North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Doreen Howard" <doreenh@ticon.net>]

Lon Rombough wrote:
> The "Pink Lady" I've had here (commercially grown) on the west coast was
> from Washington and I was totally unimpressed.  The flesh was hard, with
an
> odd woody texture, and the flavor was "apple" and little else.  Fairly
> sweet, with just barely enough acid to balance, but nothing I could call
any
> real flavor.  I tried it more than once, from various places, and always
got
> a similar result.  I suppose for today's mediocre consumers, it's great.
> It's ironic that the Japanese copied the US in so many ways over the
years,
> and now US consumers are copying Japanese tastes, going for varieties that
> are sweet, but not much else.

I read several different reports on the shift in U.S. consumers' taste in
regards to apples.  It's true that they now prefer sweeter apples.
Commercial growers are urged to take this into consideration when planting
new varieties.  One report (the NE-183 analysis from U. of MA) says this
trend is due to the influx of So. Europeans, Hispanics and Orientals into
our population.  It went on to say that Northern Europeans prefer tart
apples.
Doreen Howard