SnapDragon New York Apple - Delivered Direct from the Farm To Your Door

SnapDragon apples stand out for their exceptionally crunchy texture, sweet flavor with hints of vanilla and spice, a red blush over a yellow background, and long shelf life with resistance to browning.

They offer a sweet, rich flavor complemented by subtle hints of spice and vanilla, with an incredibly crisp and juicy texture.

Absolutely — their crisp texture and sweet flavor make them a popular choice for snacking, salads, and cheese platters.

Their "monster crunch," sweet taste, and juiciness make them a favored choice for a refreshing, healthy snack.

Their exceptional crunch, sweet-spicy flavor, and versatility in use have made them a popular choice for a delicious apple experience.

The combination of their unique flavor, exceptional crunch, and good keeping qualities has made them a favored choice for many apple lovers.

It is the marketing phrase for a real property SnapDragon inherited from Honeycrisp: unusually large cells that rupture under pressure rather than shearing apart. The juice releases all at once, and the bite is loud.

Compare that with Fuji or EverCrisp, whose dense, fine-grained flesh breaks with a hard clean snap instead. Both are very crisp; only one of them bursts.

Sweet and noticeably spicy — Cornell’s own description was “spicy-sweet”, and tasters commonly pick out vanilla and a warm baking-spice note behind the sugar. Acidity is moderate, lower than a Honeycrisp.

That spice is the thing that distinguishes it. If you have eaten a Honeycrisp and thought it tasted clean but a bit simple, SnapDragon is the same texture with considerably more going on.

Generally yes — sweeter and less tart, with more aromatic complexity. Honeycrisp is the brighter, more balanced apple; SnapDragon leans sweet and spiced.

Which you prefer is genuinely a matter of taste. Where SnapDragon has the clearer advantage is storage: it holds its texture longer than its parent does.

Medium to large, round to slightly oblong, with a bright to deep red blush over a yellow ground colour, often lightly striped. It is a handsome apple and photographs well, which has not hurt it commercially.

As with most varieties, colour is a poor ripeness guide — red can arrive before the flesh is ready. Growers pick on starch testing and the calendar.

While outstanding for fresh eating, SnapDragon apples are also suitable for pies, cakes, and pastries thanks to their sweetness and firmness.

Yes, their inherent sweetness and slight spice notes can produce a flavorful applesauce, often requiring less added sugar.

Their resistance to browning and crisp texture make them perfect for salads, adding a fresh, crunchy element.

Fresh consumption is recommended, but SnapDragon apples can be prepared and frozen for use in cooking and baking.

SnapDragon apples are highly versatile, excellent for fresh eating, baking, salads, and as a complement to savory dishes.

Yes, their crisp texture and sweetness make them an excellent addition to any salad.

Their sweet flavor makes them suitable for juicing, providing a juice that's both flavorful and refreshing.

Their natural sweetness and hints of spice can enhance both sweet and savory dishes.

Yes, their rich flavor profile can contribute to a deliciously complex cider, especially when blended with other varieties.

They can add a delightful sweetness and maintain a pleasing texture in apple crisps and other baked goods.

Their firmness and crispness make them suitable for a wide range of culinary applications without becoming mushy.

Grilling can bring out their natural sweetness and add a unique flavor to sweet and savory dishes.

Experiment with them in chutneys, savory dishes, or creative desserts to explore their unique flavor profile.

Slicing them into wedges or sticks makes for an easy, appealing snack that children can enjoy.

Fresh eating, overwhelmingly. The texture is the product, and heat destroys it — the large cells that make the crunch collapse when cooked. It is superb in a lunchbox, on a cheese board, or sliced into a salad.

If you want to bake, it will work in a crisp or a galette, but pair it with a firm tart apple such as Granny Smith for structure and acidity. For a pie by choice, Granny Smith is the answer, not this.

Apple flesh and skin are generally considered safe for dogs in small amounts. Remove the core and the seeds — apple seeds contain amygdalin, and the core is a choking and obstruction risk.

