They don’t keep well, they are a little soft to travel well, and they need cold weather to grow well. So… you probably can’t get good ones in New Orleans.
Opals are starting to be more common; I’m a fan, because they were bred to not turn brown quickly, and they taste pretty good as well. And they’re a cool bright yellow color.
According to Wikipedia, imported apples supplanted the McIntosh as a general purpose apple variety.
This is true, but only because Cosmic Crisps are BRAND new. They’re supposed to last longer and travel better than Honeycrisps, so they should eventually be more price-competitive.
There were a few years where I felt like grocery store Honeycrisps weren’t very good and didn’t hold a candle to orchard-picked apples. More recently, I’ve gotten a few bags from stores that were absolutely solid. I don’t know if my luck improved or frowing conditions improved or low quality producers have gotten removed from the system.
If you don’t like Capitalism, why don’t you visit Socialist Cuba or North Korea and see what the quality of apples that are available there is IF there are any available at all. Capitalism means that there are 5 or 6 other varieties available to choose from if for some reason you don’t like Red Delicious.
Honeycrisps are pretty good - crisp is probably my #1 requirement for an apple, and the flavor is sweet with an undertone of tartness.
After years of the mushy reign of Red Delicious, it’s nice to see alternatives becoming widely available. We have a large u-pick orchard and fruit mart located not far away with opportunities for further taste testing.
Nobody really likes Red Delicious apples because they’re the biggest sham ever foisted on the apple eating public. Anyway, if you are reading this and you have never gone to an apple orchard during apple season, you need to put it on your bucket list. The difference between fresh orchard apples and supermarket ones is quite remarkable both in quality and variety. (even Red Delicious are good from an orchard, but their flavor disappears after a week off of the tree)
You seem nice.
Belle de Boskoop, you guys. Belle. De. Boskoop.
Contrary to many descriptions, I find that they’re not the best-keeping apple, tending to get a little mealy and/or soft around this time of year. But if you find fresh-picked ones in October or November, buy a bushel and eat them all.
Made me literally laugh out loud.
The great thing - to my mind - about honeycrisps is that the skin doesn’t taste chalky when you bake them. So I can make an apple pie in no time at all, just slice 'em up and toss 'em in a crust. My favorite for eating is Pink Lady. If I am cooking pork with apples, then I want Jazz, which have a warmer, more cidery flavor. And if I want to slice up an apple to eat with cheddar or peanut butter, then I want a winesap or a cortland. On rare occasions I get a craving for Granny Smith with Gouda, but I go years in between.
I’m talking about easily available potatoes in Whole Foods, grocery stores, and greengrocers. I suppose I could take the subway uptown and shop at the artisanal potato boutiques.
I can get fingerlings pretty much anywhere, also. And the Weekly local farmer greenmarket has at least one imaginative potatowoman who offers Kennebecs, Yellow Finns, Adirondack Reds, Kerr’s Pinks, etc. If I skip a week, though, it’s back to Russet and Yukon Gold for me.
My mom likes to tell the story about one of the first times I was given an apple…it was a Red Delicious. Apparently I would take a bite, chew thoroughly, then spit the pieces of skin out.
I love Honeycrisps, but I also enjoy Fuji and Gala apples. And I always look forward to the times when the head of my company’s document control department comes back from her annual trip to the mountains with a sackful of apples fresh from the orchard to share…typically there are lots of Winesaps in there.
It has probably been said, but picking apples of any sort right from the tree is the best way to get great tasting apples. Really, any fruit is much better right off the tree or bush etc. However, I am fortunate to live in an area with great orchards that offer pick yr own all summer long.
Yeah, no grocery store apple is going to beat an orchard-picked apple, unless the grocery store is buying local apples in season. Fresh ripe apples are just a lot better than stored, shipped apples.
I’ve tried. No one grows them near me. 
Caville Blanc is an awesome cooking apple, though, if you want a nice firm white cooked slice of apple. It makes gorgeous and tasty tarts. Also very hard and rather tart.
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Caville Blanc is an awesome cooking apple, though, if you want a nice firm white cooked slice of apple. It makes gorgeous and tasty tarts. Also very hard and rather tart**
I will make note of this; I much prefer a tart apple for baking. Granny Smiths and Jonathans go into my apple crisp and apple pie, but Cavilles sound even better…
Honeycrisp are meh, to me. At my local Kroger, they sell for $2.49/lbs. Whereas I can for only $1.99/lbs get Ambrosias, which to me are sweeter and have a better texture. I eat about ten or so a week.
The Honeycrisps at Jewel (unlabeled) are okay, at Mariano’s (labeled Rainier) are sweeter.
But Cosmic Crisp!!! They appeared at Jewel for only one week and I only bought 7. I wish I’d bought two dozen. As crisp as Honeycrisp, but much sweeter! Absolutely delicious! They’d be my apple of choice for as long as they were in the store!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russet_apple
Nope! One of the orchards in Gays Mills used - still might - grow them.
For me, the best way to experience an apple is picking it from the tree while on horseback. Riding through an orchard you have every apple right at eye level.
Wow. I never heard the term before. Russeting, along with bruising or splitting is a reason for apples to end up in the pick-out bin. At the local orchard we buy bushels of pick-outs for our horses.
I’m stopping this morning at the orchard for cider, and I’ll drop the term “russeting”.
Why would they have to do that? The patent expired almost ten years ago (at least in the US). Perhaps the name “Honeycrisp” is trademarked, though that wouldn’t prevent anyone from growing and selling the apples under a different name. Around here the apples are marketed as “Honeycrunch”, which I suppose could be someone’s way of sidestepping the trademark issue.