chairman, once stated in his book on Dwarf Apples that Melba was his favorite apple for fresh eating. Right after Melba comes Jersey Mac, which is a delicious apple that reminds one of a Mac—thus its name! Next up is Viking, a beautiful, dark red apple with white flesh and superb, out-of-hand eating quality! Toward the end of the Viking season we start picking the very best tasting summer apple in existence—or at least we at Magicland Farms feel that way.

We are talking about Zestar, developed in Minnesota, the same state that gave the world the now famous Honeycrisp. Our summer apple varieties then continue with the popular Paulared, along with Tyedeman’s Red and Stark’s Earliblaze, all of which are excellent multipurpose apples. Next comes Gravenstein, what we, and many others, consider the very best apple for pies. This cultivar, which originated in Europe over 200 years ago, does what all good pie apples do, in that they make scrumptious pies not only in taste, but also in texture. A famous New York restaurant found that the demand for their apple pies doubled when Gravenstein apples were used. Personally, our stomachs feel the same way about pies made with this antique apple. However, Gravenstein ripens at Magicland Farms in late summer, when the weather is still warm, and it isn’t a great keeper. Because of this, its season is quite short and many of the trees we had of this variety have slowly died over the years from the cold (it is a winter-sensitive variety) and old age. The next variety that usually ripens is our Jonamac. Jonamac is the type of apple that is midway between late summer and fall apples and is the start of our main apple crop. As its name suggests, Jonamac is a cross of Jonathan and McIntosh and tastes like its name suggests —delicious! About the time we finish picking them, we start spot-picking our Gala apples.

Galas seem to ripen over a long period and while we start picking them in early to mid September, we often are still out plucking them after the first frost in early October! One reason for this is that we have three different strains of Gala that ripen at different times. After Gala comes our jumbo-sized Wolf River apples which are another great baking option, not only because they make great pies, but also their huge size makes peeling and slicing a lot simpler than using smaller apples. Next up are our Baron apples which are a pretty yellow with a pronounced red blush on the sides exposed to the sun. Some years their flavor is outstanding while other years they are a bit bland. Like Viking, they seem to like rather cool summers for their best quality. At about the same time that we start picking our Baron, our dark red Snow apples start to ripen. While Snow apples are only of medium size, they are quite the lookers, having dark red skin and snowy flesh as their name suggests! Snow apples (also called Fameuse apples) are considered to be an heirloom/antique apple since they have been around for well over a hundred years (~400 to be more precise). Also, they are believed to be a parent of the McIntosh apple and have many characteristics in common with them. Around this same time, we start spot picking our extremely popular Honeycrisp apples.

As mentioned above, Honeycrisp was developed in Minnesota. Happily, it reaches optimum quality here in West Central Michigan, where Magicland Farms is located. Shortly after the harvest season for them begins (and sometimes even before) our Cortland start to ripen. This apple reminds one of a large Mac, and it should because of its McIntosh blood (McIntosh x Ben Davis)! Cortland is considered a great salad apple since, unlike most apples, its snow-white flesh browns very slowly. We have had several reports that Cortland are some of our customers’ favorite pie apple. Shortly after we start picking our Cortland, which is frequently around September 20, our Stark Jumbo apples make their début. As its name suggests, this is definitely a jumbo-sized apple, so much so that we have had a few customers buy one simply to tease friends. Its strong tartness keeps it largely confined to the kitchen where just two or three of the larger apples can be baked into a superb pie, which of course takes a lot of the chore out of pie making! One of the most popular apples in the New York/New England area is the Macoun. Like Cortland, one of its parents was also McIntosh. This is considered one of the highest quality apples for the early fall season and is truly a delight to eat! After Macoun comes another apple of McIntosh descent—Spartan Mac. Our family believes this variety makes the very best apple sauce! It also is a fairly good keeping apple for one that usually ripens while we are still picking tomatoes and sweet corn! In general, our best keeping apples are ready when our tomatoes have already been frost-damaged.

The next variety we start harvesting are Jonathans. We have two strains of this very flavorful apple—an early dark red strain named Jonnee and a slightly later strain not quite as red (despite its name) called Double Red Jonathan. Both are of excellent quality. Processors have recently paid more for Jonathans than any other apple—even more than Northern Spy. The probable reason for this is that Jonathans are so loaded with true apple punch that they can use less in pies and other processed foods without sacrificing flavor. While we are still picking Jonathan, our Kandil Sinap will usually give us a call. While we have so far excluded talking about apple varieties that are represented in our orchards by only one or two trees, we nonetheless feel compelled to give our single Kandil Sinap tree and its fruit a little space here. It is a consistent bearer with an elongated shape (more extreme than Red Delicious), porcelain-like skin, and a refreshing taste. This unusual variety was originally discovered and/or raised in Turkey, probably in the region of Sinop (ancient Sinope) if its name is anything to go by.

