Northern Spy

Northern Spy is a large striped apple that is still popular in New England, where it originated in New York around 1840. It has been grown in the islands since at least 1891, and we have found living trees in Orchards on Orcas, San Juan, and Lopez (and scions are available through our annual scion exchange and grafting workshops on Lopez, Orcas, and San Juan). It has excellent flavor for fresh eating, and is valued for pies and cider. Northern Spy keeps relatively well, but is too juicy and tender to be a good drying apple.

You can view watercolors of Northern Spy in the USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection.