How do you like THEM apples?

[iNow]

So, I'm biting into an apple the other day, and I am flooded with questions. It was early. My blood sugar was low. I'd had no caffeine. I was about to jump in the shower before work, and I hadn't yet studied for my Chinese quiz which was later that afternoon.

 

Then, I grabbed an apple.

 

I realized how many different types of apples we have available to us, and how they each offer something a little bit different to the consumer.

 

Flavor.

Crunch.

Smoothness.

Meatiness.

Sweetness.

Juiciness.

Tartness.

Gurth.

Staying power (ability to avoid spoil).

 

 

Did you know that there are over 7,500 known different types of apples?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apples

 

 

 

While I recognize that growing conditions like weather and soil have a major impact on taste, most types of apples appear to demonstrate a pretty noteworthy within group consistency.

 

Further, we each tend to like different things. We are products of our genes and our upbringing, so our palettes and our perceptions are tuned uniquely.

 

 

 

With all of that said, when you decide to have an apple, what is it that makes a good apple to YOU?

 

 

My hope is to try to avoid a discussion on local names and branding, since most of those will not necessarily translate across the pond. However, a discussion on the objective qualities (if we're lucky) just might.

 

Cheers.

[ParanoiA]

Crunch.

Sweetness.

Juiciness.

Coolness.

 

That's what makes a good apple to me.

[iNow]

Have you ever noticed the differing kinds of sweetness across apples? Some are sweet like honey, others are sweet like sugar, others molasses, others with more a "corn-like" grainy sweetness...

 

You also introduced a new label I hadn't even considered... temperature (that is, of course, if I'm interpretting "coolness" correctly, and that you did not mean to intend "cool" in a Fonzie kinda way ).

 

Thanks.

[ParanoiA]

Ha, yeah, no Fonzie terminology intended. But yeah, I like my apples refrigerated. Something about the cool sweetness that really hits the spot on a summer day. I've also heard apples are good for your teeth, so that's a plus.

 

As far as sweetness, I guess I'm a little shallow as I've not noticed the shades of difference. I've made a note to self on this matter.

[Pangloss]

I heard on a recent 60 Minutes story (about that catastrophe seed bank up in the tundra) that there were tens of thousands of species of apple in common consumption less than a century ago, but that homogenization through marketing has reduced the number to (according to this agriculture expert they were interviewing) "about 3 or 4 common varieties". The rest are down to just seeds in seed banks in various places, useful for research (cross-breeding for immunities, etc) but basically lost to the general public.

[iNow]

I saw that one, too. It was an interesting special, and the video is available here:

 

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=3880117n

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=3880035n

 

 

 

Me, I like apples with firm flesh. I think "crisp" is the best word to describe it. Nothing disappoints my eating enjoyment more than a squishy apple. This is why I've often tended to Granny Smiths, as they hold up better. However, they are very tart, and don't satisfy as much (like on those hot summer days) as apples which are sweeter.

 

Recently, I've found a certain passion for one called a "Pink Lady." While it has an emasculating name, it has a thoroughly pleasurable collection of "good apple attributes."

[ydoaPs]

/me likes the crunchy green ones.

 

They're yummy.

[swansont]

I'm going to go geeky here (what were the odds): apples and some other fruits, such as bananas and pears, give off ethylene as they ripen, and ripening is accelerated by the presence of ethylene. So a ripe apple will cause others to ripen more quickly, hence one bad apple spoiling the bunch — the darker splotches on any of these fruits, where it has gotten mushy, is a source of ethylene.

 

These days, these fruits are picked before they ripen and can be stored for a while (in a cool place), and then triggered to ripen by introducing ethylene. So you can ripen things on your own by mixing a ripe subject with some unripe ones; placing the apple/banana/pear in a paper bag helps as well, by trapping some of the ethylene. Conversely, you should segregate them if you want to slow the ripening. AFAIK higher humidity impedes ripening, so a plastic bag does not hasten ripening — it traps water vapor as well.

[John Cuthber]

"Have you ever noticed the differing kinds of sweetness across apples? Some are sweet like honey, others are sweet like sugar, others molasses, others with more a "corn-like" grainy sweetness..."

Well, I don't like apples so I haven't noticed this, but I can't help wondering why the people who do research on taste haven't spotted this distinction yet.

They only seem to have come up with salt, sour, sweet, bitter, and umami.

[ydoaPs]

umami?

[swansont]

Don't get started on the umami jokes.

[iNow]

"Have you ever noticed the differing kinds of sweetness across apples? Some are sweet like honey, others are sweet like sugar, others molasses, others with more a "corn-like" grainy sweetness..."

Well, I don't like apples so I haven't noticed this, but I can't help wondering why the people who do research on taste haven't spotted this distinction yet.

 

Perhaps they have, perhaps they haven't. Frankly, I've not looked into much research on the topic. I'm simply conveying my own personal experience, and those are the words I chose to do so. I'd welcome other terminology if I wasn't able to get my point across using the words I previously chose.

 

 

 

Isn't unami that asian art form where you make swans and whatnot out of folded paper?

[swansont]

There's Or-e-ga-no, which is the ancient Japanese art of folding herbs.

[YT2095]

I don`t eat apples raw, so for me I like tartness and they must hold up well to cooking and not go to mush.

 

in this way, I like them cooked in a little butter (salted), lemon juice with cinnamon and brown sugar, served in a bowl with vanilla ice-cream.

[CaptainPanic]

What appears to me as striking is that most of you don't seem to care about the presence of vitamins in apples.

 

While the apples have been bred for crunchiness, flavor and color (and probably all other characteristics mentioned above), it seems that they contain lower amounts of nutrients such as for example vitamins than the apples of, say, 100 years ago.

 

p.s. I have no other source for this other than mainstream media, which is no guarantee that there's any truth in the statement that modern fruits contain less nutrients.

[john5746]

My favorite is the Gala. They are sweet, crunchy and are about the right size for a snack. They are available at a decent price and are consistently good. Red delicious is like playing roulette, sometimes great, sometimes bad.

[Mr Skeptic]

/me likes the crunchy green ones.

 

They're yummy.

 

Me too. I don't know the name of them though. The red ones are sometimes good, but only if they are cruchy. Its not the crunchiness that I like, just that for some reason I like the flavor of the crunchy ones.

 

And to make them more filling, I sometimes eat apple slices with peanut butter.