The Wolf River apple, dating back to the 1880s, was named after the place where it was first grown, near the Wolf River in Wisconsin. William Springer from Quebec, Canada planted seeds of an Alexander apple near his new farm in Fremont, and the Wolf River was born!

Most notable, perhaps, for its good looks and huge size, it sometimes weighs upwards of one pound. Wolf Rivers are a light red in color with red striping and swatches of light yellow/green. Their pale yellow flesh is coarse and somewhat juicy. These tart apples are most useful as a cooking apple, especially for apple butter and sauce.

Wolf Rivers are ready for harvest in September and do not keep well; they're best eaten fresh off the tree.

Most apple seeds do not reliably reproduce a similar apple tree which is why modern horticulture relies on grafting to propagate varieties. Wolf River is among the few apple varieties that produce, from seed, a tree close to that of its parent.