What are your favorite apples for eating out of hand?

I am a fan of Granny Smith apples (love the tart, sour taste!) but from reading this thread, I see that I’ll have to hunt down at least a Honeycrisp to give them a try.

Fujis are my favorite, even though I live in apple country and Fujis are one of the few common varieties that aren’t grown locally.

And I like Crispins but they’re hard to find.

Keep in mind that Red Delicious and Golden Delicious are two completely separate varieties. Red Delicious deserves your scorn. But Golden Delicious is a decent eating apple.

Another honeycrisp lover here. They are really hard to find in my area tho. :frowning:

Honeycrisp, Pink Lady, Pacific Rose, and Jazz are my favorites.

Red Delicious apples are the iceberg lettuce of apples.

Honeycrisps have a light, crisp texture that some have compared to that of a good crisp watermelon.

They’re also nicely balanced between sweet and tart.

I’m freaking addicted to them. I spend way too much money on them when they’re in season and eat two a day until I can no longer find them in the market. When they’re in, I buy no other apples.

I’ve always liked Golden Delicious for snacking on. I’ve never had a Honeycrisp. I’ve never even seen one of those actually.

Except Iceberg lettuce is semi-palatable - Red Delicious apples are bred for shape, color and longevity - the taste and texture are hellish.

p.s. I live where they come from and am truly embarrassed.

Pink Lady.

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Golden Delicious are juicy and refreshing.

Honeycrisp also good.

Empire
Cortland

Crisp, not mealy. Sweet with a tart finish.

Eta: macouns are good, too

Pink lady.

Honey crisp or a small granny in a pinch.

Of the more Popular Apples, Granny Smith and Winesap. We don’t have much variety here.

For Pies, my mother swore on Northern Spy. And she could make a helluva an apple pie. But she wouldn’t make any pies unless she had Northern Spy.

Just like tomatoes. :frowning:

Honeycrisp for me too…which are rare where I am. So I usually get gala or fiji.

Harelson is my fave. It is crisp and tart but not sour. It’s a terrific apple for eating when you are hiking the autumn woods. It grows in places with cold winters and doesn’t store well so you don’t see it in the stores for long.

I also like the chestnut apple, which is almost a crabapple in size. Delicious.

Granny Smith from New Zealand is better than the domestic version. I don’t like Washington Granny Smiths for eating because they have a sour taste right under the skin. The ones from New Zealand don’t have that. However, with the cost of shipping and the desire to support my local economy, I have done without them the last few years.

Honeycrisps are the best! A Gala or Fuji will do in a pinch though.

Pink Ladies all the way! Too bad they are so expensive.

Most store-bought apples are crap - they are picked green, artificially ripened, and stored way too long.

Give me a Golden Delicious, still green, but about to turn yellow-green, picked by me on a cool morning. Crisp, very juicy, and sweet but not too sweet. Once they start turning yellow, they are pretty much worthless.

I had the good fortune of growing up on a farm with a dozen or so apple trees. We didn’t have a big variety of apples, but I know a bit about the ones we grew. (Other ones were the hard, sour type suitable for baking - not eating out of hand.)

p.s. Hand-picked Red Delicious apples beat the hell out of store-bought ones, but I still prefer Yellow Delicious - a more complex flavor.

Red Delicious are the silicone implants of apples.