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["Donna &/or Kieran" <holycow@cookeville.com>]

 Growing up in Florida in the 60's where only 2 apples were available, red and golden delicious, I learned to avoid the red one at all costs.  In 1980 in New Mexico a friend gave me some apples she'd bought locally which were red and yellow striped and rather nice.  I didn't believe her when she told me they were Red Delicious, till she said they were the Original RD.  In March of '86 I found myself in a school lunchroom with a striped red apple on my tray.  I bit into it, and it had very mealy yellowish flesh.  I knew that that was the original RD too.  The trouble was that the original was nice, but it went mealy in storage, and the inedible greenfleshed ones don't do that.  They may be inedible, but they don't go soft.    Donna

 

P.S.  I was about to add that they don't have inedible apples in England, but then I remembered the awful underripe shiny green Golden Delicious apples that they used to import from France.  Every grocery and green grocer carried them.  That was in the late 70's.  I fell in love with English apples and pears, but only ever bought one of those awful green Golden Delicious.  It's hard to imagine that such a good apple could be ruined, but they did it.