Topaz or Crimson® Topaz is a pretty red apple that is great for the tart apple loving fans. Learn all about this variety.
🍎 What You Are About to Learn
How often do you associate apples with the Czech Republic? I am going to have to burst some bubbles here but American as apple pie isn't quite right. Apples are not native to North America. They originated in Central Asia and spread into Europe to countries like the Czech Republic.
While we have adopted into our culture quite well, we owe the apple to other countries around the world. And we have the Czech Republic to thank for the Topaz apple.
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📜 The History of Topaz
While not being direct parents of Topaz, the apple was developed as a cross between Vanda and Rubin. The latter does have Golden Delicious as it's parent.
Topaz itself is a the parent of a modern day apple you see in your grocery stores - the Opal. A Golden Delicious and Topaz were crossed to bring Opals into the world.
The Topaz is known for it's disease resistance which would explain why it took off. You see many apple varieties are created but only a small portion end up being grown for our grocery stores.
Topaz is also marketed with the trademarked name Crimson® Topaz. Crimson is a more red version of the apple. I have seen other strains that had a lot more yellow in their color, where Crimson is very red.
The apple has a cream colored flesh. It's not as white as say a McIntosh or Cortland apple.
🚜 When Are They Harvested - The apple ripens in mid to late September. It stores well.
👅 My Experience with this Apple
Here is what I think of the apple on a scale of 1-10:
| Crispiness | 7 |
| Tartness | 8 |
| Apple Flavor | 8 |
| Sweetness | 3 |
| Juiciness | 8 |
If you are a fan of a more tart apple, then you will enjoy Topaz. It has a sharp, clean tart flavor that is juicy and enjoyable. I do not feel it's too tart to enjoy out of a hand. The apple is crisp and has a thin skin. This unlike the thick, better skin of the Red Delicious - that apple needs a thick skin for how much trash I talk about it! 🙂
🍏 Calling all Granny Smith fans! This is an apple that you want to try! It's one of the favorite tart apple varieties of the owner of one of my favorite orchards in Ohio.
This apple would make an excellent apple to bake with. We made fried cinnamon apples with them, similar to what you get at Cracker Barrel, except better!
🛒 Where to Find
The first time I had this apple was in 2014. I found them at Busch's, where is a small chain of grocery stores in the metro Detroit and Ann Arbor area. I had seem at Whole Foods Market before.
However this variety has taken off that well in the stores, and it's been a long time since I had one from a grocery store. This is a variety that you should be looking out for at orchards. You can find a list below of orchards that I know or have heard grow Topaz or Crimson Topaz.
Here are some other places I have heard that the apple has been spotted before in the past. If you know of any other orchards, please share in the comments below.
- Johnston Fruit Farm (Swanton, OH)
- Branstool Orchards (Utica, OH)
- Solebury Orchards (New Hope, PA)
- Weaver's Orchard (Morgantown, PA)
- Kiyokawa Family Orchards (Parkdale, OR)
- Rittman Orchards (Doylestown, OH)
- Baird Family Orchards (find at Portland, Oregon farmer's markets)
- Alstede Farms (Chester, NJ)
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.
freeland
I bought ours at Horrocks in Battle Creek.
Great all around apple.
Eric Samuelson
That's a fun store. I stop by there anytime I am passing through Battle Creek.
Michael Wong
We have a fruit delivery service that delivers fruit to our office here in Cupertino CA and I found a Topaz apple in this weeks delivery. Really yummy apple with more than a hint of lemon and a depth of clear flavor that makes it stand out from the usual honeycrisps, and blows away fuji apples in terms of interesting, bold flavors. I'll have to seek this one out at my market.
john dale
It reminds me a daglish crab apple, tart, crisp. Just wonderful
Eric Samuelson
That is great that your work has that kind of service and that is it fresh fruit. Glad you found Topaz apples. Have you found any in the stores?
Samantha Rahn
You can order them from The FruitGuys around this time of year every year by reaching out to our customer service team, we purchase them for all our main locations around the country and can ship a whole box or even a small 'repack of 16, 24, or 48 apples to your house or office 😀 they should be available nationwide all next week 1/14/19-1/18/19 and I'll have them coming out of our Chicago operation for the Midwest for the next monthish. I absolutely love this variety!