crabapple crosses?

[PaulF]

In my hibernation state I started thinking (dangerous).

As a kid growing up in southern Oregon a neighbor had a huge fruiting crabapple. We used to gather the fruit and slingshot it at each other. During the rest breaks we would eat the apples. I really don't remember that I hated the fruit, but I do remember it was pretty sour.

I tend to like sweet tomatoes and some Tvillians say they like the complex tasting (tart) tomatoes. As for apples, I like the sweet ones better than tart, but the tart ones make better apple pies for some reason. I have noticed several recipes for crabapple butter, crabapple jam, etc.

Since crabapples are so small with not much fruit, have crabapples and other larger apples been crossed to get a bigger apple with the crabapple flavor? I really don't know much about getting a new variety of apple. Is it even possible?

I would just love to try a crabapple pie or crabapple crisp. Is all this just a wintertime pipe dream or is there such a thing?