Snowsweet® Apple

This is our first year growing Snowsweet, an introduction from the University of Minnesota around 2005. According to Bob Purvis, who provided the scion wood for our grafts, Snowsweet has the following characteristics:

Fruit Size & Texture: The apples are large, crisp, and very sweet with low acidity. The flesh is fine-grained, juicy, and does not brown when cut.

Ripening & Storage: Snowsweet ripens mid to late September in Idaho, so we expect it to ripen in Missoula in late September and in Eastern Montana in early to mid October. These apples store well, lasting at least 4 months.

Hardiness

Based on the University of Minnesota’s description, Snowsweet is expected to be comparable in hardiness to Honeycrisp and Haralson. While we have found Haralson to withstand temperatures down to -50F, we have observed Honeycrisp experiencing winter damage at around -46F, particularly when frost damage reaches the trunk. Given these observations, we conservatively estimate that Snowsweet is hardy to at least -40F.

Other Notes

Our friends at Swanson's Mountain View Orchard, which is the largest orchard in the state of Montana, have told us that their customers cannot get enough of their Snowsweet apples, which is why they are planting even more in the coming years.

Rootstock & Growth

Our Spring 2027 Snowsweet trees are grafted onto Dolgo rootstock, known for their cold hardiness, reportedly surviving temperatures down to -50F or more.

Since these Snowsweet are grafted onto full size Dolgo, plan to plant these anywhere between 16-20 ft. apart. If planted on the lower end of this spectrum, a more rigorous pruning regiment will be required.

Updates Coming Soon

Since this is still only our third year growing Snowsweet, we look forward to gaining more firsthand experience with its flavor and performance. We will update this description once we have more personal insights to share!