I Had a Taste ... I'm a Believer

[tinlizzy]

Ambrosia - love at first bite!

 

[check6]

Sweet Tango?

Bingo! That and Pink Lady are all we purchase.

 

[powerplay]

Ambrosia is my very favorite!

 

[Fedup]

If you’re baking pies and are in New England, the absolute best are R.I. Greenings, or Gravensteins. They’re hard to find, old varieties. Tart and crisp.

I have Gravensteins in my house in the Bay Area, so is Cox Pipin. If you want it you have to grow it.

 

[Fedup]

Try Cripps Pink cultivar, which are sold under the trade name of Pink Lady.

A hundred years ago there were 7000 named varieties of apples grown in the U.S. In the nineteenth century over 15,000 varieties were cultivated in the U.S. Today just 11 varieties of apples account for 90 percent sold in the U.S.

What happened to all those varieties!? Here’s the history of apples in the United States in just 10 minutes by my current favorite online historian:

I believe I also have pink lady in my current house. I don’t know if I ever taste any fruit from my plant yet.

 

[Bestwifeever]

I like Braeburn and Honeycrisp for eating. I had a Lemonade Apple that was pretty good and am intrigued by a variety called Grape Apples. My picky friend swears by Pink Lady. I find the Red and Golden Delicious turn mealy.

Still Granny Smith for cooking.

 

[Badger]

For eating fresh I prefer Jonagold although I don't find them very often. After that the apples need to be in a pie or baked with a little honey and stuffed with walnuts.


Cheers!

 

[mrWinter]

The ripeness, or just general quality of the particular batch of apple must matter more than the cultivar. The fact that anyone would think that red delicious is the pinnacle of apple quality must mean that when I finally gave up on red delicious years ago I had just had bad streak of many thick skinned, mealy, crumbly, not sweet red delicious apples. I also just got a batch of fuji's that matched that description. Pink lady and honeycrisp tend to be better in my experience. I have no idea how to tell when an apple will be good or terrible from looking touching or smelling, maybe I need to learn. Same with pears, I feel like most end up gross but sometimes you get the jackpot and they are amazing.

 

[RunningBum]

Taste is more important to me than just how crisp an apple is. I don't mind if an apple is a little soft, as long as it's not too mushy. Every once in awhile I'll be disappointed in a batch of red dels but I'll take that chance for the taste I prefer. I agree quality isn't as consistent. I'm also pretty good at picking out apples by feel and sight, and I'm very selective. Rarely will I take my chances with a bulk bag. I've also found that some stores are a lot better than others. I'm not a Food Lion fan but somehow the couple near me have a lot better apples than any of the Kroger stores I usually shop, so I stock up at Food Lion. Luckily apples tend to stay good longer than most fruit.

 

[pacergal]

Pink Lady, Honeycrisp, and Golden Delicious for eating
Granny smith for cooking.

 

[misshathaway]

Sweet Tango?

Just tried one from a Wegmans promo. It was firm and crisp and sweet. But it did not beat a Macintosh IF you can get the Mac at the beginning of the season when they are huge and crisp, not mushy.

 

[Fedup]

Just tried one from a Wegmans promo. It was firm and crisp and sweet. But it did not beat a Macintosh IF you can get the Mac at the beginning of the season when they are huge and crisp, not mushy.

Plus they smell amazingly good. This thread brings back memory of picking in NH, nothing but McIntosh,I picked lots and lots, I ran out of place in my fridge to store apples, so I left them outside. My apartment smelled wonderful for many weeks or even months. Maybe this is why I still grow apple in my hood.

 

[happy2bretired]

Honey Crisp for me. I don’t know why but at my store the Honey Crisp season starts with nice small sized apples then later ones are much larger.

 

[Scuba]

I like Honeycrisp, Fuji, and Envy the best. Also like Gala, Pink Lady, Jazz and Golden Delicious. I find the skin of Red Delicious too bitter and agree with others that they seem mealy more often than other varieties. I won’t eat Red Delicious.

 

[Choices]

Granny Smith for baking or the ones from our backyard...no idea what they are. Galas to eat or maybe Fugi. No Red D’s.

 

[eytonxav]

Gala or Granny Smith. Agree that Red Delicious seem too mealy/mushy.

+1 my tastebuds agree, while I do prefer Granny Smith over Gala.

 

[street]

Right now my favorite is Harrelson right off of the tree. LOL I just picked a small box for the winter months.

 

[easysurfer]

I never knew there are so many different types of apples.

 

[audreyh1]

Honeycrisp then Fuji. Don’t like the flavor of Red Delicious at all. Gala - so so.

 

[jazz4cash]

Gala are old hat around here but I recently had similar transformational experience wrt Honeycrisp! Red Delicious are hard to digest for me. Golden Delicious are better. Granny Smith...fried apples, anyone?

 

[greengo523]

A good new one I have tried for the first time this fall is Gingergolds.

 

[Bestwifeever]

The ripeness, or just general quality of the particular batch of apple must matter more than the cultivar. The fact that anyone would think that red delicious is the pinnacle of apple quality must mean that when I finally gave up on red delicious years ago I had just had bad streak of many thick skinned, mealy, crumbly, not sweet red delicious apples. I also just got a batch of fuji's that matched that description. Pink lady and honeycrisp tend to be better in my experience. I have no idea how to tell when an apple will be good or terrible from looking touching or smelling, maybe I need to learn. Same with pears, I feel like most end up gross but sometimes you get the jackpot and they are amazing.

Yes, after touting Braeburn in an earlier post on this thread, I bought two and they were just terrible in both flavor and texture. Still haven’t had a bad honeycrisp, though.

 

[harllee]

For eating fresh I prefer Jonagold although I don't find them very often. After that the apples need to be in a pie or baked with a little honey and stuffed with walnuts.


Cheers!

The local orchard here in the North Carolina has Jonagolds, by far the best apple I have ever eaten. I think they are a cross between Jonathans and Golden Delicious. I have never seen Jonagold for sell in a store.

 

[Fedup]

I checked my trees are Golden Dorset Apple.

 

[Koolau]

I am NOT an expert on apples and not even a big consumer of them. However, on a very practical level, here in paradise, apples tend to be somewhat of a luxury item. It's not unusual to see them going for $2.50 a pound or even more. However, Fuji apples seem to regularly go on sale for about $1/pound AND they are very good. They last a long time. They do NOT get mealy/soft, etc. So, for the money, I would say Fuji. I realize that's a bit like saying I like Toyotas but I realize BMW and Mercedes makes better cars. Best bang for the buck and all that, I guess, so YMMV.