I'm told Williams Pride is extremely good. In my conversation with Dr. Cummins, he said it was the very best apple... but only best for a day! Usually here on GW, William's Pride has done decently in the flavor review area. So, it's a very early, quite tasty, extremely disease resistant apple, but it has a very short harvest window. My first couple apples are on the tree now and hopefully I'll be able to say more in late July.
-Glenn

Zestar is quite good, very similar to Honeycrisp but much earlier. I don't grow it myself but my local pick your own grows it and I thought it was pretty good and kept decently well.

Gala and Ginger Gold are both early and good eating. The best early apples I've grown. The quality lasts longer on Gala.

The Fruitnut

I'd have to agree about Williams' Pride, especially given the added bonus of its disease resistance. I'd also look into tracking down a Lyman's Large Summer. I believe there are a few places that will graft a tree of it for you, if Cummins Nursery doesn't have it. Greenmantlenursery.com should be able to provide you with one, even if it's just a graft. Also consider Laxton's Epicure and Discovery.

John

This subject gets visited here from time to time. I've grafted a few new varieties based on recommendations given here. They are Pristine, Pixie Crunch, Monark, and Holiday. I've yet to eat any of these, though!

Our Galas are good. Many people swear by Transparents, but I have not enjoyed them here. (Are there such things as Transmothers and Transfathers and Transchildren?)

Now I'll have to find a William's Pride, too, and maybe a Ginger Gold. Running out of room on my tree, so I'll have to start grafting to some of the more established grafts.

:-)M

I remember when growing up on the farm the Gravenstein was my favoured... don't think I can grow this one in my cold zone
3?

Konrad

My favorite early apple is one I have called "Golden Nugget" but I think it may in fact be a St. Edmunds Pippin since it is completely russeted and is quite early, a week or two before Gala. It tastes just about as good as any of the great russets. I grafted a real St. Edmunds Pippin a few years ago and will soon be able to compare the two.

Scott

Ginger Gold is quite a bit earlier than Gala and I think quite good. I eat more of them than WP, but these things are very subjective. I've had people call my WP's the best apples they've ever tasted which to me is nuts- many later apples are far more complex and rich.

The neat thing about GG is that it has a very long harvesting period. I really don't think storage is an issue for early apples at all, because there are always other apples coming but a long harvest period is useful. Ginger gold can be eaten green and is a nice tart this way-no chalkiness at all. Then you can continue to harvest it for over a month as it gets sweeter and sweeter.

A lot of people are ga-ga over Gravenstein but Ginger Gold is much more grower friendly here- Grave is tough to train and slow to come into bearing- Ginger just wants to fruit and it would be hard to prune so poorly that you stopped it.

If you like ultra-sweet apples, Sansa is a nice early that is one of the sweetest apples I've ever tasted. It's very easy to grow, but has a fairly short harvest period of only a couple of weeks.

Summer apples are really yummy. I just grafted a number of the Summer apples listed in the previous posts above, i can't wait for fruit. This year my William's pride is fruiting for the first time, I await with great anticipation.

Summer apples are a big deal here in Santa Cruz county given that you have to go all the way to Anchorage, Alaska to find Summers as cool as ours. As you can imagine, we get some pretty high quality Summer apples thanks to the cool temps.

Viking: Top of the list, flavor is a cross in between lychee and rose, totally yummy, ripens late July just before Gravenstein and has a 3 week window for us here, and will keep under conventional cooling storage for about 3 weeks if picked early.

Red June: good but only because there's almost nothing around at that time of the year, ripens before Viking, early to mid July, decent flavor, goes mealy in the blink of an eye.

Atlanta: this one is yummy, but doesn't keep well. Ready in late July.

Pink pearl: yummy, pink fleshed apple, slightly tart but very aromatic, makes strawberry flavored apple juice. It comes in right around with Gravensteins, keeps very well, at least 6 weeks ripening in our climate.

Yellow transparent: early July, excellent if you don't mind waiting next to the tree for the 3 hour window when it's perfect. Picked too early makes it too sour, picked too late makes it mealy. There are far superior selections of this type of apple that have been made in Europe. Transparente de Croncels comes to mind, it's a much larger apple and it's supposed to be one of the best.

Pristine: Oh, one of my favorites, delicious, firm, crisp, ripens mid July, and keeps really well, up to 6 weeks. It becomes real fragrant and smells up the entire house.

Gravenstein: One of the best all around apples, an apple just doesn't get any better than this one when it's grown in the cooler parts of the Central Coast of California. Ours keep very well because of the lack of Summer heat, up to 3 months in cold storage. They are so fragrant and delicious, everything anyone could want in an apple.

Our Summer apples will be late this year - 58F outside as of 3PM and it's almost the 4th of July here. Burr, I wouldn't mind a little Summer feeling.

Best one here - so far - is MonArk. Sure beats the pants off Lodi. It's big, firm, crisp, juicy, tart sweet, and keeps for 6 weeks or more under refrigeration - if they ever last that long.
Just re-grafted Pristine & Williams Pride this spring, so it'll be a while before I can compare them

Axel sc: sounds like you have a pretty unique growing climate. Another early apple grown around here is Aunt Rachel and some others can be found here. I planted an Aunt Rachel and Carolina Red June in November 2007 and I am expecting apples next season.

Great feedback, thanks to all!

Axel:

I'll send you some of my 101 degrees if you'll send me some of your 58 degrees. Say, let's meet in the middle?
:)

Carla in Sac