Granny Smith

Granny Smith is an apple cultivar originating in Australia around 1865 from a chance seedling propagated by Marie Ana (Granny) Smith. It is thought to be a seed from Malus sylvestris, the European Wild Apple, with the domestic apple M. domestica as the pollenizer; if this origin is correct, it is a hybrid.

It was widely propagated in New Zealand, from which it was introduced to England in about 1935 and the United States in the 1970s.

Granny Smith apples are a light speckled green in color, though some may have a pink blush. They are crisp, juicy, tart apples that are excellent for cooking, or eating out of hand. They also are favored for salads because the slices do not brown as quickly as other varieties.

This cultivar needs fewer winter chill hours and a longer growing season to mature the fruit, so it is favored for the milder areas of the apple growing regions.

A Granny Smith Festival is held each year at Eastwood, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney, where the variety was first grown.

A Granny Smith is the apple used on labels for Apple Records.