• Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • Nancy Reading
  • Carla Burke
  • r ranson
  • John F Dean
  • paul wheaton
  • Pearl Sutton
stewards:
  • Jay Angler
  • Liv Smith
  • Leigh Tate
master gardeners:
  • Christopher Weeks
  • Timothy Norton
gardeners:
  • thomas rubino
  • Jeremy VanGelder
  • Maieshe Ljin

Apples! Red Apples! What is Your Favorite?

 
steward
Posts: 16081
Location: USDA Zone 8a
4274
dog hunting food preservation cooking bee greening the desert
  • Likes 6
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I love giving out apples and I also love eating them, too. My favorite is and always has been red delicious apples.  I am going to have to eat one today!

On December 1, National Eat a Red Apple Day encourages everyone to eat a red apple. As the adage goes, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away,” and today is a perfect time to put that theory to taste.

An apple is both delicious and nutritious. With over 7,500 varieties of apples and over 7.5% of the world’s production coming from the USA, apples are widely available.



https://nationaldaycalendar.com/national-eat-a-red-apple-day-december-1/




What variety of red apples do you like best?


Here are some different varieties of red apples:

Fuji




Dazzle




Sugarbee




Has anyone tried any of these?  Which one did you like and why?

Here are some threads about apples that you might enjoy:

https://permies.com/t/30416/Monty-Surprise-extra-nutritious-apple

https://permies.com/t/147087/Honey-Crisp-Apple-Tree-Pacific

https://permies.com/t/142377/experience-apple-tree-varieties-Georgia

https://permies.com/wiki/98630/tasting-home-grown-Apple-varieties

https://permies.com/t/82784/Apple-varieties-thought-extinct-Eastern
 
Posts: 8924
Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain
2401
4
  • Likes 5
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
My favorite this year is fuji...our apple trees are too young to bear yet so we buy what ever is organic in the stores.  Most of the time it is galas and sometimes expensive honey crisp.

This year and last we have been ordering from Azure in Oregon.  
They have the most delicious huge fujis and really every apple I've tried from them has been just wonderful.
We've ordered 60# of 'juice apples' for each of the last two months.
It is an odd assortment of organic culls but we have been able to find the fujis in the mix

I'm dehydrating a lot of them and the refrigerator is overflowing with fresh.
We each eat several a day and take the dried ones on hikes....and the supply will soon dry up.

I used to love sour apples, the sourer the better...not as much anymore.  
Now my favorites are the ones with complex flavors and some sweetness.
 
pollinator
Posts: 225
56
duck forest garden chicken cooking building
  • Likes 4
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
My go-to store-bought apples are Honeycrisp for eating, Grannysmith for baking.

Red Delicious is terrible. Terrible terrible.

However, I'm looking forward to trying the apples from my own trees, which are just reaching fruiting age, and I planted a variety of species to try.
 
gardener
Posts: 4002
Location: South of Capricorn
2130
dog rabbit urban cooking writing homestead ungarbage
  • Likes 6
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I am an apple fiend. I have always lived in apple country, all over the place, and apples are definitely my comfort food.
Here we can get Fujis and Galas (I prefer the Fujis); occasionally some green Granny Smith types, but not regularly, and then there are imported Red Delicious that are generally mealy.
When I travel I try to pick when I can. I think Spencer might be my favorite kind of apple ever, but I do love a nice Winesap, Mac or Crispin straight off the tree. It's hard for me to consider any apple bad.
 
pollinator
Posts: 1236
Location: Chicago
422
dog forest garden fish foraging urban cooking food preservation bike
  • Likes 6
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I've always liked Jonathans and Jonamacs as a versatile not-too-sweet apple.  For hand eating, Fuji and Pink Lady are really good.

We always picked Cortland at orchards growing up. I don't like these much for fresh eating (kinda mushy), but they make excellent applesauce and also do not brown as fast as most apples when cut.
 
gardener
Posts: 1674
Location: the mountains of western nc
505
forest garden trees foraging chicken food preservation wood heat
  • Likes 5
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
when i worked for a guy with a fairly big commercial orchard in vermont, i realized that there was a window for red delicious from when they were picked to where i  didn’t want to waste my time with them. i think it was about 10 days. my favorites from those days were probably honeycrisp, macoun, and mutzu/crispin, haralson, and jonagold if it wasn’t too late in the season....for eating, and northern spy and fortune for baking. so good!

when i can get them at farmers markets these days, i’ll almost always go for one of the russet varieties - ashmead’s kernel, golden russet, crown russet, etc. such nice blends of sugars, acids, and tannins!

these days, in the stores, i mostly go after fuji’s and sometimes braeburn or pink lady. i like honeycrisps, but i don’t think they’re worth the extra dollar or two per pound on the pricetag.