Another hard-to-find apple which starts to ripen about the time we finish picking our Kandil Sinap is the Hawaii. It apparently received its name from the California breeders who detected a pineapple flavor in it. However, this pineapple taste is not exceptionally strong as some tasters haven’t picked it up, although a tang of pineapple is, as one would expect, more pronounced in the well-ripened fruit. This pretty yellow apple is sought after by a number of our customers. Nearly everyone agrees it is a delicious apple! Around this same time—early October—we start picking our Surprise apples. Externally, they are an unremarkable, small to medium apple, with pale, greenish skin. Internally, they have a nice acidic flavor—and pink to red flesh. Surprise! We also sometimes sell this variety with a name we made up—Candy Cane! Because of the surprise inside, kids just love it! Starting around October 5th, we start to pick another uncommon apple which apparently was a cross of the Red Delicious and Golden Delicious apples. Red Gold is its name. The fruit are dark red and sweet enough to be devoured by sweet lovers everywhere. Less than 20 years ago, the Red Delicious was the largest selling apple in the US. Since then, many more varieties have become available on the general market—a trend that is continually increasing. We start to pick our Red Delicious apples just as we finish up with our Red Golds. The next apple on the list has been our family favorite for the last 20 years, and perhaps it is one of yours too. Yes, we are referring to the hallowed Jonagold, a cross of Jonathan and Golden Delicious, with good features of both minus the not so good traits. We have two strains of this apple: the original one and the Jonagored. Jonagored was selected by apple breeders because it has more red color. While this is true, we feel that the original Jonagold (as long as it is picked at the peak of ripeness) is actually a more attractive apple with sparkling clear, yellow skin surrounding a pretty blush of red. Tastewise, they are both excellent. Jonagold apples are a favorite apple in Europe, especially France and Germany. It has come out on top on most taste tests on both continents. Interestingly, it seems to keep for us better than either Jonathan or Golden Delicious. Golden Delicious, by the way, usually ripens next, which is just before Columbus Day. This popular apple is of high quality, although relatively few are truly attractive in appearance. They seem to need a direct hit from the sun to make them good-looking, so apples hidden in the shade of the tree tend to be more plain-looking.

While we are still picking Golden Delicious, our Northern Spies start to ripen. This apple, since it is legendary for pies and other baked goodies, is sometimes referred to as the “Pie Apple.” As a result, our half bushels of large-sized Northern Spies seem to sell faster than any other apple we grow. It also contains more Vitamin C than any other common apple. By the way, the apple with the most Vitamin C—more than an orange—is Calville Blanc d’Hiver (which theoretically could be one of its parents). More on this old French apple later. The next vareiety we usually pick are our Russets. While we actually grow two types of Russets that ripen in the late fall, Golden and Roxbury, we sell both types as plain Russets since they look identical and there is only a slight taste difference. There has been a renewed interest in Russet apples because of the boon in hard apple cider. Russet apples are a terrific choice for making this beverage, especially when mixed with some other varieties. We have heard and tested the story of burying Russet apples in sandy ground, digging them up in the spring, and discovering them to be even better tasting than when picked right off the tree. Yes, it is true!

A hybrid of the Golden Delicious that originated in Japan is the Mutsu, also called Crispin (or Crispin Mutsu) in the US. This apple can be quite large as well as beautiful and, like its Americanized name indicates, quite crisp and juicy. It is one of our sister’s favorite apple and many people, including some of our Amish customers, seem to prefer it for making sauce. About this time, in mid-October, we also pick our Idared, which is a Jonathan hybrid noted for its great keeping and sought out by many for sauce and pies. Usually ripening along with Mutsu is the pretty Roman Beauty apple. This is recognized as the very, very best apple for making traditional baked apples. It is also a good apple to use for many tasty baked apple goodies. As a fresh-eating apple, there are admittedly many others that are better. A rather rare apple we usually have a good supply of is the very sweet Splendor apple. It is one of the latest apples to ripen. Our father purchased trees of this apple after buying some of the fruit long ago from Harry and David, a rather fancy (and high-priced) source for top-quality fruits and baked goodies, located in Oregon. The Splendor apples they sent were so tasty that he purchased ten trees of Splendor the following spring. Around eight have survived to the present.

Our latest-ripening apples, Calville Blanc d’Hiver, Court Pendu Plat, Granny Smith, and Fuji, are picked right around Halloween, although we sometimes are still picking our Fuji on Veteran’s Day! While you are probably acquainted with the grass green Granny Smith and Fuji apples, since they are frequently available now in supermarkets, you will have a hard time finding the Calville Blanc and Court Pendu Plat apple varieties anyplace else except at Magicland Farms. We sometimes call Court Pendu Plat the “Tree of Knowledge” since it could have originated before Christ was born. This is among the oldest apple varieties known. While there are better tasting apples around, this apple does have several unique taste features. For instance, we have heard comments about how its flesh reminds one of hard cheese. Tasting it, we can see that. It definitely is a different apple and we only have one tree of it. While we don’t normally mention here in this part of the website varieties of apples that number only a single tree in our orchards, Court Pendu Plat’s ancestry is so interesting that we felt it was still worth mentioning here.

Here are some of the produce we grow at Magicland Farms.

Here are some of the produce we grow at
Magicland Farms.