From the Living Museum
Vanilla Pippin
- Origin
- Probably California's central coast (an abandoned orchard near Santa Cruz, by unverified reports)
- Type / use
- Dessert (uncertain)
Portrait to be revealed
History & Stories
The name suggests possible vanilla or aromatic notes. Rare variety whose uniqueness will be clarified by tasting fruit from my trees.
Folklore & Name
Name suggests possible vanilla or aromatic notes. Rare variety with limited published detail. Tasting and documentation from my trees recommended.
Digging into the History
Below my own notes, here is what the old fruit books and today’s collections record about this apple, kept apart from the stories people tell.
What we know
Very little is recorded. An apple-tasting blog reviewed Vanilla Pippin in 2015, describing a low-acid apple with "a good deal of cane sugar," and noted that some sources place the original tree in an abandoned orchard near Santa Cruz, California 1. Maple Valley Orchards lists it in its scionwood catalogue 2.
The competing accounts
- An apple-tasting blog, 2015 1: some sources place the first tree in an abandoned orchard near Santa Cruz, California.
- A reader's comment on the same blog 1: found in 1997 at Chittenden, California, on a 1930s homestead, where a Red Delicious rootstock had taken over.
Most likely (our judgment, not a certainty): a chance find in an old orchard on California's central coast. Both stories point to the same small area, but neither is a published record.
What we think: stories & traditions
A found tree (unverified). A reader of that blog commented that they found the apple in 1997 in an abandoned orchard at Chittenden, California, on an old family homestead planted in the 1930s. In their account, the tree was a Red Delicious whose rootstock had taken over and fruited 1. This is one person's comment, not a published record, but it is the only origin story we found.
Sources
- Adam's Apples, "Vanilla Pippin" (review and reader comments), 2015. adamapples.blogspot.com/2015/10/vanilla-pippin-apple-review-tasting.html
- Maple Valley Orchards, 2026 Scionwood and Tree List. maplevalleyorchards.com/content/Misc/2026%20Scionwood%20and%20Tree%20List.pdf
Curious about Vanilla Pippin?
Email us at drgoss@honeytreeorchard.com.