Sherry wrote:

”Apples and all other fruit and vegetables are grown to ship, not for taste.”

Somewhere out there is a good essay on tomatoes (good shipping tomatoes) by Hamilton Jordan. I think it appeared in the NYT Magazine, way back. It was accompanied by an architectural-like drawing of a tomato.

Anyone want to race me to finding it?

I agree. Red delicious... the way they used to be...tasted like the best apple. But then they got mealy and the skins too tough and they became the worst. We have a very old apple tree that we don't tend but will occasionally give good apples. Those old fashioned, unadulterated red delicious are so wonderful! Now my faves are gala and fuji. But there are other good ones. Not a fan of macs and granny smiths as they are too tart for me.

Any apple in my hand or on my plate that's mushy and not crisp is the worst.

Oh, what I wouldn't give for an old fashioned Washingto red delicious apple! They were SO good! And shipped fine to Southern California. But they weren't happy in long term cold storage. Now they all have the worst effects of too long in the friedge fresh from the store and dare to lure people into buying their awful selves.

But... there's worse. I don't know the names because there are so many. I try a lot of newer varieties and try to remember the good ones.

The malum that Eve picked.

Early macs (MacIntosh) are good, a bit tart and snappy. They are good to include in applesauce or pie filling bc they break down and add to the sauce background. I usually bake apple pies with Macs and Cortlands.

Any apple that is old or improperly stored, but especially modern Red Delicious and closely followed by Golden Delicious. The tough skins I'm guessing is part of selecting for durability in shipping. New crop of any variety is usually better, and the shorter the shipping distance the better.

The same apple fresh from a tree is a different beast. Frequently you can get good ones at the Farmer's markets with local sourcing restrictions.

Red Delicious is the worst - mushy and lousy flavor.

I like Minnesota apples: Honeycrisp and First Kiss. At our last house we had a Haralred (a Haralson variety), that made wonderful pies.

Our current house has 2 apple trees. When I asked the previous owner what kind of apples they were, he replied "One is red, one is green". Both have a lot of flavor, and are nicely crisp.

Green ones are the worst.

I’m probably in the minority, but I won’t eat a honey crisp - too crispy for me (like it’s not ripe yet) plus I can’t taste any sweetness (honey) at all.

I love very tart apples, and actually sort-of like crab apples. 😄 There was a tree across the road from my childhood home, and I used to love eating them.

Everyone seems to agree red delicious are garbage now. I had one a few years ago from a fruit basket left by a vendor at work, and it was inedible. But it sure was a pretty apple.

Honeycrisp. Wayyyy too sweet. :(

I agree about Red Delicious - those were the apples of my childhood but I haven't bothered buying them in many years. Granny Smith's are too tart for my tastebuds. I've been enjoying organic Pink Lady apples - I use them to saute with shallots and spinach. We don't eat a lot of raw fruit.

At least granny smiths are still granny smiths. :) I use a combination of granny smiths and something red skinned and something sweet for pies or apple sauce. Well, for pies for the more complex flavor. For applesauce, to have enough apples, but also because that way the apples aren't too tart, or two sweet or not apply enough. And then if they aren't all perfect the others cover for them. :)

"Worst" is subjective. I'd take a bland Red Delicious any day over the sickeningly sweet (IMO) ones that are on the market now. Honeycrisp for example. I don't like any apple that is on the sweet side, and I get a bad aftertaste from many apples. The perfect apple for me is a good dose of tartness tempered with just enough sweetness to take the edge off. My favorites are McIntosh and Pink Lady.

I'm growing some apples in my home orchard that I've never tasted before, taking it on faith that I'll like them based on the descriptions -- namely, Northern Spy, Rubinette, and Akane. I also have McIntosh and Early Pink Lady trees.

Northern Spy is a good apple.

How Honeycrisp Apples Went From Marvel to Mediocre

An investigation into the Honeycrisp apple and how a complex string of events led to a decline in the quality of a beloved apple variety.

🍎https://apple.news/ArcM8bEx6TgOflsthvSqTvQ

“It was a chilly Saturday morning in October, and at my local grocery store, shoppers were browsing the apple selection: piles of Gala, Pink Lady, Golden Delicious, Fuji, Snapdragon, and Honeycrisp beckoned. I lingered over the organic Honeycrisps, pausing to look at the $3.99-per-pound price tag, before filling my produce bag with several conventional Galas, which sold for a more reasonable $1.69 per pound. Though I had my heart set on the Honeycrisps, I’d recently had one too many bland, mealy ones with none of the fruit’s signature snap and sweet, tangy flavor, and I was unsure if I was ready to take that risk again, especially given the price.