SnapDragon is a sweet apple, so treat rather than food. Ask your veterinarian about your own dog, particularly a small one or one on a controlled diet — we grow apples, we are not veterinarians.

Moderately — about average for an apple, slower than a McIntosh and faster than a Cortland, which is the genuine slow-browning variety.

Lemon juice, a splash of cider vinegar, or tossing the slices straight into a dressing stops it, and cold slows it considerably.

A medium SnapDragon — about 195 grams — is roughly 95 to 105 calories. A small one is nearer 75 to 85; a large one runs 120 to 130.

The figure to work from is 52 calories per 100 grams, from USDA, for a raw apple with the skin on. SnapDragon is a Honeycrisp child and eats sweet and crunchy, and it is a good-sized apple.

A large SnapDragon of about 240 grams comes to roughly 120 to 130 calories.

Across the sizes we pack: small (~155 g) about 81, medium (~195 g) about 101, large (~240 g) about 125. Multiply the weight in grams by 0.52 for a close estimate at any size.

A small SnapDragon of about 155 grams is roughly 75 to 85 calories.

A kitchen scale beats guessing from the word on the bag — and the apple count on a case is the quickest guide, since a 72-count fruit is considerably larger than a 125-count.

Per 100 grams of raw SnapDragon with the skin on: about 52 calories, 13.81 g carbohydrate, 2.4 g fiber, 0.26 g protein, 0.17 g fat, 107 mg potassium and 85.56 g water.

For a medium apple of about 195 grams that is roughly 101 calories, 27 g carbohydrate and 4.7 g fiber. The full table by size is in the nutrition section above.

About 25 to 29 grams of total carbohydrate in a medium apple, of which roughly 4.7 grams is fiber — so approximately 22 grams of net carbs.

Per 100 grams that is 13.81 grams. That is typical for an apple.

Roughly 27 grams of total carbohydrate in a medium apple, with about 4.7 grams of that being dietary fiber.

Essentially all of an apple’s calories are carbohydrate — there is almost no fat and, in this cultivar, about 0.26 grams of protein per 100 grams.

About 18 to 22 grams in a medium apple, all of it the fruit’s own — nothing is added. That is 10.4 grams per 100 grams of fruit.

SnapDragon tastes distinctly sweet and spiced, with moderate acidity — less tart than Honeycrisp. That is a flavour judgement from the orchard, not a laboratory sugar figure.

About 4.7 grams in a medium apple with the skin on — 2.4 grams per 100 grams.

That is about average for an apple. Peeling costs you roughly a third of it.

Very little of either: about 0.5 grams of protein and 0.3 grams of fat in a medium apple, and virtually no sodium.

Apples are almost entirely water and carbohydrate — SnapDragon is about 85.56 percent water by weight.

About 107 mg per 100 grams, so roughly 209 mg in a medium apple.

That is typical for an apple.

About 9.0 mg in a medium apple — 4.6 mg per 100 grams.

Apples are not a major vitamin C source next to citrus; an orange carries roughly ten times as much. What there is sits mostly just under the skin and degrades with heat, so a raw unpeeled apple retains more of it than a baked one.

For fiber, yes — roughly a third of it sits in the skin, along with most of the fruit’s colour compounds.

SnapDragon skin is moderately thin and tender, and most people eat it unpeeled. Rinse under running water and rub with your hands before eating, as with any fresh fruit.

Roughly two large, three medium or four small apples make a pound — three medium is the standard working assumption in American recipes.

SnapDragon runs medium to large, so expect two large or three medium to the pound. A pound gives about 3 cups sliced.

Typically harvested in the fall, SnapDragon apples are available from late September through spring thanks to excellent storage qualities.

Store SnapDragon apples in the refrigerator to maintain crispness and extend shelf life for several months.

Ripe SnapDragon apples have a vibrant red blush over a yellow background, feel firm to the touch, and may give off a subtly sweet aroma.

