Yellow Transparent was imported into the U.S. from Russia in 1870 to supply the frontier with cold hardy apples because many of the cold hardy midwestern apples did not cut it. These trees would survive a nuclear event as they survive in droughty, tough, and brutally cold conditions. As such, they have supplied homesteaders and other home growers in Montana and other western states with consistent cropping, disease resistant summer apples for over 150 years. Like many summer apples, Yellow Transparent does not store well and goes mealy fast, which makes it better for sauce making and other culinary purposes. Luke harvested the apples in 2024 on August 14th, making it not quite the earliest summer apple but fairly early. Elizabeth made dozens of jars this year (2024) of apple sauce and people are typically blown away with how good the sauce is. In terms of how the apple taste off the tree, according to Luke’s taste notes in 2024, “Very perfumy. Perhaps second only to McIntosh with its strong floral aroma. Tart but actually very pleasant considering it isn’t known for being a good fresh eating apple. The flavor is pleasant and lovely. Very floral tasting, similar to its aroma”.

According to the Western Ag Research Center in Corvallis, MT, “In Montana, it was grown commonly by homesteaders and listed as one of several varieties inspected in the First District (Dawson, Carbon, Rosebud, Yellowstone and Sweet Grass counties) in 1901. It is commonly referred to by old-timers as transparent, and many heritage trees still exist across Montana; however, they are susceptible to fire blight and often have several strikes.”

In terms of Yellow Transparent’s hardiness, it is hardy to over -50F, if not -60F or more.

In terms of rootstock for Yellow Transparent, we ran out of Dolgo and therefore we were only able to graft it onto M26, which is only hardy to about -40F. However, if you are in an area that has the potential to see below -40F, you can still purchase these, but make sure you bury the graft so that the yellow transparent genetics root out. This will be a full size tree eventually (20-30 ft.) if left unchecked/unpruned.

Last photo Courtesy of WARC