I like to try new apples too, but so far I could not find something that beats a good RD. My order of preference is RD, Fuji, golden delicious. I do not like tart apples. Do you have suggestions for a low acid apple that I should try?
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Jolene,
I see in your profile that you are starting/started a new orchard, good luck! I hope you let some of your fruits long enough on the trees to reach their prime and offer your customers the special and rare experience of tasting fully ripe fruits. Unfortunately, most orchards around where I live became very commercialized and their fruit picking window is well before ripeness…
Which state/ city do you live in?
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Try for eating - Pacific Rose
Can’t find them for growing
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I eat Pacific rose, and I find it ok, may be 7 out of 10. There is a rare apple called Pacific Queen (I think it is primarily grown in New Zeeland) I bought it some 10 years ago from Walmart and never found it again; it was as good as a ripe RD, may be even better.
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We are in the mountains of central AZ, zone 7-8, and are still working on the you pick orchard. We do have 45 standard apples, and about 50 other fruit trees, and hubby has approved about 200 trellised dwarf apples here at our place.
Thanks for the good wishes, and rest assured, I’m planning on only picking ripe fruit! 
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A lot of those apples are from NZ
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It seems that there is a trend here. Some new apple variety comes out. Now a days usually a club apple or some other limits on the supply. If that new apple is good and/or becomes popular the demand goes way up. More and more growers come into the market, as well as “improved” varieties (which often the only improvement is it is not under the same controls), and quality of this popular variety plummets.
It seems this was the story with Delicious, and likely now with Honey Crisp too. Perhaps just a market artifact, but too bad really.
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I think club apples are a good thing. They protect the consumers from quality dropping by putting requirements on those allowed to grow for them. Oh the other hand RD and HC never has such protections.
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“Club” apples are only good for you if you’re a member of the “club”…not good for anyone else.
That’s how “big agriculture” is. Like Walmart and the other big box stores…hoping they can get all the business, including what’s been going to mom and pop. bb
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Glad to know I’m a member of the club.
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I wasn’t trying to bad mouth clubs. They are a reasonable way for breeders/growers to control quality and protect their “brand”.
Rather I was trying to point to the pattern I see in the markets. It seems to hold for many things (not just fruit). Something becomes popular or a fad, everyone tries to to get some, prices go up and lots of other people want to help supply it and get in on the profits of the fad. Doesn’t seem to matter if it’s apples or Bitcoin, the pattern repeats.
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We have a standard Red Delicious here that my MIL planted but the apples are nowhere near being in league with the many varieties I’ve planted. They do have some aromatic qualities, and are sweet without much tartness and not mealy like store bought, but its only a matter of time before I “prune” them, knee high, and probably graft a dwarf interstem (the 3 std apples of common store varieties are planted 12’ apart and well on their way to being an apple hedge) and a superior variety.
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It is referred to as an “exotic cycle” which is easily defined by things like ostriches, American bison, tulip mania, etc. Essentially, it is a bubble in the economic fabric that enriches the early adopters and usually results in fiscal loss for everyone else.
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The exotic cycle as @fusion_power put it does not really apply to club apples. There can be a race to get your own club brand established but the over supply issue is not there.
Club apples are the exact opposite of the fad issue. The only club apple with the potential to fad at the moment is cosmic crisp. Washington state is literally trying to recreate the juggernaught that was Red Delicious and monopolize it to one state. 12 million trees are being planted in the next few years. By most accounts CC are good in trials. But can they scale up so quickly and maintain qualify? That’s a question to be answered.
Now if Cosmic Crisp does take off will the club apples expand membership to compete on volume? Then quality might fall again and the cycle repeats. But till that happens club apples are still the best way to go into a common grocery store and get a half decent apple.
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Here’s what Delicious looks like in our mountains. I have people try it, and they like it a lot but can’t quite place the flavour. By the forth or fifth bite (I never do get the apple back) I tell them that it’s Delicious, how Red Delicious used to taste. Once I tell them that they recognize the flavour, but say that it blows away anything they’ve had from the store.
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Also try Seka Ichi. A very flavorful apple you can find in Asian stores. Unfortunately it doesnt keep well so best to try it in late October.
Akane is another apple you will like if you dont like sour taste.
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Those look like the ones I remember eating as a young adult. Pretty good apples in my opinion.
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Don’t see the bumps on the bottom
And you are right. Old fashioned Delicious that are tree ripened really were delicious…and are if you have some.
I am rather surprised at the number ol folks here bragging on store-bought apples. I expected to see more emphasis on the 10,000 apples not available in stores! BB