They exhibit excellent storage capabilities, retaining their texture and flavor for an extended period when stored properly.

Late September in New York, which is the timing Cornell gave when the variety was launched. The window is narrow, and fruit picked outside it is either starchy or soft.

See Harvest Times for where this year’s crop stands, and Ready to Ship for what is actually leaving the farm today.

Better than its parent. In a cold crisper drawer at 33 to 38°F expect six to eight weeks of good eating quality at home, and commercial controlled-atmosphere storage stretches it considerably further — Cornell specifically cited long storage and shelf life as a SnapDragon advantage.

Honeycrisp, by comparison, is superb in October and noticeably tired by late winter. Keep SnapDragon cold, loosely bagged, and away from onions.

SnapDragon apples inherit Honeycrisp's crunchy texture but offer a unique flavor profile with more pronounced sweetness and hints of spice.

SnapDragon is Honeycrisp’s child and keeps the texture — the same large-celled, bursting crunch.

Honeycrisp is tarter and more brightly balanced; SnapDragon is sweeter, warmer and more aromatic. Honeycrisp is easier to find and usually cheaper. If you love Honeycrisp in October and are disappointed by it in January, SnapDragon is the better keeper.

They are siblings from the same programme, announced together on the same day in 2013. SnapDragon is NY 1 and RubyFrost® is NY 2.

SnapDragon is the sweet, spicy, explosively crisp one, picked in late September. RubyFrost ripens later, is tarter and more Empire- or Granny Smith-leaning, and was bred to keep deep into winter. They are designed to cover different halves of the season.

EverCrisp, comfortably — it was bred specifically for storage and commonly holds three to four months at home against SnapDragon’s six to eight weeks.

The textures differ too. EverCrisp is dense and hard and shears; SnapDragon has Honeycrisp’s large cells and bursts. EverCrisp is the winter apple; SnapDragon is the autumn one.

Honeycrisp is the obvious answer, being its parent and sharing the texture. For the spiced-sweet character specifically, Ambrosia and EverCrisp are the closest things we grow.

Among club varieties you may see alongside it, SweeTango® is the nearest in style — another Honeycrisp child bred for crunch, from Minnesota rather than New York.

SnapDragon apple trees can be grown in suitable climates (zones 5-8), but as a managed variety, tree availability for home planting may be limited.

As with any apple variety, SnapDragon apples may require attention to pest and disease management typical of their growing region.

Generally, SnapDragon apple trees begin to produce fruit within 4 to 6 years after planting.

Not freely, and this is the honest answer rather than the one people want. SnapDragon is a managed variety: New York Apple Growers LLC holds the exclusive North American licence, and commercial trees go to member growers.

Some nurseries occasionally offer trees to home growers under licence, but availability is limited and varies by year. Ask a licensed fruit-tree nursery directly. We are a fruit farm, not a nursery — we ship apples, not trees.

It has one well-documented quirk: the tree is less vigorous than growers would like, which makes filling a trellis slower and puts a premium on good rootstock choice and early training.

That improvement was part of the point of the cross.

Another apple variety flowering at the same time — Gala, Fuji, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith or most flowering crabapples.

Avoid Mutsu, Jonagold and Gravenstein as the pollen partner: those are triploid varieties with sterile pollen and cannot pollinate anything.

You can grow a tree, but it will not be a SnapDragon. Apples do not come true from seed — every pip is a fresh cross between the mother apple and whatever pollinated its blossom.

That is exactly how SnapDragon came about: a deliberate Honeycrisp × NY 752 cross in 1998, grown out from seed, with one seedling in many selected and then propagated by grafting. Propagating it yourself would also run into the licence.

SnapDragon apples were developed by Cornell University's apple breeding program in New York State, and are a managed variety with a limited number of licensed growers.

SnapDragon refers to a specific apple cultivar, though individual apples may exhibit slight variations based on growing conditions.

