Needs a pollinator.
Grows in zones 5 to 9
A bright green, crisp, hard apple, with a very tart taste. However, served slightly chilled it can also be very refreshing, and works well in salads and baking. The flavor sweetens in storage.

Like all the best old varieties it has a bizarre history, being discovered in Australia in the 1860's as a seedling growing in the remains of a compost pile. The true parentage is still unknown, but is possibly French Crab. The discoverer - a Mrs Maria Smith found that the apple was versatile for cooking and eating, and was involved in spreading its popularity. Her apple orchard was located in Eastwood, now in the City of Ryde, Sydney. In an inspired piece of marketing she called the new apple Granny Smith. By the 1960s Granny Smith was practically syonymous with 'apple' and the variety was used by the Beatles as the logo for their company 'Apple Records'.

One of the first international varieties, a role for which it was well suited. The tough skin and amazing keeping qualities meant it could easily be shipped around the world.
It came to the US, where the famous Grady Auvil, from Washington gave it a start in the commercial apple industry, and made it popular.

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My favorite variety of apples for baking.

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