I love Gala apples - sweet and crisp, they hold up long term.

I used to be crazy for Granny Smith but haven’t had one in a long while. Should probably pick some up this season.

Anonymous wrote:Not an orchard but Twin Springs farm stands - I know they're in Bethesda and likely other areas too have the best, crispiest apples. I love ginger gold the most. Spend way too much $$$ on apples in season.

Drive to Rockville farmers market on Saturdays (9 am - 1 pm) - you won't be disappointed by prices and selection. Scenic view orchard and Tuckers farm are the best

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cosmic crisp all the way

Tried these this weekend. Nice crunch but nothing crazy.

The taste and texture of a pink lady are superior, it’s the best apple there is

Not an orchard but Twin Springs farm stands - I know they're in Bethesda and likely other areas too have the best, crispiest apples. I love ginger gold the most. Spend way too much $$$ on apples in season.

Anonymous wrote:Cosmic crisp all the way

These are my favorite grocery store apples. From the orchards I find Macintosh and golden delicious far superior to the grocery store ones.

Anonymous wrote:Cosmic crisp all the way

Tried these this weekend. Nice crunch but nothing crazy.

Hmm, where do I start
I like apples, and prefer to get them on the farmers market, you just need to know your apples
First in the seasons is Lodi - very tart, not that crispy and they get mushy fast, but I enjoy they for couple of weeks they're in season
Next are Sansa, Pristine and Ginger gold. Again, very short season, all tart and crispy with thin skin. Some farmers store Ginger gold in fridges, you can still find them now, but best time to enjoy them early in the season. I've seen Ginger gold in stores, not the same, but sometimes they are decent
In the fall - soo many choices: pink lady, mutsu, nittany, crimson crisp, jonagold to name a few.. So much more flavor then generic gala (meh flavor), granny smith (too sweet for a tart apple, thick skin), or honey crisp

I went in rural PA this year, and everything was great. Really good honeycrisps that were smaller than what you usually get in the grocery store, but just as delicious. A few random varieties that I hadn't really even heard of ... pixies?

I live in apple country (not in the Pacific NW) and we have lots of great apple varieties grown around here. I prefer to buy from the growers directly, usually the U-pick are ones that I don't like (think red delicious).

Anonymous wrote:I do not bother with orchard apples unless I am in the NE or PNW.

This is silly, VA was once famous for its apple exports.

https://www.albemarleciderworks.com/orchard/apple/albemarle-pippin

“ The crisp, juicy, firm flesh and very distinctive taste, along with its excellent keeping qualities, made the Pippin the most prized of American dessert apples from the early 18th century. It grows especially well in the Virginia Piedmont and attracted great notoriety when Andrew Stevenson, the American minister to St. James, presented the young Victoria with a gift basket of the apples in 1838 from his wife's Albemarle County home, Enniscorthy. "Never did a barrel of apples obtain so much reputation for the fruits of our country," Sallie Coles Stevenson reported.

As a gesture of appreciation, Parliament permitted the Virginia apple to enter Britain duty-free, and the Albemarle Pippin became an important export, commanding premium prices in the English market. After World War I, Parliament levied duties again on non-Commonwealth fruit, and the Pippin's market waned.”

Anonymous wrote:We've done apple picking and allegedly fresh apple orchards apples from time to time over the years and honestly, all the random types of apples they have never seem very good. Certainly not worth the effort and drive.

We prefer crunchy/crisp and tart/sour apples. All the random variety of apples at orchards are just waxy, mushy, soft, sweet... very meh. They all sort of taste the same.

Honeycrisp and Granny Smith from Whole Foods are superior, to us. Is there a specific hybrid or whatever variety we are overlooking? Or maybe there's a good reason honeycrisp and granny smith are so widely available.

Many people prefer a softer apple or one with little acidity.

You should try the variety Goldrush.

Quite hard, very tart but also sweet. They don’t ripen until quite late so look for this year’s crop in a few weeks.

FYI, I have a small apple orchard.

DW and I stopped at Catoctin orchard this weekend. The Evercrisp are pretty good. I will let you know about the other varieties they had when I finish these.

I do not bother with orchard apples unless I am in the NE or PNW.

The best apples are grown in the Pacific Northwest. You're just not going to get anything that tastes as good on the East Coast.