Developed through Cornell University's apple breeding program, SnapDragon apples represent innovation in apple cultivation aimed at superior taste, texture, and storage.

NY 1. That is the breeding designation Cornell gave the selection, and SnapDragon® is the trademarked name it is sold under. Its sibling in the same announcement, RubyFrost®, is NY 2.

Worth stating plainly because the point is widely garbled online, including in the version of this page we are replacing: NY 1 is SnapDragon itself, not one of its parents. Cornell announced both names on 1 August 2013.

Honeycrisp crossed with NY 752, an advanced Cornell selection that is not sold commercially under a name of its own. NY 752 traces back through Golden Delicious and a Monroe × Melrose cross.

The Honeycrisp side is where the crunch comes from. The NY 752 side is where the spice, the better storage life and the reduced bitter-pit problem come from — which is rather the point of the cross.

Susan Brown, professor of horticulture at Cornell University, working at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, New York — one of the longest-running fruit breeding programmes in the United States.

The cross was made in 1998. The selection was then evaluated for roughly fifteen years before the SnapDragon name was announced in 2013, which is a normal timescale for an apple and a reminder that nothing about this is quick.

Yes. New York Apple Growers LLC holds the exclusive North American licence, and growers join the group to plant it. That is why SnapDragon is overwhelmingly a New York apple and why you will not find it in every store.

It is the same model as EverCrisp, Cosmic Crisp and Pink Lady® — and the reason a club apple costs more than a commodity one.

Three reasons stack up. It is a licensed variety with a limited number of growers. Those growers are concentrated in New York. And it is picked in a narrow late-September window, so the genuinely fresh supply is short even in a good year.

Demand is also strongly seasonal — searches for SnapDragon run roughly fifteen times higher in October than in August. Everyone wants it at once, for about six weeks.

No. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon is a mobile processor, and the two share nothing but a word. If you have landed here looking for a phone chipset, you have found a fruit farm in New York.

The apple’s name comes from its crunch — the snap. It was chosen by New York Apple Growers when the NY 1 selection was brought to market in 2013.

No. SnapDragon was produced by conventional cross-pollination — pollen from one apple tree moved to the blossom of another, the resulting seeds grown out, and the best seedling selected and propagated by grafting. That is how nearly every apple you have ever eaten was made.

It is a slow business rather than a laboratory one: the cross was made in 1998 and the apple reached the market in 2013. No genetic engineering is involved at any stage.

No, though the confusion is understandable — both are managed varieties with a Honeycrisp parent. SweeTango® is the market name for the cultivar Minneiska, bred at the University of Minnesota. SnapDragon is NY 1, bred at Cornell in New York.

Different breeders, different states, different apples. They are half-siblings at most, through the Honeycrisp side.

Honeycrisp.com is an excellent choice for sourcing SnapDragon apples, offering farm-fresh apples delivered directly to your door.

Look for apples that are firm, have a smooth, vibrant skin without significant blemishes, and feel heavy for their size.

Yes, their sturdy nature allows for effective shipping, ensuring they reach consumers in excellent condition.

For any inquiries about SnapDragon apples or to place an order, contact Honeycrisp.com at 518-695-4517 or email [email protected].

Here, when they are picked — the listings above show exactly what is available and shipping from our farm today, with current sizes and packaging.

Because SnapDragon is a licensed New York variety picked in a narrow late-September window, supply is genuinely limited and does not last. If nothing is listed, the crop is not ready or the season has passed. Harvest Times shows where things stand; Ready to Ship lists everything leaving the farm now.

Licence and royalty costs are built into a managed variety, the grower base is small and concentrated in New York, and the tree is less vigorous than average so orchards take longer to come into full production. All three push the price up.

Bulk-style cases cost less per apple than gift boxes. Our shipping information covers packing and delivery timing.

Because SnapDragon is picked in late September and sells through quickly.

Check Ready to Ship for the varieties that are available today, or Harvest Times to see what is coming and roughly when.