North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Charles Paradise <machelp@attglobal.net>]

Mark:
The  Sekai-ichi apples were available for tasting, and for purchase, and I 
took home 4 Sekai-ichi .  This apple, as grown in Massachusetts, has more 
flavors than just sweet.  Compared to the Gala, the Sekai-ichi has a 
different sweet flavor.  I do like a Tart Apple.  I would rather eat a 
Downing Tart than any sweet apple.  I can enjoy a sweet apple, but it makes 
me feel sick to eat one for very long, much like a Coca-Cola might appeal to 
me but make me sick after a few sips.  The Sekai-ichi is one of the few sweet 
apples I've tasted that I like, however the best sweet apple I have ever 
tasted, is the true McIntosh.  The true McIntosh is rare even in New England. 
 Old-timers, my father being one of them, described the McIntosh they knew in 
the 1920's as a purple apple with a dust on it, like a blue grape has a dust 
on it.  Grape is also the best way to describe the true Mc's flavor.   So why 
did the true Mc get replaced by the Marshall McIntosh?  The orchardist who 
grows the true Mc
says "whatever pest or disease that's out there, the true Mc will get it."  A 
very disease-vulnerable variety, it also matured somewhat early 
[mid-September, if I remember correctly], and didn't seem to keep well.  If 
the true Mc had been on the table, and it wouldn't have been on November 2, I 
am sure it would have taken four stars, then there would have been two apples 
receiving four stars, the only one that did was Westfield-Seek-No-Further.   
The true Mc and Westfield-Seek-No-Further are both soft, easy to eat apples.

You mentioned the Sekai-ichi is from a cross between Red Delicious x and 
Golden Delicious...if an apple with the extra-large size and high eating 
quality from a cross of two decidedly mediocre apples such as Red Delicious 
and Golden Delicious, imagine what quality apples could have been bred if the 
publicly-financed breeding programs had started to breed from apples of the 
superb quality as the Westfield-Seek-No-Further and the true McIntosh???

And kids today only want to eat french fries and drink sodas....couldn't have 
anything to do with the quality of the fruit offered, could it?   When is our 
society going to reward farmers when farmers increase the quality of health 
in the population by providing superior wholesome foods?

Charlie Paradise
zone 5...or maybe 6....Massachusetts


Mark Lee wrote:

> Charlie,
> You describe yourself as a tart apple lover.  I am surprised that you
> rate Sekai-ichi at 3 1/2 stars out of 4.  This huge red apple is very
> sweet and not at all tart, at least from the ones grown near Seattle
> that I have tasted.  The apple comes from a cross between Red Delicious t
> and Golden Delicious.  It is one of my favorites.  What did you like
> about this apple?