I’ve only tried Jonagold from the store a few times and have never been impressed. Usually the texture is poor, which makes me think it isn’t much of a keeper and surprises me that it appeals to the same folks who like Honeycrisp.
At the fruit ID table at a Home Orchard Society event, I’ve tasted one considered probable/likely to be Jonagold that was really good. So maybe the ones at the stores here just have been no good.
If I remember correctly, Matt, I respect your palate - I think you listed a number of your favorite apples that may have been headlined with Golden Russet and Rubinette which are excellent apples to my taste. I seem to recall overlap in tastes on a number of others.
Hope I haven’t confused you with another poster, but makes me want to try some good Jonagolds.
They seem to have a short shelf life. I have had some that was comparable to Honeycrist and some that was in my opinion average at best. I suspect the bad ones were either picked early or past there prime. Bill
I do like Golden Russet, but you might have me mixed up with someone else.
I just started growing Rubinette this year-- have not tasted it yet.
I have also had Jonagolds that were past their prime and tasted nasty. I agree that their storage ability is dubious. But when you get a good one, they really are excellent.
I’ve never been a huge apple fan, but this year I’ve started to see the appeal. I’ve been trying all the varieties at the store, and even went to a CRFG apple tasting. Jonagold is now a big favorite (and to confirm comments above, the Jonagold grafts on my Gravenstein have grown way more vigorously than the Honeycrisps). Another apple that really surprised me is “Pacific Rose.” It’s a great apple, and big and beautiful, but has an unexpected perfumy aftertaste that is delightful. I’ve also liked Jazz and numerous apples from the CRFG tasting, but I can’t find my notes from it. I remember tasting Karmijn de Sonnaville and thinking, so this is what all the fuss is about!
I found two new varieties today that I’ve never seen on my local market shelves. Opal and Sonya. I know Opals been talked about here but I’ve not heard mention of Sonya.
The Opal was absolutely delicious. Cross between Golden Delicious and Topaz. Bright yellow color, great sweetness, and quite a bit of acid too. The texture was great. They were a little on the expensive side but I hope I start seeing them more often around here.
Sonya on the other hand was as disappointing as the Opals were good. I should’ve known I wouldn’t care for it as it has the characteristic Red Delicious dimples on the bottom of the apple. Apparently a cross between Red Delicious and Gala. This apple was quite striking in color but falvor was bland. It had Zero acid and was mildly sweet. texture was as expected from a Red Delicious offspring. Cost the same as the Opal’s. No reason to ever buy this one again.
I agree with 100% of what you said speed, and my multiple experiences with Sonya was the same. Bland and unremarkable and I also felt the similarity to RD. Opal is indeed very good, and that’s saying something I think, since I tend to strongly favor red apples.
I’ve been getting “Envy” apples lately—a little expensive too, but a solid rival to Fuji. Incredibly crunchy–when you bite into it you get the feeling the apple was about to burst open anyway! Also very sweet, with just a smidgen of tanginess, and a nice flavor. I’d say it has a little more flavor than a store-bought Fuji. The other advantage over Fuji is that is seems to have a thinner skin–the skin blends right in with the flavor of the apple. With Fujis I sometimes feel like I’m left chewing a mouthful of flavorless leathery skin.
I looked it up and here’s what Wikipedia says:
“Envy is a trademarked brand of the Scilate apple variety. Scilate is the result of a cross between Royal Gala and Braeburn. It was developed in New Zealand by HortResearch, submitted for a patent in 2008 and patented in 2009.”
It’s definitely not a very distinctive, heirloom-type where flavor comes first, it’s one of the new super-sweet apples with less tang, but delicious for everyday crunching, imho.
Envy can be quite good, always very sweet. I’ve had some that are insipid though, nothing but sweet. I think the best Fujis are better than the best Envys, but quality control on the Envy’s seems better, at least around here.
Club apples like Envy are a method of limiting the supply of certain variety and managing the price. When folks purchase these apples they support that idea.
Most of the club apple trees are not available to folks like us. I don’t see anything positive about the situation so I don’t purchase these apples.
That was my initial reaction to club apples too. They are not the ideal model for consumers and a terrible model for home fruit growers.
But I disagree that there isn’t anything positive. I’ve come to see significant value in enforcing a contract with growers. It allows the patent holder, if so inclined, to ensure that apples of a given variety are grown to quality standards.
I’d nearly given up on grocery store apples, but now find that nearly all the only ones I enjoy are club apples. There are many excellent varieties in the public domain, but the ones that end up in the store mostly aren’t worth eating.
With club apples, there is a level of accountability and a brand to uphold.
I dream that in the future market forces, regulation, protests, or whatever, will produce an apple marketplace in which flavor and eating quality of apples are the goals of growers and distributors. Until then, I’ll enjoy Opals, Lady Alices, and the like to supplement what I grow at home or serendipitously chance upon.
I also gave up on grocery store apples when Red and Golden Delicious were the only choices. Fortunately, I now see dozens of variety of good “public domain” apple variety in my local supermarkets. The quality is generally good and sometimes excellent. They would be a lot better if they had not been in CA storage for so long. I also see many “public domain” variety available at the local farmer’s market in season and for a short period after harvest, with no long term CA storage effects .
The marketplace works and turning a commodity like a fresh apple into a brand name is an interesting marketing idea. The consumer gets another choice, but at a higher price. It should make money for certain growers and the marketers, and perhaps hurt others.
I don’t like anything about this new branded, controlled growing and marketing process so I will not buy these apples, except for a few for a taste test. I don’t want to accelerate the market forces in the direction of club apple variety that I will never have the chance to plant.
What I meant by that is, in spite of selling many varieties that have the potential to be excellent, the actual fruits of those varieties that they sell at the stores around here are not good. This is at a range of prices, in and out of season, various stores and markets, and organic or otherwise.
I wasn’t aware of the “club” apple situation, blueberry and murky. Sounds complicated. I’m not a huge fan of corporate capitalism in general, but while we have the current system, I try to respect intellectual property rights, for instance in the case of not buying pirated music or movies. At our CRFG here, we don’t allow scions of fruits that are still under patent. But it sounds like you’re saying this is a bigger issue than just patented fruit varieties, and I respect your positions on it. Thanks both of you for alerting me to the issue.
Any one try the Rockit Apple? Just picked them up at my local CVS store. They come in a cylinder of plastic like tennis balls. Like a large crab apple size. Very sweet almost reminded me of. gala Apple. They are not cheap. I’m not sure if these will do well in the long run to me. Seems like a gimmick to sell an apple.
I have become a total fruit snob. I cannot bring myself to buy an apple from the grocery store let alone the horrible berries that taste like cardboard mixed with water. Don’t even talk about tomatoes!
I should consider moving to the Cape. You have Home Depot and Lowe’s that carry interesting/good apple varieties (ours carry labels like red apple, green apple). You have CVS that sell fruit. We have CVS at every corner. None of them sells fruit or groceries.
Then, I remember how expensive it is to live at the Cape. I only dream
I’m luckier than that I live right before the bridge to the Cape, but still considered Cape Cod. Nice area with a beautiful beach and no tourists. Our CVS just recently changed over an area to be more like a quick prepared food area I’m sure it will be coming to most of them soon.
I bought it because it was new and wanted to try the taste? To me it’s such a small Apple even my kids would need a few so why waste the money on them and the plastic packaging turns me off. Campari tomatoes are worth buying.