there’s a few good wild/seedling trees around here that i really like too, some of which have been grafted and are growing as new trees at my place!
 
gardener
Posts: 3257
Location: Cascades of Oregon
816
  • Likes 4
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Pink Lady or Cripps Pink are pretty tasty, Honey Crisps are good Granny Smiths for dehydrating and baking.  I remember trying a pollinator at a Yakima orchard, he called it a banana apple that was just used as a pollinator because it didn't ship well, but as I recall it was good and crisp
 
pollinator
Posts: 261
Location: Central Virginia, Zone 7.
81
trees chicken food preservation bee solar composting
  • Likes 5
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Honeycrisp was my favorite >5 years ago, but something happened, they're not perfect any more.  I suspect the pollination got screwed up somewhere.  Or diluted or something.

I then moved on to Pink Lady, still pretty good, but again, wonderful 5 years ago.

My current favorite, is Sweet Tango.

Conversely, Red Delicious?  DELICIOUS?  Anything but.  It's marketing.

 
pollinator
Posts: 716
Location: West Yorkshire, UK
285
  • Likes 7
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
My neighbour has a Golden Delicious which is truly wonderful straight off the tree, despite me never liking them from the store.  We got several big bags off her this year and those we saved for eating got slightly less delicious every day;  after about three weeks they were comparable to storebought ones:  kind of dry and mealy.  I wonder if Red Delicious has the same problem?

My best red apple is one I grow myself:  Sparta.  In a good sunny year they turn almost purple, with startlingly white flesh.
 
steward
Posts: 12458
Location: Pacific Wet Coast
7018
duck books chicken cooking food preservation ungarbage
  • Likes 4
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I like different varieties for different purposes, but generally, my favorite apple is one I grow myself!
 
steward
Posts: 1898
Location: Coastal Salish Sea area, British Columbia
1058
2
books chicken food preservation pig bike solar wood heat rocket stoves homestead ungarbage
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
i have to say my favourite apple comes from a tree which sees yearly applications of seaweed at its toes. Not a bought thing. this has been harvested from the ocean by the owner. Piled up about 2 feet in diameter
The tree itself is Mutsu/Mutzu. Yum.
 
pollinator
Posts: 3090
Location: Meppel (Drenthe, the Netherlands)
1018
dog forest garden urban cooking bike fiber arts
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
My favourite apple is Discovery. As far as I know, because there are many apple varieties I don't know, maybe they taste even better. The Discovery is an early apple that is only sold here for a short period (about August).
 
Inge Leonora-den Ouden
pollinator
Posts: 3090
Location: Meppel (Drenthe, the Netherlands)
1018
dog forest garden urban cooking bike fiber arts
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
But I have two apples trees now on my 'new' allotment garden. I know one of them has very red (dark red) apples. Maybe 'my own apples' will taste the best (coming autumn).
 
steward
Posts: 2878
Location: Zone 7b/8a Southeast US
1106
4
forest garden fish trees foraging earthworks food preservation cooking bee woodworking homestead ungarbage
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Two of my favorites that I've tried so far that come to mind are Magnum Bonum (Latin meaning "great good") and Hawkeye Delicious (the original Red Delicious that was actually truly delicious before they ruined it by selecting redder and more perfect looking mutations).

Both are supposedly pretty disease resistant and vigorous healthy growers. I've got them both planted and hope to find out for sure soon!
 
Steve Thorn
steward
Posts: 2878
Location: Zone 7b/8a Southeast US
1106
4
forest garden fish trees foraging earthworks food preservation cooking bee woodworking homestead ungarbage
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Here's a picture of what Magnum Bonum looks like...




And Hawkeye Delicious...


 
Posts: 2035
Location: western NY (Erie County), USA; zone 6a.
404
2
hugelkultur monies cat forest garden tiny house books wofati bike medical herbs writing ungarbage
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Recently we had a poll on the most popular homesteading crops and apples came in 4th place (out of nine!)

Here's an interesting infographic summarizing lots of appley goodness (and don't forget to check out the Garden Master Course Kickstarter and hopefully back it!)






 
Posts: 32
Location: Maine, USA zone 5a
13
7
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I have a Liberty apple tree in my backyard--and though it has pretty heavy bug damage most years (60 to 80%, I'd guess?) they make awesome applesauce.  The skin is super dark red and turns all the applesauce pink.  The few that are not riddled with bugs are good for fresh eating.
From the farmers' market I have been getting Spartan, Northern Spy, RI Greening, Wolf River, Spencer, Sweet 16, Honey Crisp (one farmer has a tree that produces small ones, so he sells them as Kinder Crisp).  They offer a pile of other varieties locally, but I think the Spartans when super fresh are my favorite.  
 
