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York Imperial from USDA Bulletin

The York Imperial apple won't win any beauty contests. I have several in my fruit bowl right now and they all look different. They come in various shadings of red and green with brown freckles. Shape isn't uniform either--one is round, one is lopsided and one is...well, a kind of lopsided oval that's higher on one side than the other.

Beauty isn't what has kept Jonathan Jessop's York Imperial apples popular for over 150 years. It's their firmness and long keeping qualities that made them a favorite for storage and still keeps them in the high esteem of fruit processors.

See below for my recent York Sunday News column on clockmaker, engineer and fruit farmer Jonathan Jessop and his apple.

50 years ago this week, Judith Brown, a 17-year-old senior at Kennard-Dale High School, was declared the winner of York County's apple baking dessert contest. She competed against five other county high school students: Nancy Jones, Spring Grove, runner-up; Pauline Landis, Susquehannock; Harriett Shelley, Northeastern; Georgia Weigle, Central; and (remember--this is 1957) Donald Stambaugh, Northern. Even though he didn't win, Donald should be commended for entering a cooking contest in those more gender-rigid times.