Description
Keepsake is an irregular-shaped, mostly red apple over a yellow skin. Its light-yellow flesh is dense and juicy, and it has a sweet, spicy flavor. It is good for fresh eating and cooking. This late-season apple keeps well, storing up to six months.
Discovered: 1978, Minnesota
Parentage: Frostbite x Northern Spy
Harvest: Late Season
History
Keepsake was developed in 1978 at the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of Minnesota, a cross of Frostbite and Northern Spy. It is a sibling of Sweet Sixteen, and both apples gain a complex sweetness from their Frostbite parent. Frostbite, which was only introduced in 2008, has flavor that has been compared to molasses or sugar cane.