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Yellow Transparent apples are the first apples of summer here in Vermont, ripe in July while the rest of the orchard is still green. They’re pale, tart, and so tender that they cook down into creamy applesauce in minutes, which makes them the start of our canning season.
Table of Contents
- Notes from My Homestead
- History of the Yellow Transparent Apple
- Where to Buy Yellow Transparent Apple Trees
- What Do Yellow Transparent Apples Taste Like?
- When Are Yellow Transparent Apples Ripe?
- Ways to Use Yellow Transparent Apples
- Growing a Yellow Transparent Apple Tree
- Yellow Transparent Apple FAQs
- More Apple Varieties
- Home Orchard
A homestead orchard used to have to cover the whole year. Late apples kept in the root cellar through the winter, and an early apple like Yellow Transparent came in right in the heat of summer, just as the last of the stored fruit was fading.
We still grow it for that reason. Our Yellow Transparents ripen months before the Newtown Pippins we keep in the basement all winter, and a month or so ahead of our Dolgo crabapples. It’s one piece of how we plan an orchard for year-round fruit in a cold climate.
It’s an old Russian apple, hardy to zone 3, and lots of readers remember one from a grandparent’s farm. If you’re comparing varieties, there are more than a hundred in my list of heirloom apples, and my list of fruits and nuts for cold climates covers zones 3 to 5.
Notes from My Homestead
When we moved to our homestead, the land came with quite a few apple trees, and two of them stood out right away. One was this Yellow Transparent, and right next to it was a Newtown Pippin that keeps in our basement for more than a year. The people who lived here before us definitely planted that pair on purpose.
Our Yellow Transparent is an old semi-dwarf, and it’s prolific. It gave us far more apples than we could use before they went soft, so we grafted Wickson and Ashmead’s Kernel onto part of it. Both took and are bearing now, and the tree is about half Yellow Transparent and a quarter each of the other two. That’s much more sustainable for what we can eat, and there are still plenty left for the kids to shake loose during water balloon fights.
History of the Yellow Transparent Apple
Yellow Transparent comes from Russia and the Baltic, where people call it Papirovka. Grafts went from a nursery in Riga, in what’s now Latvia, to France by 1852, and it spread across Western Europe from there.
It came to the United States in 1870, when the USDA imported a big shipment of Russian apples in search of varieties that could handle northern winters. Hundreds of varieties came over, and Yellow Transparent is one of the few that stuck.
A Vermonter helped it catch on. Dr. T.H. Hoskins of Newport, up near the Canadian border, was the first to call attention to it in this country, according to S.A. Beach’s The Apples of New York (1905).
From there, it spread quickly through Maine and out to homesteads in Montana. North Carolina’s state historic sites say it caught on in the South better than any of the other Russian apples, too.
Where to Buy Yellow Transparent Apple Trees
More than 150 years after it came over, it’s still easy to find a tree. Stark Bro’s sells Yellow Transparent trees, and they offer both potted trees that ship anytime and bare-root trees that ship in the spring.
If you just want the apples, they’re harder to find, since they bruise too easily to ship. Look for them at farmers’ markets and roadside stands in July, or ask around. Plenty of people with an old tree in the yard have more than they can use, and one reader gives theirs away.
What Do Yellow Transparent Apples Taste Like?
Yellow Transparent apples are tart, juicy, and tender, with thin, waxy skin. The skin starts out greenish yellow and turns an almost white, pale yellow as they ripen. Beach described the flavor as “sprightly subacid,” which is a nice way of saying tart.
They don’t stay that way for long. Once they’re fully ripe they soften quickly and go mealy, and they bruise if you look at them sideways.
Fresh off the tree, they’re a little mealy for my taste. The kids don’t care at all. A July apple is enough of a treat that it doesn’t have to be crisp, and they can’t get enough of them.
As children we visited my cousin’s grandmother, and she had a tree of transparent apples. We loved them and ate lots. As you said, mid-play we didn’t run in and ask for a snack, we picked one off the ground and ate around the bruise. And my Mom and Aunt brought them home and canned applesauce. And made pies. Not sure if they canned pie filling or not. Mmmm, so good.
When Are Yellow Transparent Apples Ripe?
Here in Vermont, ours are usually ripe from early to mid-July. In 2026 they came in weeks late, and so did one reader’s on the other side of the country, so the timing can shift a lot from year to year.
They don’t ripen all at once. Ours ripen over about a month, starting on the sunny branches at the top of the tree, so we pick more than once. Beach saw the same thing in New York back in 1905, though Fedco finds they come in mostly at once in Maine.
The first bird-pecked apples on the ground are my signal to start picking. A ripe one has turned from green to pale yellow, and the seeds inside are usually brown.
They come in earlier farther south. In the North Carolina mountains, growers pick them in late June and July. Fedco, up in Maine, expects them in early August.
Plan to use them fast. Orange Pippin gives them about a week once they’re ripe, and in my experience it’s more like a few days. For apples that keep, look at winter storage apples instead.
Ways to Use Yellow Transparent Apples
Yellow Transparent is a sauce apple first of all. It cooks down soft and smooth with almost no effort, and Fedco says the apples turn into a tart, light yellow sauce in 6 to 7 minutes. The sauce needs no sugar unless you like it sweeter.
I run mine through a food mill to take out the skins and seeds, and here’s how to make applesauce with a food mill. For the pantry, I can applesauce in our outdoor canning kitchen, which keeps the heat out of the house in July.
Once we’ve put up our fill of applesauce, the rest go into our double barrel cider press. Then I spend an afternoon canning apple cider for winter. Here’s how we use a double barrel cider press.