Posts: 2
1
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
On Vancouver Island, my favourites are Northern Spy and Akane.
Northern Spy is very tart, but has excellent storage capabilities. I hand pick them in mid to late October and they will store outside in the cellar until February/March with little to no deterioration. It is great tree for growing, but takes a while to fruit. But some of the apples can be the size of grapefruits, or even small cantaloupes. Once it is going, it is amazing.
Akane is super tasty, with small but very apples. It is a favourite for eating, but does not last long. I have my growing on swales with comfrey and hyssop underneath. Low care, and beautiful to look at. Some years I have to prop the branches up for fear they will break.
I also take all of the apple cores and seeds and broadcast seed them out around  the place. I have so many unknown and unusual apples.
On the Completely Arboritary podcast, the tree expert mentioned that when colonists came from the UK to North America, there were over 7000+ varieties of different apples recorded. Such an amazing fruit.
 
Posts: 8
Location: east central Ohio
1
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
My favorite is McIntosh. With Winesap, Cortland and Johnathan a close second.
 
Posts: 196
Location: Southwest Washington 98612
40
2
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
My favorite red apple is Washington State's new Cosmic Crisp. Exactly the sweet/tart balance i love; super crisp, good keeper (still getting last years crop at the grocery stores and they are still crisp and juicy). Sad to say this year's crop, like almost all fruit crops in this state, is late and small. :-(

This apple is as wonderful to me as straight-from-the-orchard gravensteins of 40 years ago (at the time the only place you could get gravensteins)
 
pollinator
Posts: 322
Location: Youngstown, Ohio
109
forest garden urban bike
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

fred hans wrote:My favorite is McIntosh. With Winesap, Cortland and Johnathan a close second.



McIntosh is definitely my favorite too.  I am surprised mention of it was so far down on the thread.  Sadly it has such a short season.  I don't think my nine year old grandson had ever had one until this year.  He would not stop extolling the virtues of the apple for quite some time after that!
 
pollinator
Posts: 2143
Location: Big Island, Hawaii (2300' elevation, 60" avg. annual rainfall, temp range 55-80 degrees F)
1064
forest garden rabbit tiny house books solar woodworking
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I can’t grow decent apples here in Hawaii, so I have to resort to store bought. Blagh! The most acceptable has been Pacific Rose, though I usually only can find Fuji as a substitute.

When I lived in NJ there was a Melrose apple orchard near by. Loved those apples. Sadly it got torn down to make room for another housing development.

I wonder if anyone still grows Melrose.
 
Anne Miller
steward
Posts: 16081
Location: USDA Zone 8a
4274
dog hunting food preservation cooking bee greening the desert
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

Anne Miller wrote:I love giving out apples and I also love eating them, too. My favorite is and always has been red delicious apples.  I am going to have to eat one today!

Sugarbee




Has anyone tried any of these?  Which one did you like and why?

Here are some threads about apples that you might enjoy:

https://permies.com/t/30416/Monty-Surprise-extra-nutritious-apple

https://permies.com/t/147087/Honey-Crisp-Apple-Tree-Pacific

https://permies.com/t/142377/experience-apple-tree-varieties-Georgia

https://permies.com/wiki/98630/tasting-home-grown-Apple-varieties

https://permies.com/t/82784/Apple-varieties-thought-extinct-Eastern



I wish I had a Sugarbee apple to try eating today.
Today is National Sugarbee Apple Day!
 
pollinator
Posts: 108
Location: Missouri
20
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I have a book on growing apples.........really more of an unpublished manuscript.......written by college level math guy......whose hobby was growing apples. Was actually referred to him by the local University Extension person whose job it was help guys like me, but they said he knew more about apples than they did.....and it turns out they were right. His material is far and away the best resource I have ever seen.

I tracked him down and he was more than willing to offer help. Had a small orchard growing on a vacant residential lot in town. Had over 80 varieties of trees he had acquired for testing. His goal, and it was a good one, was to find about 8 varieties of apple trees that a roadside market guy or homeowner alike could plant that would yield a steady crop of apples to harvest.....to sell or consume........from early mid summer all the way to first frost and some weeks beyond. And he had it nailed.

But one thing he made abundantly clear, these apples had to be adapted to the climate or they would fail. An example would be Honeycrisp in a climate where summer temps could push 100F. Once temps got in 90F to 95F range, trees would simply drop all fruit, so you would get nothing. Like trying to force a square peg into a round hole. Doomed to fail.

So first rule would be to make sure the applies you select are adaptable to your climate. After that, select for disease resistance (like cedar apple rust), and from those, pick varieties that are actually edible. Then if you are going to follow his plan, stagger maturity dates and pick mixes that will pollinate each other. None of that is hard to do, but does require some thought and leg work before you get started.





