King

The King of Island Apples

How did an apple from New Jersey end up the “King” of island apples? Honestly we’re not quite sure. According to the Apples of New York, in 1905 Tompkins King was widely planted on the East Coast and seemed to have originated as a seedling near Washington, in Warren County, New Jersey where it was known at Toma Red. The name King was bestowed by when it was grafted into an orchard in Tompkins County, New York by Jacob Wycoff in 1804. To avoid confusion with other apples already called King, the Congress of Fruit Growers at Rochester NY added “Tompkins County” to the name. By 1860 King was reported to be growing “throughout New England, portions of Canada, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio.” And to be “quite well known on the Pacific Coast, from Washington southward into California.” In 1891 Tompkins King was among the varieties documented as growing in Orcas island orchards by S.R.S. Gray in an article for the Seattle Post Intelligencer.

What makes a King a King? King apple tress are particularly robust and can sometimes by identified from vigor and shape alone, although they are reportedly slow growing on their own roots (nearly all King trees in the islands are grafted), they are midseason bloomers, overlapping with Ben Davis, Esopous Spitzenburg, Golden Russet, Newton Pippin, and Wagener. Kings are a triploid variety (they have an extra set of chromosomes) that don’t produce viable pollen; your orchard needs at least two other varieties blooming for good pollination. Kings generally ripen in early October. The fruit are large! Island Kings are almost always oblong (longer than they are wide) with a waxy yellow background and abundant large red stripes. The fruit are more often ribbed than smooth, and may develop apple scabs, but do not have the brown russet of many heritage apples. They are fragrant when ripe, smelling vinous or grape-like. In particularly sunny years King apples often develop water core—they produce sugar faster than it can be incorporated into the fruit cells and the center of the fruit becomes translucent and saturated with sweet juice. Water core is not a disease, and does not detract from their flavor, but it does make them spoil faster. If you cut open a King apple you’ll find juicy, tender flesh that is slightly yellow and a central core star that has pointed tips and is joined at the center (abaxile).

You can eat Kings raw in slices, they are less crispy than modern apples, but toothsome and only mushy when overripe. They bake very well, and can also be made into tasty yellow apple sauce. When it comes to cider making, Kings should be ripened off the tree for at least a few weeks before pressing. They are low in tannins, but high in sugar with moderate acidity (a “sharp” in cidermaking terms), and their distinct vinous flavor comes through in both sweet and fermented ciders.

Kings are found in almost every old island orchard and can sometimes be found for sale at roadside farm stands. There are heritage King trees growing in front of the Lopez Island Library (and scions are available through our annual scion exchange and grafting workshops on Lopez, Orcas, and San Juan).

Also known as: King of Tompkins County, Flat Spitzenburg, King Apple, Toma Red, Tommy Red, Tompkins County King, Tom’s Red, Winter King

You can view watercolors of King in the USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection