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    Home » Apples » Types of Pippin Apples

    Types of Pippin Apples

    Published: Oct 9, 2023 by Eric Samuelson

    Learn all about the different types of "pippin". What apple varieties share the name?

    Green Pippin apples that on a white tile countertop.

    I love getting to taste different heirloom apples. This website is giving me a good excuse to try as many as I can get my hands on. One of those varieties that I recently tried for the first time is the Pippin. There are several apples with the name Pippin in them. The grower wasn't sure exactly what type of Pippin this apple was.

    4 Pippin Apples with red blush on a white board.

    Forgive my old photo above! That was the Pippin apples I first encountered over a decade ago. Today I want to look at all the varieties I have encountered over the years with that very name.

    Jump to:
    • 📚 What Does Pippin Mean?
    • 📋 List of Varieties
    • 📧 Sign Up for Emails
    • 📧 Learn More About Apples

    📚 What Does Pippin Mean?

    The word "Pippin" mean seedling. Sometimes I see orchards spelling it as "pippen" with an e instead. These apples are among the first to be brought to the United States from Europe. They have the old fashion apple taste.

    📋 List of Varieties

    Typical Pippin apples are green with red, almost orange colored blush. The different types of Pippin will have different colors variations. The Cox's Orange Pippin has a lot of orange in it's color. You may also find some "russeting" on the apple, that is the skin with brown on it. This could be around the stem or covering the entire apple as you will see in an example below.

    • Newton Pippin / Albemarle Pippin (same apple with 2 names)
    • Ribston Pippin
    • Cox's Orange Pippin
    • Cherry Cox' Orange Pippin

    If I had to take a guess on what apple that I found that was just called "Pippin", I would go with Newton Pippin. It seems to have the right appearance and flavor profile. I have found them at Stater Bros stores labelled as just Pippin. They were mostly green.

    A bin of Albemarle Pippen apples at an orchard stand in North Carolina.

    Newton Pippin / Albemarle Pippin

    Let me tell you more about the Newton Pippin. It also goes by the name Albemarle Pippin as I mentioned above. I never saw it labelled that until I was in North Carolina. It is believed to be a favorite of George Washington as I have seen on several signs talking about this apple. One orchard said it was developed in the late 1600s and another said 1759 in New York. Either way it's old.

    What is interesting about this apple is the skin color can be different. You may find some with more red blush on them or some that look like this:

    A bin of Newton Pippin apples that have a brown skin.

    These were grown in Wisconsin and were completely russeted. The apple is tangy and tart fresh off the tree, but will mellow out and be sweeter after 1-2 month of storage. The ones I have gotten in the grocery store in the winter were a lot sweeter tasting. The apple is used by cider makers.

    3 Ribston Pippin apples on a wood board.

    Ribston Pippin

    Next I want to talk about the Ribston Pippin. This one varies in it's skin color too. I have seen them more green with red blush from Oregon or I have found them they are mostly green in color like these Wisconsin grown ones below.

    A single mostly red Ribston Pippin apple on a wood table.
    Ribston Pippin

    The apple has a sweet but sharp flavor. For texture it's best right off the tree, but many people like to wait a month to eat them as their flavor improves as that sharpness mellows out. It's all about what your taste preferences are.

    3 Cox's Orange Pippin apples on a wood board.

    Cox's Orange Pippin

    This pippin apple is famous in England. It's one of their favorites. I once meet a guy at a farmer's market from England that was looking for Cox's. He was sad he couldn't find his favorite apple in the US. A lot of orchards do grow them, just not on a wide scale.

    🍎 Check out my full review of Cox's Orange Pippin.

    A basket filled with Cherry Cox Orange Pippin apples.

    There is also a variety called Cherry Cox. These apples are more red in color than the traditional Cox's Orange Pippin. I tasted them side by side before and I felt the Cherry was a better version with more sweetness.

    🍎 Check out my full review of Cherry Cox's Orange Pippin.

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    Don't miss anything I am talking about on the blog concerning apples.

    📧 Learn More About Apples

    If you enjoyed this post and want to continue earning more about apples, I got plenty of content to share. I recommend starting with my blog post, How to Know When Apples are Best. This will help you pick out apples no matter what time of year it is.

    Here are some specific apple varieties you will want to learn more about:

    • Pink Pearl
    • King David
    • Smokehouse
    • Mutsu
    • Paula Red

    Have you tried this apple? What did you think? Leave a comment below telling us. Be a helper and share where you found it. You may make someone's day with your insider info on where to get them! If you are a true apple lover, you'll want to check out all of our apple reviews.

    « What to Do With Orleans Reinette Apples
    What Do Roxbury Russet Apples Taste Like? »

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Mei Mei

      October 26, 2011 at 6:34 pm

      I just love Pippin apples and only bought them about 20 years ago in my local Safeway. Believe me, I've never forgotten them and have never been able to find them since. I had a chat with the apple manager in my local Whole Foods and he told me that they are not in demand. Can you tell me where I can get them?

    2. admin

      October 28, 2011 at 4:57 am

      Your best source would be your local farmer's market. But it depends on where you live. I live in Michigan, and we are a big apple state, so we have a ton of choices.

    3. Kevin

      November 17, 2023 at 8:12 pm

      We have a tree that was labelled liberty by the nursery but it is clearly something else, Orange Pippin is a possibility. The apple is yellow skinned with a bit of a red blush sometimes, speckles, and is slightly conical. It has is crisp and tart when it ripens in late October early November here in PA. Any idea how to get a definite ID on this apple?

    4. Eric Samuelson

      November 18, 2023 at 7:23 pm

      I don't know for sure. I would start by looking for a garden extension in your area and see if they know anyone that could do that. I do think that is a bit late for a Cox's Orange Pippin though, but I don't want to completely rule it out.

    5. Lindy

      September 23, 2024 at 3:51 pm

      In my Nana's CA backyard was a tree that yielded either Newton Pippin / Albemarle Pippin or Ribston. I'm not dure which. We had a great time picking them then canning applesauce made from them.

    6. Eric Samuelson

      September 23, 2024 at 4:19 pm

      That sounds fabulous! It can be hard to perfectly tell those apart but they do have some similar in flavor. Thanks for sharing Lindy!

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    Hi! I'm Eric : Father of 4, living just south of Ann Arbor, MI. I'm a reformed picky eater finding a new way to not conform. Eating what's in season is my jam (I also make it!)

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