The Sweet Sixteen is crisp and juicy, has an exotic yellow flesh, mixed with red.[4] It is very sweet, with an unusual flavor of sugar cane, or spicy cherry candy.

Malinda x Northern Spy. Red striped, conic fruit up to three inches. Aromatic, moderately acid, firm, crisp, cream colored flesh with high sugar content. Unique, pleasing, faintly nutty flavored cooking apple. Rates high as a pie and sauce apple; also an excellent dessert apple. Handles and stores well. Early bearing, late blooming tree with moderately spreading, vigorous habit. Dependable, annual bearer. Resistant to scab and fire blight. Extremely cold hardy variety. Can withstand -50 degrees F.

The Sweet Sixteen apple was developed at the University of Minnesota in 1977.