Walk into a standard Kroger or Safeway and you’ll see the usual suspects. Red Delicious, Granny Smith, maybe a Honeycrisp if you’re lucky. You might think that’s basically the whole story of the apple world. But it isn't. Not even close. If you’ve ever stopped to wonder how many varieties of apples are there, prepare to have your mind blown. We aren't talking about dozens or even hundreds of types.
The actual number is staggering.
There are roughly 7,500 varieties of apples grown across the globe. Some experts even push that number toward 10,000 when you account for hyper-local, undocumented heirloom trees growing in forgotten orchards from Kazakhstan to Appalachia. It’s a genetic explosion. Most of these apples will never see the inside of a grocery store because they don't play well with industrial shipping. They bruise. They're "ugly." Or maybe they just taste like a spicy potato—which, believe it or not, is a thing.
Why the Number of Apple Varieties Is So Huge
Apple genetics are weird. Like, really weird.
If you plant a seed from a Gala apple, you aren't going to get a Gala apple tree. You’re going to get a "crab" apple—a wild, unpredictable offspring that likely tastes like battery acid. This is because apples are extreme heterozygotes. Their DNA is a chaotic lottery. Every single seed in every single apple is a brand-new, unique variety that has never existed before in the history of the world.
To keep a specific variety alive, humans have to use grafting. We cut a branch from a tree we like and physically fuse it onto the roots of another tree. Every Granny Smith you've ever eaten is technically a piece of the exact same original tree found by Maria Ann Smith in Australia back in 1868. It’s a clone.
This biological quirk is exactly why the question of how many varieties of apples are there has such a massive answer. For thousands of years, people have been finding "chance seedlings" that actually tasted good and decided to clone them. Over time, we ended up with thousands of unique cultivars, each with its own weird history and specific flavor profile.
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The Lost Apples of North America
In the United States alone, we used to have around 14,000 named varieties. That was back in the 1800s. Today, about 80% of those are commercially extinct. They've vanished from the marketplace.
But they aren't all gone.
There are "apple detectives" like Tom Brown and David Benscoter who spend their weekends trekking through old homesteads and abandoned canyons in the Pacific Northwest and the South. They look for ancient, gnarly trees that are still producing fruit a century after the farmer who planted them passed away. These guys have rediscovered apples like the "Nero," the "Arkansas Beauty," and the "Dickinson." These aren't just snacks; they're historical artifacts.
The Big Players: What Actually Makes It to Your Table
Even though there are thousands of options, the commercial market is a bit of a monopoly. In the U.S., about 15 varieties make up 90% of all sales. It’s a supply chain thing. To be a "supermarket apple," a variety has to meet some pretty stiff criteria:
- It has to look pretty. No bumps.
- It has to stay crunchy for months in cold storage.
- It has to resist bruising during a 1,000-mile truck ride.
- It needs a high yield per acre.
Gala is currently the king. It knocked Red Delicious off the throne a few years ago. People love its sweetness and thin skin. Then you’ve got Fuji, Honeycrisp, and Granny Smith. Honeycrisp actually changed the whole industry. It was developed at the University of Minnesota and released in the 90s. It was the first time people were willing to pay $3.00 a pound for an apple just because the texture was so much better than the mealy, flavorless Red Delicious varieties that dominated the 70s and 80s.
The Weird Stuff You're Missing
If you only shop at big-box retailers, you're missing out on some incredible flavors. Have you ever had a Hidden Rose? It looks like a normal green apple on the outside, but the inside is bright, vivid pink. It tastes like strawberry lemonade.
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Or what about the Black Diamond apple from Tibet? It’s a deep, dark purple—almost black—and grows in high-altitude orchards. Then there’s the Knobbed Russet, which looks like a warty, brown potato and is arguably the ugliest fruit on earth, yet it tastes like rich, nutty honey.
The diversity is honestly overwhelming. We have apples that taste like bananas (the Winter Banana variety), apples that are specifically for cider (like the Kingston Black), and apples that are so tart they'll make your eyes water until they're baked into a pie.