It would have been an easier decision if Honeycrisps were as good today as they used to be. I first tasted one 10 years ago, standing at my mother-in-law’s kitchen counter in St. Louis on a cool September day. I grasped the rosy fruit she handed me and took a bite. The apple’s paper-thin skin produced an audible crunch, and a burst of sweet, tart juice immediately filled my mouth. I chewed carefully. I couldn’t recall the last time I ate an apple for pleasure, ”

Excerpt From

“The Surprising Story Behind the Rise and Fall of Honeycrisp Apples”

Genevieve Yam

Serious Eats

https://apple.news/ArcM8bEx6TgOflsthvSqTvQ

This material may be protected by copyright.

I wish I knew the name. I just remembered a couple of apples with a new name that I got from the farm last year that were awful. At least the mealy red delicious taste like apples. I think the skin was pale pink.

I certainly agree about red delicious. Yuck. I dont care for pink lady either. Granny smiths are fine for pies and such. I've been enjoying cosmic crisp. Its kind of what honey crisp used to be. Large, crispy, and sweet. I have been enjoying them wedged with grapes and orange wedges and crackers on a football tray. Margaritas are also welcome.

Yup - Red Delicious might look lovely, but they're soft and too sweet.

It seems like when Honeycrisp became the new darling of apples, each year after that a newer, better variety of that apple would come out.

My main interest in apples is for making pies. One time I had some Fortune apples recommended by my go to produce market. It was the best pie I ever made and I haven't seen those apples since. Now usually McIntosh and Ida Reds are the best I can get for pies.

I agree that Red Delicious are anything but! Ick!

I totally agree about Red Dlicious (and Golden Delicious as well). When I was a child sixty years ago, they were my favourite, and they were very good. Now they’re just floury and bland. My favourite eating apples are Pink Lady, with Granny Smiths for cooking.

@petalique that story was really interesting about Honeycrisp. I can't recall if I ever liked them...some of the newer ones are a little too sweet for me. About the same time, Braeburns appeared and they were my perfect apple. They've now disappeared, too, except sometimes I find NZ grown ones in the market, fresh from their summer/fall harvest when our Washington apples have been in storage for 6 months. I'm always happy when I can find them.

Oh, no, Braeburns are no more? boo hoo

My least favorite is the Honeycrisp, they are just sweet with no apple flavor and if they've been stored a minute too long they are soft.

I have a couple of Red Delicious trees and when they are fresh, right off the tree, they are the best apple I've ever eaten. Pick it and leave it in the refrigerator for a couple of days and it becomes bland and mealy, it definitely is not a storage apple.

I just made a Dutch apple pie with some fresh and local Empire apples. That was my Grandma's favorite for pies along with Ida Red and Wolf River. My old Wolf River tree is older than I am but it still has some amazing apples for cooking. If you cut it, though, it will oxidize almost instantly so I slice it into water with a crushed vitamin C tablet.

MacIntosh still tastes like it used to and I like the slightly tart flavor, but the best use for a Mac is applesauce, IMO.

Annie

Mmm - I guess I'd better ask my DH. I buy the cheapest apples between those grown in BC and Washington. I only eat green apples and do have to go outside of the country for those, I really don't like red apples of any sort.

I like Staymen or Macintosh for baked apples.

It's funny, when I was a child, Red Delicious was all there was. I used to be a Honeycrisp fan, but they aren;t the same anymore. I've been buying Cosmic Crisps lately. Going to a farmer's market is like going to a candy store. I buy one of each variety--there are dozens.

@faftris, I have also been buying Cosmic Crisp lately for eating. In the past 10-20 years I’ve experienced much the same as the rest of you. Gala, Honeycrisp, and Pink Lady were one-time favorites but they all have become blah over the years. As a kid I liked Golden Delicious and recall it left a better mouth feel and taste than anything else. The few times I have ever eaten a Red Delicious I didn’t like them at all. I don’t like to eat tart apples or very sweet ones either.

