Orchard · Apple
Cinnamon Girl Apple
Malus domestica 'Cinnamon Girl'
Spicy aromatic Vermont wild-seedling apple
Live plant sales are dormant for winter. Pickup returns April 1, 2027.
Local pickup only in Cumming, Iowa, April 1 to October 1, by appointment. Trees do not ship. Details
- Guaranteed true to name
- Inspect at pickup; decline it for a full refund
- All sales final. Policy
- Hardiness
- Zone 4 to 5 at its origin; other zones untested
- Pollination
- Assume it needs a pollinator, as nearly all apples do See partners
- Ripens
- Early, just after Yellow Transparent
Check your ZIP
At a glance
- Format
- A grafted Cinnamon Girl Apple tree in an air-pruned container. A named cultivar joined to a named rootstock.
- Storage
- Not a keeper. An early, soft-textured summer apple for eating fresh
- Use
- Fresh eating, baking and pastries
- Flavor and texture
- A clear cinnamon flavor, which is its whole distinction. Crisp, in the manner of a slightly firmer Yellow Transparent
- Fruit
- Small to medium. Ripens early, right after Yellow Transparent
- Flesh
- White, fine-grained, sweet with cinnamon notes in aroma
- Disease
- No formal ratings. It survived untended and abused in the unsprayed wild, which points toward toughness rather than proving it
- Origin
A wild roadside seedling found in Plainfield, Vermont, selected and named by a central Vermont wild-apple selector- What is not known
- Bloom timing, ploidy and disease ratings. No trial record exists
About this variety
A wild apple that tastes of cinnamon. This one was found growing on a roadside in Plainfield, Vermont by a central Vermont wild-apple selector who has spent years sampling the seedling apples that line Vermont's back roads. He called this one the second-best he ever found, and describes a clear, distinct cinnamon flavor unlike anything else he has tasted.
An early apple, ripening just after Yellow Transparent, with a similar texture but a bit crisper.
The original tree has had a hard life: wedged too close to a dirt road and under a power line, repeatedly clipped by plow trucks and hacked back by line crews, and it keeps growing anyway. That tells you something about its vigor.
What is not known. It has only ever been one wild tree, so there is no bloom group, no ploidy, no disease rating. You are growing it for its flavor.
Growing
Where it came from
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
Cinnamon Girl Apple
Town. We know the town, city or parish, not the exact farm or tree.
Record confidence: REPORTED
See this cultivar among all origins →History and sources
Parentage. Unknown; a wild roadside seedling
Cinnamon Girl is a wild seedling apple found growing beside a dirt road in Plainfield, Vermont, and selected by a central Vermont wild-apple selector as part of a long survey of wild roadside and abandoned orchard apple seedlings across central Vermont, per the selector's own published account.
Sources. The selector's published account of a Vermont wild apple survey.
Reported. A credible third-party source, not independently verified. How we grade our records
In the kitchen
What can you make with this?
Recipes and drinks chosen for this cultivar's own flavor and texture, each written by Provenance Nursery and labeled with how well its history is documented.
Cinnamon Girl apple slices with maple yogurt dip
Fresh sliced apple served raw with a simple Vermont maple yogurt dip to showcase its own cinnamon flavor.
Role of the fruit. The dish
Prep 10 min. Cook None. Total 10 min.
Ingredients
2 Cinnamon Girl apples, sliced just before serving
1 cup plain yogurt
2 tbsp maple syrup
Pinch of salt
Method
1. Stir the yogurt, maple syrup and salt together.
2. Serve immediately alongside the sliced apple, since Cinnamon Girl is best eaten fresh soon after cutting.
Why this cultivar. Found as a wild roadside seedling in Plainfield, Vermont, Cinnamon Girl is described by its finder as having a distinct, clear cinnamon flavor unlike any other apple he had tasted, best appreciated raw rather than masked by cooking.
Evidence: D. Culinary application.
Open the full recipe page · Learn the technique: Eating fruit raw
More in the Provenance Kitchen and Kitchen School. Canning appears here only as links to tested methods. Evidence levels are explained on How we grade our records.
What arrives
Container sizes
Rootstock choices
- G.11: dwarf, about 8 to 10 ft, needs a post for life
- G.214: dwarf, about 8 to 10 ft, needs a post for life
- G.969: semi-dwarf, about 15 to 18 ft, self-supporting
Parts of the tree
- Scion. The named cultivar you ordered. It decides the fruit.
- Graft union. Keep it above the soil line when you plant.
- Rootstock. Sets the tree's size and part of its hardiness.
- Root system. Trained downward by the container.
- Air-pruned container. The plant comes in the container it grew in.
Drawing not to scale. Planting guide
Pickup, shipping and policy
Pickup
Usually ready 2 to 4 days after you order; we email you to set a time.
Inspect at pickup
Look it over when you collect it. If you do not want it, leave it and that item is refunded in full.
All sales final
Every plant leaves here correctly labeled and true to name. Cancel before pickup for a full refund. Full policy