Katy

Katy is one of the best early apple varieties. It is very reliable, producing large quantities of attractive red apples, regardless of the weather or the horticultural ability of the owner. The tree grows in a neat and tidy fashion and rarely needs pruning.

The spring blossom is particularly attractive, and usually quite long-lasting, making it an excellent pollinator for many other apple varieties.

The apples are medium-sized, usually pink/red to bright red in colour over a light green yellow background. The flesh is a pale cream colour, and has a firm and fairly crisp consistency – although not as crisp as later apple varieties. Like most early apples, the flavour is on the sharper side, with a hint of strawberry in a good year. It is usually very juicy, and when fresh from the tree the juice goes everywhere as you bite into it.

Katy is a very versatile apple. If you get too many to eat (which is the usual situation with Katy), then it is an excellent variety for juicing, and it can be used for baking, unusually for a mainstream eating apple. Katy is also a popular apple with children, the size makes it ideal as a healthy school snack, and whilst you might think children would only eat very sweet apples, in tasting tests they seem to like the slight sharpness in Katy.