How Climate and Geography Change the Count
The answer to how many varieties of apples are there also depends on where you are looking. Most apples (Malus domestica) originated in the mountains of Kazakhstan. As travelers moved along the Silk Road, they dropped seeds. Those seeds grew into trees that cross-pollinated with local wild apples.
- Europe: Focused heavily on cider apples and dessert apples with complex, acidic profiles.
- Asia: Often prefers very large, incredibly sweet, and crunchy varieties like the Fuji or the Sekai Ichi (which can cost $21 per apple in Japan).
- North America: Historically focused on "all-purpose" apples that could be stored in a root cellar all winter or turned into hard cider.
The U.S. Apple Association notes that while we grow about 200 varieties commercially in the States, the vast majority of our production is centered in Washington state, New York, and Michigan. But if you go to a heritage orchard in Virginia or Maine, you might find 50 varieties on a single farm that you can't find anywhere else.
The Rise of "Club" Apples
Lately, the number of varieties available to you is being controlled by trademarks. This is the era of the "Club Apple."
Think of the Cosmic Crisp. It’s a cross between Honeycrisp and Enterprise. You can't just buy a Cosmic Crisp tree and plant it in your backyard. You have to be a licensed grower in Washington state. The marketing is controlled, the quality is strictly monitored, and the price is kept high. Other examples include SweeTango, Envy, and Pink Lady.
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While this ensures you get a high-quality, crunchy apple every time, some pomologists worry it’s narrowing our options. We are focusing on a few branded "super-apples" and letting the weird, wonderful, non-patented varieties slip into obscurity.
Why You Should Care About Apple Diversity
It’s not just about flavor. It’s about survival.
Monocultures—where we only grow one or two types of a plant—are dangerous. If a specific pest or disease (like fire blight or apple scab) evolves to destroy the Gala apple, and that's the only thing we're growing, we're in trouble. Having 7,500+ varieties is nature's insurance policy. Somewhere in those thousands of varieties is a tree that is naturally resistant to drought, or a tree that can survive a late spring frost, or a tree that doesn't mind a specific fungus.
Biodiversity is the backbone of food security.
Plus, honestly, the grocery store experience is boring. Exploring different varieties is like being a wine taster. One apple might have notes of vanilla and spice, while another is sharp, clean, and refreshing.
How to Find the Other 7,490 Varieties
If you want to move beyond the supermarket "Big Six," you have to be intentional.
- Visit Farmers Markets: This is where small-scale growers bring their "experimental" or heirloom crops. Ask the farmer what’s good for baking versus what’s good for eating raw.
- Look for Pick-Your-Own Orchards: Many older orchards have rows of trees planted decades ago that aren't profitable for wholesale but are open to the public.
- Try "Russeted" Apples: If you see an apple that looks a bit brown and sandpaper-y, buy it. Russeting is a natural cork-like growth on the skin, and these apples often have the highest sugar content and most complex flavors.
- Order Online: There are nurseries and specialty fruit shippers (like Trees of Antiquity) that will ship heirloom fruit or grafting wood directly to you.
Practical Steps for Apple Lovers
Don't settle for mealy fruit. To truly appreciate the massive variety available, start by changing how you buy.
- Check the PLU code: If you find an apple you love, remember its name. Don't just look for "red."
- Store them right: Most varieties lose their crunch because they are left on the counter. Keep them in the crisper drawer of your fridge. Apples "breathe," and the cold slows down the ripening process that turns them into mush.
- Eat seasonally: In the Northern Hemisphere, apple season is August through November. This is when you'll find the freshest, most diverse selection. Out-of-season apples are often months old, kept in "Controlled Atmosphere" storage where oxygen is replaced with nitrogen to keep them from aging.
The world of apples is deeper than a Red Delicious. It’s a 10,000-year-old story of human migration, kitchen chemistry, and biological chaos. Next time you're at the store, look past the shiny, waxed surface of the "standard" display and see if there's something weird sitting in the corner. It might just be the best thing you've ever tasted.