They make a soft, tart pie, and several readers remember their mom’s or grandmother’s Yellow Transparent pies. Bake them fresh, though. They cook down so soft that they’re better in a fresh pie than canned as pie filling. For jars of pie filling, choose a firmer apple from my list of pie apples.
They also make a quick apple butter, since they break down so easily. And they dry well. One reader’s grandmother dried slices over the wood stove and labeled the bags for pies, and here’s how to dehydrate apples at home.
Another reader grew up eating them as fried apples, cooked in bacon fat. I’ve never tried them that way.
Growing a Yellow Transparent Apple Tree
This is a tough tree. Fedco and Orange Pippin both rate it hardy to zone 3, and Stark Bro’s lists it for zones 3 to 8.
It bears young, often in 2 to 5 years according to Stark Bro’s, and on semi-dwarf rootstock it stays around 12 to 15 feet tall. Ours is a semi-dwarf too.
Beach found that it cropped well nearly every year in New York, but Orange Pippin notes a tendency to bear heavy one year and light the next. One reader remembers the trees on their Vermont farm bearing every other year.
Its big weakness is fire blight. Purdue Extension rates it very susceptible to fire blight, but moderately resistant to scab, rust, and powdery mildew.
Sources disagree on whether it needs a partner. Stark Bro’s and Fedco say to plant a second variety, Orange Pippin calls it partly self-fertile, and Dave Wilson Nursery calls it self-fruitful.
To be safe, plant a second apple. Stark Bro’s suggests Empire or Cox’s Orange Pippin. Fedco says any apple or crabapple within a quarter mile will do, so a Dolgo crabapple works too.
If you already have an old tree, you can graft other varieties onto it, the way we did with ours. Like every named apple, Yellow Transparent started as a single seedling, which is why apple seeds don’t grow true to the parent tree.
Yellow Transparent Apple FAQs
Readers mostly ask when to pick them and where to find a tree. Here are those questions, plus a few more.
Usually in July in the north. Ours start in early to mid-July here in Vermont, and farther south they can start in late June. The apples ripen over about a month, so plan on picking more than once.
The skin turns from green to pale yellow, the first bird-pecked apples start dropping, and the seeds inside are usually brown. I pick ours when they’re fully ripe.
Applesauce first of all, since they cook down soft in minutes. They’re also good for apple butter, cider, drying, and fresh pies, but they’re too soft for canned pie filling.
About a week once they’re ripe, and often only a few days. Plan to cook, can, or dry them soon after picking.
Stark Bro’s sells them, both as potted trees that ship anytime and as bare-root trees that ship in the spring. You can also graft one from a neighbor’s old tree.
More Apple Varieties
A few more apples to consider for your orchard.
Did you find this Yellow Transparent apple guide helpful? Tell me in the 📝 comments below about the summer apples you grew up with!
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Home Orchard
More help with planning and planting a home orchard.
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As children we visited my cousin’s grandmother and she had a tree of transparent apples. We loved them and ate lots. As you said, mid play we didn’t run in and ask for a snack, we picked one off the ground and ate around the bruise. And my Mom and Aunt brought them home and canned applesauce. And made pies. Not sure if they canned pie filling or not. MMMM so good.
What a great memory, thanks for sharing it! They really are wonderful for applesauce and pies, though they cook down so soft that they’re better baked fresh in a pie than canned as pie filling.
Do you usually pick them before the seeds turn brown, or do you wait?
I just picked one and the skin is getting to the correct color, but it’s hard/squeaky when cut, lightly sweet-tart, and the seeds are still all white. I tried one last week and it definitely wasn’t ready, but this week it was at least edible.
It’s really throwing me, because this is already like 3 weeks later than I typically harvest them.
Thanks for your insight!
I don’t know why, but ours also ripened weeks late this year! I have no idea why, and it’s not normal for out tree. Strange year I guess? But yes, they’re picked when fully ripe usually with brown seeds.
Haha, I’m glad it wasn’t just me! How strange. (And we’re on the opposite side of the country from you, too.)
I appreciate the reply and the sanity check. Now I’ve got a reference for next year when I can’t remember 😀
I’ll be harvesting from my Stark Bros. yellow transparent apple tree for the first time this summer, and I can’t wait! We grew up eating them as fried apples—in bacon fat, of course—when we could find them at a roadside stand. My grandmother had a few trees, too.
Nice! Ours are ripening up now too. I’ve never tried them fried. Do you just slice and fry in bacon fat, or do you dip them in a batter like a fritter?
Do you know of a location to purchase the yellow transparent apple in Pennsylvania or Virginia… possibly North Carolina?
I couldn’t say as far as a local nursery, but Fedco trees sells them and they ship them bareroot.
ACN in ASPERS. PA
https://acnursery.com/
they have the best young fruit trees I have purchased ever
go online and order in the Fall and ship or PU in the Spring to plant
looking to buy some yellow transparent apple trees. where is a good place to buy them and do they have good prices. i grew up on a farm in warren, vt that had some they were great to eat, and making different kinds of food items from. the apples grew every 2 years..
You’re pretty close to here, and there are two local nurseries that cary them. Try East Hill Tree Farm (Plainfield) or Elmore Roots in Elmore, both list it in their catalog. EC Browns in Thetford VT also has a really excellent selection of apple trees, but no online catalog.
We give transparent apples away. What area do you live in?
We have a Lodi tree that ripens just after July 4. The taste isn’t particularly complex, but it’s a great option for zones 7-8.
Thank you for your post! Two years ago we bought and moved back to our family farm where I grew up. We have one transparent apple tree that I know of, but I didn’t know they became ripe so early. I missed them last year, but this morning I found a few on the ground. I hope they will be enough to make a pie. As I remember as a kid, they are some of the best pie apples!