I am so tired of mushy, grainy apples!

[Beausoir]

I detest Granny Smith's because they are way too tart and taste like bile.

I've tried Braeburns and they are mushy.


What do I have to do to get a good, crisp, sweet and juicy apple?

Are "they" ruining apples too? Just like they ruined pork with the breeading out of fat in the meat? Are they engineering all the taste out of apples??

[graywarrior]

1. Macs. They're the only choice.

[MissMillie]

18. Yep.... and pick them fresh if you can

They make good pies too.

[TimeChaser]

2. Fuji apples are wonderful

:D

[huskerlaw]

5. I second Fuji apples

as for availability, I used to live in bumblefrick Nebraska...and we could get them at the very tiny local grocery store.

[Beausoir]

6. OK..two votes for Fuji. I'll look for them tomorrow. Thanks!

[dolo amber]

29. Make that three votes

Fujis rock. :thumbsup:

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

38. Four!

I hate the grainy, tasteless stuff (mostly from Argentina) they peddle here. Fuji and Gala (if such a thing exists there) are your apples of choice.

Now, should I depress you people by saying how much they COST here in Brazil? Yeah, I should. About 50¢ a pound. Die of envy, suckas.

[Sequoia]

39. Five!

Sliced with cheese and crackers. Granny Smith for pies and turnovers.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

3. Pink Lady Apples

And buy organic.

[MrCoffee]

20. Pink Lady apples are the bestest apples going.

[SoyCat]

22. I love pink lady apples and pinova apples. It's hard to find pinovas.

[Beausoir]

4. I have to add.. I live in rural Minnesota..so we don't get alot of variety

please keep that in mind.

But thanks for the rec's!

[Zomby Woof]

7. I like Golden Delicious

Fujis are good too.

[grasswire]

8. here's one hint

When you are at the market, don't buy an apple that isn't cold to the touch. The cold ones just came out of storage and haven't had time to get mushy. You also could ask the produce clerk for some "new crop" apples.

[catzies]

9. I third Fujis. It's everything you're looking for in an apple:

Good - check

Crisp - check

Sweet - check

Juicy - check

And not grainy and mushy either!

[Zomby Woof]

10. You're fourthing them!

:evilgrin: See the text of my post. :bounce: :hi:

[Puglover]

11. Look for "Honey Crisp"

They just are now showing up in the stores. They are heaven.

[hippywife]

26. I second the Honeycrisps!

They're a tad pricey but really good. One of the best I've ever eaten.

To the OP: it's just now coming into the season for apples. Give it a little time and you should get a better apple...hopefully. Try some farm markets near you if there are any.

[Beausoir]

35. Bought some Honey Crisps yesterday. They are delicious.

They almost have a perfume to them. Sounds funny...but they have many different layers to their tast.

Very VERY good.

[ScreamingMeemie]

12. Gala and Pink Lady..perhaps even Fuji.

Come for a visit to Michigan!

[miss_american_pie]

13. Granny Smiths and Braeburns make great pie

We snack on galas.

[eyesroll]

14. 1. Go to a farmer's market.

2. Buy the apples there.
3. If you're in an area without farmer's markets, or in an area where apples don't grow, try organic apples (buy one of each variety -- there probably won't be many == until you find one you like) at your supermarket.

Too many of the apples in the supermarket are bred for appearance and shippability, not taste. (C.f. "Red Delicious.") So, yes. They are ruining apples.

I can work with lean pork. Can't do much with a tasteless apple.

[Fleshdancer]

15. I'm a gala fan myself

good luck in your apple quest.

[Beausoir]

16. Woot! Just finished a Fuji!

Crisp...check.
Juicy...check.
Sweet...check.

I bought the last 3 in the supermarket.

I also bought something called Honey Crisp. Sounds promising.

[TimeChaser]

24. Glad you liked the Fujis

I've never had Honey Crips, be sure to tell us what you think of them :hi:

[MorningGlow]

17. Empire

Crunchy and sweet. NY apples rock. (I am biased, though.)

[bleedingheart]

19. Grannies are for baking...not for eating unless you are my kids

who love that tart taste...

I like Fijis and Galas...

[yellowdogintexas]

28. wimps. put some salt on that Granny Smith and enjoy!!! nt

[Silver Swan]

21. Snow apples seem to be rare now

Snow apples were my favorties but are hard to come by, so McIntosh are what I usually get.

IMO, Red Delicious do not deserve to be called apples.

[Xipe Totec]

23. Move to New England

Get them fresh from the tree.