I always struggle with what combination of apples to buy for a pie. I’ve read many times that a combination is usually better than using one single variety. Usually I buy whatever is a little tart along with something that will give the juiciness to the filling. Publix has signs that describe each apple (tart, sweet, etc).

Not many apples are grown for consumer use in the south so most are shipped in. There are a few orchards around, but my favorite place is quite a drive from here and up a curvy mountain road. It seems ‘disappointing’ describes so many apples, I wonder why growers haven’t caught on to what consumers really want.

Perhaps they're really fighting to sell to big prossesors for industrial food products and just sell the pretty apples to consumers as a side gig.

I like Empire apples. They taste a lot like MacIntosh, but have a much crunchier texture.

Maybe. But the US isn’t the big cheese it once was. Maybe the appples are designed for shipping or faster growth turnaround. Maybe there are many less discrimination consumers elsewhere around the globe, and what plllog just remarked on.

Rapid production of 3rd rate apple material.

American consumers are apathetic, by and large. Either run ragged working several jobs, or clicking and tik tokking away mindlessly. Look at the clown car parked next to the wrecking balls.

Have they (food industry) mucked up green beans, chickpeas, lentils and butternut squash yet?

“I have also been buying Cosmic Crisp lately for eating.”

Same here.👍🏻

How about horse apples?

Yum. Horse apples with horse chestnuts.

Agree about Red Delicious, and I would add that Granny Smiths don’t taste like they used to. Or, my tastebuds are changing.

I’m not an apple fan, but I do go to an orchard in the fall for fun. I then make my maternal grandmother’s crepe recipe and top it with apple caramel sauce from the Better Homes and Garden cookbook that my paternal grandmother gifted me 30+ years ago.

eta Carol, we call horse apples hedge apples. There’s a house a few miles from me with a tree near the street that drops them. I try to grab a few (from the street) for fall decor.

I read recently that part of the problem is climate change. The apples are growing too fast or something like that.

feathers - those are 2 different things. Hedge apples fall from an Osage Orange tree in the fall. Horse apples fall from a horse's butt.

“Horse apples fall from a horse's butt.”

Those are road apples!

Dogs love them.

Rox - only in Amish areas. Horses should wear diapers when on a road.

LoneJack, I took this picture in Lac La Biche, AB.

Definitely not Amish 🤠

Speaking of apples and horses, this is an apple tree that grew in our old horse pasture. We never knew it was there until recently. We used to feed our horses apples, and figure that it grew from their droppings. 🤷‍♀️

eta Sorry Petalique for wandering.

^^^ wandering is good.

Would you rather have a whoopie pie or a moose pie?

There’s an apple tree in the village cemetary where my family has a plot or two. I have no idea what sort of apples they are except they are delicious and the apples don’t get apple worms. My sister and I picked bags full of them for pie making and took them to my father’s house. He said that he didn’t want to eat any pie made from death apples. The pie was delicious and you bet he had more than one slice. I should learn how to take a slip or two and propagate the tree.

Now my parents are food for the apples. Maybe I should make a 4 hour trip to pick some. 500 miles at $4.30/ gal = an expensive pie.

Other apple varieties that I like are McCouns (spelling), Russet, Empire. I love apples.

The worst apple varieties are the ones my local squirrels go after and clean out the trees before they're even close to being ripe.. Maybe I should plant a Red Delicious tree? nyuk.

I was wondering will cooking today if the too sweet new apple varieties are for the people who refuse sugar but are fine with apple sugar...

I have a couple of new apples. One is Sweetie, which I've heard of byt haven't tried yet. The other is beautiful and plump and called Daisy Girl.

Red Delicious and most apples need to be fresh off the tree…we go to the orchards each fall, and pick and eat. During the you pick events. Cortland and Gravensteins are my favourite…

My rule of thumb for pie is one-half Golden Delicious, one-quarter Granny Smith and one-quarter Gala or Jazz.

Northern Spy is our favorite pie and eating apple -- if and when we can find fresh ones. Many of its trees have matured and died out in Pennsylvania and New York and have been replaced with tasteless and textureless new-fangled hybrids. (The only Red Delicious I ever liked was handed to me immediately after being picked from its tree.)

Garrison Keillor in "Lake Wobegone Days" posited that supermarket tomatoes are strip-mined in Texas...

Very funny ^^^