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["Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>]

Arkansas Black is crisp?  That's like saying diamond is firm.  The Arkansas Black I've had were the second hardest apples I've ever had.  You could break a tooth on one that hadn't been in storage for several months, at least.
-Lon Rombough
Grapes, writing, consulting, my book, The Grape Grower, at http://www.bunchgrapes.com  Winner of the Garden Writers Association "Best Talent in Writing" award for 2003. 
For even more grape lessons, go to  http://www.grapeschool.com
For all other things grape,   http://www.vitisearch.com

On Oct 24, 2007, at 10:07 PM, Michael Nave wrote:

One of the selling points set forth by many honeycrisp
growers is that it is very crispy. In fact some say it
is the crispest apple ever. While I much prefer flavor
over crispness I just had an apple today that
challenged Honeycrisp on both counts - Arkansas Black.
We all differ in our tastes but to my palate AB just
has more flavor than honeycrisp and it's easily as
crisp if not more so. I haven't had AB in the last few
years and had forgotten how good it is and how crispy
it is. Growers of AB may want to piggy back on the
Honeycrisp marketing. If people are really that
fanatical about crispness then they need to try an AB.
It would be interesting to see how they compared in
blind taste tests. I have no doubt honeycrisp has done
well in some tests because a crisp apple may come
across better in a one or two bite sample than a less
crisp apple. But honeycrisp doesn't have that edge
over AB.