 
Anne Miller
steward
Posts: 16081
Location: USDA Zone 8a
4274
dog hunting food preservation cooking bee greening the desert
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

National Day Calender said, "NATIONAL EAT A RED APPLE DAY

On December 1st, National Eat a Red Apple Day encourages everyone to eat a red apple. As the adage goes, "an apple a day keeps the doctor away," and today is a perfect time to put that theory to taste.



Since it is also National Pie Day, it might be nice to bake an apple pie today.
 
Posts: 2
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
My favorite apple is an Arkansas Black, the darkest of red apples.
 
Posts: 1
  • Likes 4
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
When I bought my property, I planted several dwarf Mcintosh apple trees and 2 Golden delicious apple trees.  Now that they produce an abundance of fruit, I am trying to determine what to do with them.  If canned or frozen, they trun mushy, and they don't dehydrate well either.  Is there any way of preserving apples?
 
Greg Slayton
Posts: 2
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
John Huff,

Think about saving them in liquid form, you can even let it ferment to your preference.
 
pollinator
Posts: 717
Location: Clackamas Oregon, USA zone 8b
76
  • Likes 4
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
So red delicious is the apple I dislike the most, to me it tastes tasteless.  But my dad likes them.

Up until a few years ago the Portland Mursery would hold the apple-tasting festival every Oct.  We discovered it when I was 12 and went every year.  So I've tasted more apples than the average person.  Out of the varieties mentioned in the original post I like Fuji, I can't remember whether I've had that other one, each year they had like 90 varieties of apples and I always tasted all of them, but didn't keep good track of which was which.
 
Posts: 6
Location: N. Colorado Front Range, riparian, 5000’ zone 5b
1
forest garden chicken bike
  • Likes 5
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
If you’d like ideas on tasty apples, I recommend Adam’s Apples blog. He’s tasted many apples, reviewed them humorously, and has fans around the world that add their comments. https://adamapples.blogspot.com/
WARNING: it can be a rabbit hole and has led me to acquire an unrealistic number of scions!
 
Posts: 44
Location: Standish, MI
9
  • Likes 5
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I pick hundreds of pounds of feral/abandoned apples a year. I live in mid Michigan and pick from August to December. These are some of my apples from this year including Paula Red, Red delicious, Wolf River and Golden delicious (i know, not red) and an unknown but yummy red kind, all from abandoned trees!
ED538315-0185-413F-BF60-69225632FF82.jpeg
[Thumbnail for ED538315-0185-413F-BF60-69225632FF82.jpeg]
0535BC5B-9560-4D64-B99F-2524414FD70C.jpeg
[Thumbnail for 0535BC5B-9560-4D64-B99F-2524414FD70C.jpeg]
26F7A4B9-75BE-4660-A95E-EEC8E954300E.jpeg
[Thumbnail for 26F7A4B9-75BE-4660-A95E-EEC8E954300E.jpeg]
30E32810-46FA-493F-94A9-4F2D185D6201.jpeg
[Thumbnail for 30E32810-46FA-493F-94A9-4F2D185D6201.jpeg]
 
master pollinator
Posts: 4999
Location: Canadian Prairies - Zone 3b
1354
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I am envious of you folks in warmer climes with apple trees growing everywhere.

We have to buy our eating apples. Fujis aren't bad. Galas are really nice when they're in season and fresh from the orchard. But Ambrosia is our consistent, hands-down household favourite.
 
gardener
Posts: 838
Location: South Carolina
478
homeschooling kids monies home care forest garden foraging medical herbs ungarbage
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I agree, Ambrosia is great when I can find it. Otherwise, Pink Lady is my favorite and easier to access. I had an amazing Honeycrisp recently, but usually they don't live up to the hype for me. I grew up thinking I didn't like red apples because Red Delicious were the only ones offered to me. A crisp, juicy apple that's sweet yet tart is always my preference.
 
Posts: 11
Location: Wisconsin
1
forest garden urban homestead
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Evercrisp and crimson crisp are my favs. My favorite red heirloom variety is Esopus Spitzenburg. Ya I like starchy apples, fight me
 
Anne Miller
steward
Posts: 16081
Location: USDA Zone 8a
4274
dog hunting food preservation cooking bee greening the desert
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

Daphne Rose wrote:I pick hundreds of pounds of feral/abandoned apples a year. I live in mid Michigan and pick from August to December.



I feel it is awesome that you have found a place to find abandoned apples!
 
I didn't do it. You can't prove it. Nobody saw me. The sheep are lying! This tiny ad is my witness!
Heat your home with the twigs that naturally fall of the trees in your yard
http://woodheat.net
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic