North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Mark Angermayer" <hangermayer@isp.com>]

Alan's good post on the Cameo apple promted me to write something I've
discovered about my own apple tastes. This post may generate a lot of
disagreement.  That's OK, I've got a lot to learn about apples.  But as a
novice, I've still been ordering apple samplers from Applesource.  One thing
I've discovered is that the most important apple characteristic for me is
snap.  Why is this a revelation?  Because snap doesn't seem to be given
much weight in apple descriptions.  Apples are typically characterized as
sweet, balanced, or tart.  For my part, I think apples should be
characterized mainly as crisp or yielding.  I've always known texture is a
pretty big thing to me, but all the apple descriptions had me a little
confused about what I really like in an apple.  Finally after tasting a
couple dozen different apples from applesource, I realized generally the
crisper the apple the more I liked it.  Whether it be sweet, balanced or
slightly tart.  Thinking back, my three favorite (storebought) apples have
been Honeycrisp, Fuji, and Pink Lady.  Since two are sweet and one is tart,
the common thread is crispness.  Juiciness is probably a close second for an
important characteristic.

I wonder that I'm not all alone in this regard.  Pink Lady, Fuji, and
Honeycrisp have continued to gain market share.  I understand Fuji is the
number one apple in Japan and China.  Japan's number three apple is Mutsu (I
don't know what the second place apple is).  Mutsu is also know for
crispness, being an offspring of Fuji.

I know all apples are probably crisp when picked perfectly and eaten right
away, but I'm refering to maximum crispness with less than perfect
conditions.  I think sweet, balanced, and tart are still very valuable
descriptions, I'm just saying they perhaps, take a backseat to snap.

Mark
KS