North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Jerry Lehman <jwlehmantree@gmail.com>]

On 1/8/2016 11:24 PM, fuwa fuwa usagi wrote:
> I am finding many of the new club apples really need to be stored and sampled 
> in order to achieve anything above ordinary in flavor. Which is to say, they 
> are very expensive because so many are wasted in the sampling.  There seems 
> to be no correlation between them either.  So you 5 of the same variety and 
> one may taste okay and 3 eeks later another one may now taste great but the 
> remaining 3 may suck.
>
> So while they may be enforcing growing standards it appears to me that there 
> is huge breakdown in the distribution process, mixing apples so the consumer 
> has not idea when they are actually ready to eat.  I have been very, very 
> disappointed with what boils down to a crap shoot to land a good tasting one.
The fluffy one is correct, apple flavors do change with length of time 
in storage and even at storage temperature. Also one's evaluation is 
dependent upon his personal preferences. Example: Some years back I 
bought a variety from Starks named Fall Gold. It is a yellow apple, 
large, very very crisp (literally snaps when you bite into it), very 
juicy but flat on flavor. My son believed it was the most awesome apple 
he ever bit into, I wouldn't give you a nickel for bushel basketful of 
them. I love Mutsu, not nearly as firm (even mealy after storage), not 
nearly as juicy but full of  fantastic flavor by my taste buds. All of 
my neighbors make regular trips to the tree as they love it. The point 
is what's awesome to one person isn't awesome to everyone. I have 
purchased Envy and I thought the taste improved after sitting on the 
kitchen table for a week but would much rather have Mutsu. _

To each his own crapshoot_. Ah, this gives me an idea for naming test 
varieties in one's breeding orchard, Crapshoot-1, Crapshoot-2, 
Crapshoot-3 etc.

Jerry