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On Apr 3, 2006, at 9:35 PM, Jwlehman@aol.com wrote:

>If this is true would it be best to wait until spring to purchase apples
>such as Fuji and Gold Rush if you don't care for tart apples? It almost
>sounds like apples that have been in storage for a few months have a very
>different taste than those fresh off the tree. For some reason this never
>really occured to me. Last winter I preferred Gala as the best supermarket


To which came the reply:

There is nothing better than a fresh orchard picked apple for flavor and crispness.   

That is one person's opinion. Maybe even the majority, but I happen to support the first writer's idea that a fresh picked apple isn't at the peak of flavor. Yes, the peak of crispness. My son likes a fresh Red Delicious and I accuse him of not being able to differentiate texture from flavor. He doesn't care for them when mealy ripe which I do. For myself, a Red Delicious apple ripened in storage and no longer crisp is a delicious apple.  For my wife and I, a 60 day old Mutsu is the very best apple! Even Gold Rush becomes eatable after storage. 

Jerry
                     

There's no disputing tastes, but now I know where to send my over-ripe, mealy apples.  :)   In addition to the texture getting softer (and sometimes mealy, depending on the cultivar) and the apple sweeter, old apples also lose a lot of their acid.  Since I like an apple that bites back, I see this as a major defect of long-stored apples.  

A lot of apples develop a somewhat richer flavor as they ripen, although I think that peaks well before the sugars peak or the crispness/tartness bottom out.  

The very best apples are the ones allowed to ripen to peak flavor on he tree, but those ones don't keep well, so the ones in the supermarket were all picked a little under-ripe.  Even if you like a very sweet apple, you can do better with fresh-picked than long-stored, you just need to pick the right apples.