Heck Of A Guy

The Sorry State Of Affairs

My personal perception is that the quality of apples from supermarkets has changed over the past decade in the worst of possible ways:

• Their taste and texture have deteriorated
• The cosmetics have improved

Consequently, not only are fewer tasty apples on the market, but distinguishing between good and bad apples by appearance has become almost impossible.

The Sad Case Of The Braeburn

I am bummed on Braeburns. When I first discovered these once wonderful dessert apples, I was delighted with their complex sweet-tart taste and the palpable snap when I bit into them. I also appreciated their congruently blended appearance.¹

In the past two to three years, however, I have purchased far more soft textured, bland to the point of tasteless Braeburns than enjoyable ones despite carefully selecting them individually by the same criteria that had formerly yielded highly successful results.

That is good news if I were constructing an attractive autumnal centerpiece; it’s bad news if I’m craving an apple to munch.

The Orange Pippin site, which promotes apples, is admirably straightforward about Braeburns, offering a likely explanation for the problem I’ve described:

If there is a downside to Braeburn, it is probably poor quality control. Braeburn is grown throughout the warm apple-growing regions of the world, and it also keeps well in storage. As a result there can be quite a variation in quality and flavour of Braeburn apples reaching the consumer from different countries and at different times of the year. Since Braeburn is too old to be trade-marked, there is little control over the “brand” - quite a contrast with the rigourously-controlled production of Pink Lady for example.

Honeycrisp To The Rescue

The Honeycrisp, true to its name, is the sweetest apple I’ve found. Theoretically, sweetness may not appeal to every palate, but the Honeycrisp consistently rates highly in blind taste tests, and I’ve yet to find anyone who has tried this apple who finds the taste off-putting. The taste is intense enough that I eschew chomping directly into a Honeycrisp, typically opting to slice it into small pieces and savor the smaller bites. I also find that, while I take the greatest pleasure from the taste, I am typically satisfied with half an apple and set aside the rest for another time.

And the texture, accurately captured in the phrase “explosively crisp,”² is, for me, perfect.

This apple’s appearance falls considerably short of spectacular and, as the supply on hand at my local market dwindles, approaches unappealing, with many lumps, bumps, and asymmetry among the specimens. Thus far, however, I’ve found even these unattractive examples to be delicious, sweet, and exceedingly crisp.

Indeed, I have yet to find a single Honeycrisp apple that was not delicious, sweet, and exceedingly crisp.

Some Technical Stuff

According to The University of Minnesota web site, the University of Minnesota developed the Honeycrisp (AKA “Minnesota 1711″) in 1960 by crossing a Macoun apple and a Honeygold.³

The significance of the Honeycrisp’s origin is that The University of Minnesota still controls the patent so I have some hope that the high quality levels will be perpetuated at least until the patent expires in 2008

Other Technical Stuff

The Honeycrisp harvest season runs from mid-September to mid-October with the peak occurring the fourth week of September. Throughout the harvest period, the flavor and aroma deepens. If refrigerated, Honeycrisp apples can be stored six months.⁴

As I’ve Said Before

One of my buddies, whom I had alerted to the availability of the Honeycrisps, noted that my email dealt only with this apple and demanded information about my children, social life, career, and reading. My reply conveniently summarizes this post as well:

Footnotes

1. Braeburns were the first commercially available apples that were bi-colored, an attribute that has proven important and perhaps essential in promoting sales of new now regarded as essential for sales success.↩
2. ”Explosively crisp” and variations of this phrase appear so frequently in reference to Honeycrisps that I suspect it is part of the marketing campaign; it does nonetheless effectively evoke the sensation of biting into one of these specimens↩
3. The Honeygold itself is a cross between the Golden Delicious and Haralson↩
4. This information is taken from Honeycrisp.org, which also provides this official-sounding data: “Honeycrisp apples are oblate to roundly oblate in shape and 2-3/4 to 3-1/2 inches (7 to 9 centimeters) in diameter. Stems are approximately 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) long and moderately stiff. Skin color is 60 to 90 percent distinctive mottled red over a yellow background. A nearly solid red coloration develops only if the fruit is well exposed to the sun. The fruit surface has shallow dimples and numerous, small lenticels (dots) with green russeting at the stem end. … The flavor is sub-acid and ranges from mild and well-balanced to strongly aromatic, depending on the degree of maturity.”↩

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