Favorite Apple Varieties

[AmeliaJane]

After not buying apples at the grocery store for a long time (I used to live in an orchard area, so I'd get them at local markets where I could taste samples, and didn't usually take note of the names), I have started purchasing them again. There are a lot of new varieties available, and to be honest, I don't necessarily remember the characteristics of the traditional varieties. What are your favorite apples to eat out of hand? I like apples with a lot of flavor, and don't mind ones with a fair amount of tanginess like Granny Smith. I love Honeycrisp, but they are so expensive!

[IshbelRobertson]

I don't live in the USA - but I really like Old British varieties like Worcester Pearmain and Egremont Russet and Cox's Orange Pippin. Also modern varieties like Braeburn, Jazz and Gala. My favourite cooking apple is Bramley.

[Valley]

We love gala and fuji!

[Float On]

Fuji, Gala and Braeburn.

[Mrs-M]

Out of hand eating, McIntosh, all the way!

[peggy]

Fuji, and gala. If you like honey crisp but not the price, try Pink Lady. Crisp, sweet and not as expensive.

[Rosemary]

The only store apples I really love are fujis. Here we try to get local apples that are usually different varieties than are found nationally. Harelsons are our favorite - sweet-tart and very crunchy/juicy.

[Wildflower]

Honey Crisp apples in the fall are my fav! I like to make apple crisp and apple pie with them.

[early morning]

If I have to store them, I like Jonathan. They keep nicely and are good for eating and cooking. My favorite apple was an unknown variety from one of the last apple trees on our place (used to be an orchard). It was excellent. I tried starting seedlings, grafting, etc - and wasn't able to propagate it (I'm a rank amatuer at that sort of stuff) and the stupid cows finally pushed the entire snag into the creek, trying to get more of the apples. It was close to a honey crisp in taste, smallish, greenish-pink skin, a little flat. Does that sound familiar to anyone?? I would love to have another tree like that one - minus the cows!

[Amaranth]

One additional one I've had that I really liked is Comb's Delight from the Comb family orchard. Farm is somewhere in western VA or NC. Comb is pronounced Coom.

[peggy]

If I have to store them, I like Jonathan. They keep nicely and are good for eating and cooking. My favorite apple was an unknown variety from one of the last apple trees on our place (used to be an orchard). It was excellent. I tried starting seedlings, grafting, etc - and wasn't able to propagate it (I'm a rank amatuer at that sort of stuff) and the stupid cows finally pushed the entire snag into the creek, trying to get more of the apples. It was close to a honey crisp in taste, smallish, greenish-pink skin, a little flat. Does that sound familiar to anyone?? I would love to have another tree like that one - minus the cows!

Try a pink lady and see if that one is close. It has a greenish/yellowish pink skin.

[CathyA]

I used to like golden delicious, but they just don't seem to make them like they used to. They're all green now.
I like Gala.

[Tussiemussies]

Just love gala...And Granny Smith for baking...

[AnneM]

Pink Lady is my favorite for eating out of hand. I like to make apple crisp with a combination of Granny Smith/Gala/Braeburn.

[early morning]

Thanks peggy, I'll be on the apple hunt soon!

[bunnys]

Fuji, and gala. If you like honey crisp but not the price, try Pink Lady. Crisp, sweet and not as expensive.

Peggy: I love honey crisp and yes, Pink Lady is very nice and a good comparison.

[DarkStar]

Winesap. They're hard to find in my local grocery store, though.

[peggy]

I wish I could grow honey crisp here but we have just about everything nature can throw at an apple, so there are just a few varieties we can grow.

[Cypress]

I live in Massachusetts with easy access to several orchards that grow old fashioned varieties. If you can find it, try Northern Spy. The apple is late maturing and generally not available around here until October. The apple is beautifully round with white flesh and red skin. I am not certain how it is for baking. The flavor is different and hard to describe. It's a bit on the sour side, a little sharp kind of like different types of cheddar cheese. Just a little sharp, maybe New York sharp. The orchard in my town grows native Granny Smith which I highly recommend. Don't buy store version buy native grown.

[AmeliaJane]

Thanks for all the recommendations! I decided it would be fun to do a taste-off, so I got one each of Fuji, Gala and Jazz this week. My favorite was the Jazz--I found the Fuji and Gala a little mild for my taste. In the last couple of weeks I have tried Pink Lady, which I liked, and Kiku, which is a Fuji relative, which I also liked. (Of course, I realize with produce, it's also about how the apples were stored and transported, and it's not actually apple season right now. So I might try the Fuji and Gala again in the fall when they would be fresher.) There are more varieties to be tasted, so I will keep experimenting...

[thinkgreen]

I think my favorite is Grimes Golden.
*Grimes Golden is an interesting apple. When harvested in October it is quite green and has a real kick like Granny Smith. It is a good keeper and when matures in storage it has a yellow skin and tastes like Golden Delicious. It is high in Vitamin C and is very slow to oxidize so is easy and attractive to add to salads, etc.

[catherine]

I just discovered Honeycrisp last fall, and it is SO true to its name! It became my favorite. I was talking to a grower at a farmer's market and she said that they're actually not easy to grow--at least in more northern climates (she was a VT grower), which is one reason for their higher prices in my neck of the woods.

[goldensmom]

I used to like golden delicious, but they just don't seem to make them like they used to. They're all green now.
I like Gala.

That's exactly what I was about to say. I don't know what happened to Golden Delicious but they just don't taste the same as they used to taste. It might just be me because we have Golden Delicious apple trees in the orchard, the same trees we've have for over 50 years. Our Golden Delicious are still nicely yellow but they just don't taste the same. I use Ida Red for baking but Gala for hand eating. With all this talk of apples and with the unusually high heat, I think I will go to the grocery store, get one apple of each variety, slice them and that will be dinner.

[goldensmom]

Another thing about apples/apple trees.....over half of our apple trees are not producing this year. They started to bloom in the warm February weather but after that nothing. The ones that are producing are heavily loaded but the others.....nothing, not even a bloom.

[mira]

I love gala, granny smith and pink lady.
Unfortunately, they usually come from somewhere across an ocean.

[puglogic]

I like Honey Crisp and its possible progenitor, Macoun. Delightful, crispy, juicy, they have that tang and crunch that Delicious apples never seem to have any more.

@Cypress, my old boss used to order a crate of Northern Spy apples every fall. Also yummy.

[Tiam]

Winesaps are also good.