A person quoted in one of the articles, Tim Byrne, is someone I have occasion to drink wine with once or twice a year. The Sweet Tango variety is really going to take off, and i’m glad we can get some locally (helps that it’s a University of Minnesota-developed apple). I enjoy those and Honeycrisp for eating out of hand.
For baking in pastry, though, nothing beats Haralson for me. It is a very tart apple, which works well in pastry dishes, particularly pie. I like the flavor better than Granny Smith. I also enjoy eating Haralson out of hand, but my wife finds them to be too tart.
I’m sorry, do you mean “Zestar! ™”? The U of Mn patented this apple (as they did with Honeycrisp) but the patented name includes the exclamation point.
That’s funny. Good one. I gotta use that sometime.
I wonder if their new patented apple will have similar punctuation. It is going to be a cross between honeycrisp and some Arkansas apple. Read about it in that StarTrib article up thread. Maybe it will have two exclamation points or – just maybe – it will be incorrectly punctuated to cater to the Arkansas crowd (Sorry in advance to those I have offended).
the Sprouts near me must have no less than 15 apple varieties in stock right now. I picked-up two each of the following varieties that I’ve never tried (or don’t recall trying):
Cortland
Macoun
SweeTango
Envy
Cameo
Pippin
Ambrosia
Rome
I tried a Cortland last night: the texture was pretty soft and a touch mealy, which suggests to me that the apple was picked a bit too late. Although the flavor was good, it was a bit too similar to Red Delicious for me to be interested in buying it again.
Had a Pink Lady this evening: Quite nice, refreshing juiciness with a nice balance of sweetness and acidity, but didn’t have the nice crunchy crispness of Honeycrisp. A good apple, though.
Had a brand new apple (to me) tonight: Opal (http://www.opalapples.com/). Crisp, sweet, juicy. These are yellow-skinned apples that supposedly resist oxidation when cut (no browning of the flesh). But the slices weren’t around long enough for me to test it out. Really liked this apple for snacking.
Honeycrisp by a mile. Used to only like Granny Smith’s due to their firm texture, but the Honeycrisp which I first had about 5-6 years ago has been a revelation.
HoneyCrisp is definitely my favorite. Snapdragon is quite good and should only get better as the variety matures… Ruby Frost is also quite good… Both of those were developed by Cornell here in Geneva and just are hitting the market.
I used to be a total Honeycrisp fanboy, but after a half dozen or so SweeTango recently, they’re my new apple b.f.f. by a longshot. Crunchy crisp, juicy, tangy and sweet at the same time. If you get a good one it’s just about the perfect apple.
They can still be frustratingly hard to find. I haven’t had one yet and my wife keeps bragging about how she bought some a few months ago. Since then I haven’t seen them anywhere…
Yikes, what an assortment! I’ve never seen so many apples offered for sale; one of them, Cox’s Orange Pippin, is highly regarded in England for fresh eating. Locally, we have the Albemarle Pippin, much favored by Thomas Jefferson.
I like Arkansas Black, but would not consider it tart or crisp comparatively. It is certainly a dense apple that keeps longer than other varieties, though.
Bumping an 8yr old thread on Apples because some good ones are out right now-
Organic Kanzi apples are around for a little bit right now and my favorite- Juicy, crunchy, good skin, less $ and more consistent than the Honeycrisps I’ve been getting most of the year.
Organic SweeTangos had what seemed to be a micro-season this year but were mostly superb.
Organic Envy’s are out now and are also excellent (thicker skinned than most)
For those looking for some good apple info but in a humorous context (may be vulgar for some), check out https://applerankings.com (you need to click into the apple name for the full tasting notes).
(Sorry in advance to those I have offended).
