badstar | How d'ya like dem...

Has anyone else here ever tried Honeycrisp apples?

I think I first heard of them sometime last year, but only tried one a few weeks ago...Gavin and I have taken to eating a lot of apples, since they're generally inexpensive and taste good and good for you and all (well, except Red Delicious. Erg, I can't stand them. No flavor. Delicious my ass. And they make the blandest applesauce ever.)

We usually get McIntosh or Granny Smith but a couple of weeks ago, Wegman's had neither if you can believe that. The Produce guy suggested trying Honeycrisp and we decided to give them a shot.

It was mildly terrifying- we bought one apple that time. That single apple cost $2.50.

Why, you ask? Was it gold-plated?

No, it wasn't. This apple cost more than any apple has any business costing because it weighed almost a pound and a half. And that was one of the smaller ones in the bin.

We took it home and ate it. It was nearly a meal in and of itself. It was like biting into a glass of apple cider still in apple form.

And it was The Best Apple I Have Ever Tasted.

When we went back last week, we were going to get some more (they were less terrifyingly gigantic this time, but still quite impressive) and then we found out that the 3-pound organic bags were actually less expensive than picking them out of the bin, so we grabbed one of those instead. The organic ones were considerably smaller- even on the small side for apples in general, and the flavor is slightly less strong, but I will still say that they are the best apples I have ever had.

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Winesap apples are really effing good as well, if you ever see some in the store.

Also, <3 Wegman's.

Wegmans is the best. I daresay it's even better than Stauffers, which is an extremely tiny chain of grocery stores (By "extremely tiny chain", I mean I think they have five stores all told) in Lancaster County...they're kinda like Wegman's but not quite so awesome- but always fun, because you could sample just about everything in the store- you could make a whole vegan meal just wandering around the produce section alone. But a good bit more "what the hell is this doing in a grocery store???"- they have craft and flower arranging departments, and lawn and garden section so you can pick up your bread, milk and eggs...and needlepoint supplies and petunias all in the same place.

Never heard of them, but they sound intriguing. I eat a lot of green and yellow apples, but generally avoid the red ones.

Oh man, have you guys gotten down to the farmer's market on fallsway? DOUBLE WOOT! I love the apples there! Actually you might be closer to the Waverly one now, that one's great too and it goes year round IIRC.

No, really should try that one of these days. I've actually not been to any of the flea markets around (yeah, I know...)

Yep, 'tis the season for honeycrisps. The local markets and fairs sell them a lot, and our family looks forward to this time of the apple season specifically for them. Yummy! I understand that Wegmans carries them a lot so you should have them as a choice more often.

Why on earth red delicious apples are so popular in stores is beyond me. Like you said they're horrible. Give me the old-fashioned types any day, much more flavor.

Why on earth red delicious apples are so popular in stores is beyond me. Like you said they're horrible. Give me the old-fashioned types any day, much more flavor.

Thoroughly confusing. I tried them again recently after not eating any for years, and I really wondered why I even bothered. Oh yeah, they were insanely cheap and I didn't have a lot of money at the time.

And they're pretty. But that beauty is fake and it can't hide the horrible taste. Bleh. I'm with you, if you can get something else it's worth it.

Honeycrisp apples make me weak in the knees. Might I also recommend a Pink Lady. Also very delicious.

Will keep that in mind, thanks!

Honeycrisp apples are all we eat here. I'll wait for them to be ripe. They are so incredibly good.

So I shouldn't tell you about all the apples that you can harvest just by walking around the city? Or all the nummy local varieties? Or how one of the local vegetarian markets has an apple-and-pear tasting day where you can sample all the nummy varieties? For freeeee?

I do enjoy Pink Ladies. And pinovas are insanely wonderful, if you get to try those.

We've heard a little about the "pick me!" trees in Eugene :-)

Haven't tried Pink Ladies, and never heard of pinovas.

Pinovas are relatively new, if I understand it right. The only ones I've seen have been local to here, and have been HUGE. Far too big for an apple, and I was surprised it was so good. I picked it up one day because its got a blushy skin rather than red-red (the red skin makes my throat tight). I thought it would be sweet, but it was so deliciously tart.

To be honest, my favorite apples here, the ones that replace my Macs (because they're just not as good out here as they are back east) are from a tree two blocks away. They're Violet apples, so named for the dog in the yard who I made friends with while pilfering apples from their tree. ;) Alas, Violet and her sister Poppy are no longer there as the family moved. But the apples are!

Do try the Pink Ladies. You won't be disappointed.

Not sure how you feel about this sort of thing, so I thought I would tell you. Honeycrisps are patented hybrids.

http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/components/5877_01.html

Pink Ladies are also patented hybrids.

(Just for those GMO-sensitive/anti-patent types. I don't care. I just wish I could eat any apple again.)

Thanks for the info. I have to say, I'm not terribly find of the idea of genetically engineered and modified stuff, but I'm not really particularly clear on the ramifications of patented hybrids- just tried to do some googling and didn't come up with much other than information about hybrids that didn't work because they were more susceptible to rotting or insects, and one thing that looked like a squawky teenager on a Nintendo forum talking about how she thinks that combining fruit is unnatural and creepy. If you could give me a quick fill-in or point me to where I can find out a bit more, I'd appreciate it.

Well it has potential as a hybrid to be GMO, but I can't tell from the documentation I've read. That doesn't really bug me since there are natural hybrids in this world. Think mules.

The bigger issue is that Honeycrisp apples are a patented and you will be paying a premium to buy it because it is a licensed product. It's like buying 'offical licensed NFL gear' vs cheap knockoffs. But with plants, there's really no such thing as a cheap knockoff. It's either a Honeycrisp or it's not.

So I think it's more a statement about the way the US incentivizes monopoly for stuff that probably shouldn't be so tightly controlled. (It's a publicly funded university that developed it. Why should they try to take the public's money with licensing fees the farmer has to pay and pass on to the consumer?)

But if I could eat one, I would.

Ah...well, that makes sense. I did read a little bit, I think in Wikipedia about the variety, I think it said Honeycrisp apples go back to 1971 or something like that- well before people had the ability to screw around with fruit genetics, so far as I know. Thanks!

As for paying a premium price...at Wegman's at least, they haven't been any more expensive than many of the other varieties (and as I said, the organic ones have even cost less than the non-organic ones) so I haven't noticed that particular issue, but the licensing thing is ridiculous.

I love Golden Delicious, they're the only kind I like. But those Honeycrisp sound good, I'll have to try one!

i had my first honeycrisp this fall, like yours big gorgeous ones discovered at the farmer's market. i had one for lunch the other day with slices of jarlsberg.
it was THE best lunch i've ever had, and left me totally full.
i am now ruined for any other apples.
khairete
suz

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