The experience is indescribably delicious.

My favorite is Empire,
but there's also Mc Coon, Orange Pipin, Strawberry apples, and of course Macintosh,

What you are eating is last years crop on its very last legs.

:puke:

[Gormy Cuss]

31. Empire is a great apple.

I like Macouns too. In colonial times there were dozens of apple varieties planted, some for fresh eating, some for canning or drying, and some for storing in the cold cellar all winter.
There were varieties planted specifically because they didn't ripen until late November -- that would be the last fresh fruit those colonists saw for months.

I spent many a fall weekend at Apple Festivals in New England and upstate New York.

[CTyankee]

36. Here in CT a favorite is Macoun's

I haven't seen the Orange pippen or the Strawberry apple. When should I buy Macoun's?

[Xipe Totec]

40. They are in season right now.

http://www.apples-ne.com/newapplevarieties.html

But you have to check the individual orchard to make sure.

http://northernnewengland.com/appleorchards/index.shtml

[wbattle]

25. Gala or Fuji

A New Zealand Gala - that's GAL-uh, not GAY-luh, for sticklers - blows all other apples away. A Fuji comes close. Pay the extra 20 cents per pound and savor them.

US commercial agribusiness wants produce that can be harvested by machine and stay fresh enough to travel long distances. Taste is secondary, if considered at all. Local suppliers, you ask? Here in SoCal, that's long gone.

[yellowdogintexas]

27. glad you liked the Fuji. Also highly recommend:

Gala and Royal Gala
Honey Crisp
Pink Lady

and the new fall crops will be in soon, this is high apple season in most places in the continental US.

[LynzM]

30. Fuji and JonaGold

Local, if you can, particularly straight off the tree. Bagged apples from the store are often mushy and grainy... not to do with the *kind* of apple, but how long they've been there and how they've been proccessed enroute. :hi:

[tigereye]

32. J0nathans are my favorite

crisp and tart. Yum.

[Tracer]

33. Luckily, I live close to several apple orchards ...

... and each fall we love to go and get:

Macintosh, Macoun and Paula Red.

The last one is probably a local variety, but is something like an extra tart Macintosh.

[u4ic]

34. Gala, and if you can find them, Orins

Orins are divine; especially the Japanese ones (also grown in B.C., don't know about the US). I've never had such a delicious apple in my life.

[mainegreen]

37. Black Oxford!

From my hometown:
http://www.fedcoseeds.com/trees/apples/oxford.htm

[NorthernSpy]

41. my folks have one of those...

It's a winter apple, so you have to store it until about Christmas. That can be problematic for home growers.

But if you can handle the storage requirements, it's definitely worth it! Perfectly balanced flavor -- far better than the usual Macs and Cortlands and (shudder!) Granny Smiths on offer in the markets as "cooking apples".

Black Oxford also dries very well, and retains its excellent flavor while dried. Store-bought dried apples tend to be weak-tasting and rubbery. Dried Black Os are candy-like and addictive.

I should point out that Black Oxford, like a lot of apples, is better when grown in a cold climate. Apples are notorious for losing flavor and complexity when grown in warmer places.

[NorthernSpy]

42. Sweet Sixteen: a fresh eating apple that will blow your mind!

For fresh eating, Sweet Sixteens are my absolute favorite apple. They are dearly prized here in Maine; when you see them, you have to buy right then, because the entire crop sells out almost immediately. They have all the usual characteristics of a good cold-climate eating apple: juicy; crisp (but denser than Honeycrisp -- another fantastic apple, as you know); very sweet, but never insipid, and with just the right level of tartness.

But what really sets Sweet Sixteens apart is their intense, one-of-a-kind flavor, which is more like cherry candy than anything else. Mind blowing -- one of the few apples that makes you want to eat several right away.

I'm surprised that you don't have these all over the place in Minnesota. Sweet Sixteen was developed in Minnesota.

Could be that this apple is rare because the trees are so late to come into bearing that growers don't want to fool with it. My parents have a had a Sweet Sixteen tree for about a decade, and it only started blooming this year. That's a pretty long wait.

If you want a great all-purpose apple, I'd recommend buying Northern Spys whenever you see them. Vastly better flavor and texture than Macs, and there is no better apple for pies. BTW, Northern Spy is a parent of Sweet Sixteen.

The usual disclaimer applies: these are cold-climate apples, and their flavor is better when they are grown in a cold place. If grown in a warm, gentle climate, they might become insipid and uninteresting. Apples are funny like that.