Out of Season Apple Tasting: Envy, Kanzi and Pink Lady.
Short summary: On May 16th the Envy apples were sweet and crunchy and juicy. They were super sweet and had good texture. The small one was juicier and had better taste. Unfortunately, I don’t like plain sweet apples so I liked both Kanzi and Pink Lady better.
After robust discussion on the Opal apple thread, I wanted to give Envy another try - particularly because it was recommended for holding up well. The local Walmart had these Envy apples for $1.74/lb. They are USA apples so I assume they’ve been stored a while. They had two sizes in the bin ENORMOUS (12.6oz - I weighed it) and smallish. I got both sizes in case they tasted different.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen apples this inexpensive at the store (that weren’t gala). Lately, the apples have been expensive or horrible looking or both. FYI, Honeycrisp were $2.99/lb and looking kind of sad. Some of the other choices were Cosmic Crisp ($2.24/lb), granny smith ($1.79/lb) and red delicious which I didn’t even actually look at so can’t tell you how much they cost.
For my competition and comparison apples I chose pink lady ($1.54/lb) and Kanzi ($1.79/lb).
The pink lady was sour and sweet and chewy in texture. It had a kind of grassy taste, but not in a bad way. It wasn’t dry but it wasn’t juicy. I went back and bought some more of them because I did like them.
The Kanzi was both less sour and less sweet than pink lady. I would say it was balanced and had an “apple” flavor. It was crisp and juicy but not crunchy like the envy was. Initially, this was my favorite of the three, but by the time I was halfway through I thought it was kind of boring. However, there’s something to be said for an apple that’s super easy to eat like this one was.
The small Envy was actually bursting with juice. crunchy, juicy and very very sweet apple-y taste.
The large Envy was not as juicy and had more of a floral rose taste. This one was so sweet that it was too much for me. I put it in the fridge and ate it cold two days later and it was better that way.
Also, I cut them open in slices to eat them and when I did, I really noticed that the envy has a different flesh color. It’s more yellow than the other two. None of them browned particularly while I was eating them.