Thanks for catching the info on the removal of Cameo trees. My Cameo trees have been a big disappointment too and I’m about ready to remove all of them.
I have always hated RD since I was a boy (as it was completely tasteless; no sugar/ no flavor). About 12 years ago, when I was living in IN, one day I ran into a real dark red (kind of red black) batch of RD in a supermarket, so I got curious and bought a few pounds. Those ones were completely different from any apple that I have eaten before (my favorites at that time were Gala and Cameo). They were pretty sweet, flavorful and a little soft. Anyhow, I never found similar looking/ tasting ones again until I moved to upstate NY and started visiting apple orchards. Most orchards offered better RD than supermarket ones, but on a scale 1-10 I would say 7-8. However, one orchard had really good ones which I give 10. A few years later, I moved to Delaware and started visiting every Orchard within an hour driving from my house, and from among six orchards that I visited in PA, NJ and MD only one offered exceptional quality RD like the ones I found in upstate NY. To me, no other apple comes close to these fantastic RD…
In short, I think the problem with RD is the commercial practice of way too early harvest that does not allow flavor or sugar to build up in the fruit. Which is the problem of 90% of peaches, nectarines, apricots and plums that you find in supermarkets.
P.S. If any of you would like to try those truly delicious Red Delicious apples, come fall and I’d be happy to ship him/her a couple of pounds. But obviously, if you prefer crisp and tart, RD is not for you.
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Its not just the early harvest, there are a huge number of sports grown now selected for super early reddening (“red on the outside green on the inside” is the goal 
) plus ability to withstand shipping etc.
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Is anyone else seeing some RD back in the stores that are less solid red and more striped like the original Hawkeye strain?
I tend to see the stripey ones in the organic section. I don’t know if that is intentional or not.
The best Hawkeye Delicious have a very “floral” scented flavor/smell to them. Ones that have that are exceptional apples.
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True. I remember when i was a kid, the red delicious was delicious. Not the mealy, light-weight, tasteless apple in the stores today.
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Something over 35 years ago I picked several weeks for a large roadside orchard that retailed all their apples or made cider with leftovers,culls, drops. Anyhow, bottom line, I ate a few apples while picking ofcourse.
And I preferred the red delicious.
But, I also preferred Manischewitz sweet wine…and now I prefer a dry red Zin or Shiraz. That’s maybe partly why us old timers don’t like red delicious as we might have…our tastes change over time.
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Red Delicious certainly has fallen out of favor in SE WI as far as the local orchards go. Some used to have them for U-pick but most have cut them down. Sadly golden delicious is going down in popularity too locally. I am dismayed as I really enjoy some of the locally grown golden delicious. A local U-Pick we go to for apples that I do not have in my orchard used to have hoards of people for golden delicious. The past few years not many picking that variety.
I still grow red delicious as I sort of inherited a large tree on the property. When picked properly and stored for 6-8 weeks in cold storage they are really decent to eat. Crispy yet sweet. Far better than the majority of red delicious I taste at the supermarkets.
My favorite strains of delicious are still Hawkeye and Red Prince. Too bad nobody seems to offer Red Prince anymore. It was more of an orange-red skin color but the flavor for a delicious variety was exquisite.
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What I see in socal is a sport of red delicious that is dark red approaching black - similar to the Arkansas black coloration – with very thick skin. Which one is this? Theses apples seem just fine nothing special, superior to the prebagged lunch box sized variety which are usually mealy and flavorless.
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I find these too in farmers markets, they are good to very good, sweet but mild flavor. I start buying them when I run out of my orchard-picked fantastic RD.
They grow them because they can sell them. They’re a beautiful apple. I have never met anyone who liked the taste. Most people simply tolerate the taste. I’ve never met anyone who goes to buy apples looking for Red Delicious and I’m quite sure I never will. Millions of people quit eating apples in the mid-late 20th century because they came to acquaint the dreadful Red Delicious with the very idea of eating apples. The feds had to bail out apple growers from losses caused by people abandoning this horrible apple. I had quit eating apples by the mid-1980s until I went to Europe and was introduced to good apples again. Despite assurances from various apple “experts” that decent tasting Red Delicious apples do exist, I’ve never encountered a decent Red Delicious apple. I’ve asked people to send me some at my expense on numerous occasions and they never do. Red Delicious is mealy and bland if it’s too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry, too sunny, too cloudy, if the sky is too blue, or if the grass is too green. It is a dreadfully bad eating apple. A post referred to “hard crunchy and sweet” Red Delicious apples. That’s fascinating because in the last 60 years I’ve never encountered even one that was hard, crunchy, OR sweet. And I am so tired of hearing about the original variety. That’s not the variety being sold in the stores, so it does not matter. We’re talking about the variety that is sold everywhere and tastes like cardboard.
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Moose, I’ve never had a Cortland. They are tart? I’m like you . . . I like the crisp ones with a tart snappy taste! I saw some trees ‘marked’ Cortland at the Tractor Supply store. I have enough to deal with for this spring . . . but maybe in the future that is one I will try.
really? they are slightly tart. very popular apple variety in Maine. more tart than a macintosh. for fresh eating i find is one of the best and keeps fairly well. very white flesh w/ some red streaking when ripe. best after hit with a frost. good sized apple that is very crisp. sounds like you would like it! maybe get some scions to try to graft to your trees? if i had some, id offer.
This made me laugh. Maybe because I agree, both Red Delicious and Golden Delicious are not apples I like, or ever liked, even as a child. Crisp and juicy doesn’t do it for me if the trade off is flavour. But each to his own, some like them sweet some like them sour. I am in the sour camp.
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pink lady is the sweetest apple i like but just for fresh eating. for sauce and pies, the more sour, the better!
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This isn’t the “Buying Fruit” forum. It is very much apropos to discuss that the original strain of (red) Delicious apple is, in fact, worth growing to some and what it might taste like if properly ripened.
Here, if you pick up your namesake chestnuts that have been allowed to sit on the ground after too much rain or too many dewy nights they will certainly taste like moldy dirt. That isn’t an indictment on the nut itself, but rather the grower’s system of harvesting. Also they don’t taste like much to me, and really aren’t worth growing. But the squirrels and deer seem to think they are fit to eat. But they will also eat red oak acorns. To each his own…
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The topic of this thread is in fact the Red Delicious fruit that is being sold in grocery stores today and why such a horrible apple is sold. Thus the original Red Delicious apple has absolutely no relevance whatsoever to that issue.
The Red Delicious apple being sold in grocery stores does not taste good at any time, so your discussion of chestnuts in the mud has no relevance whatsoever either.
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Yeah, I guess I get it. Sorry I spoke up.
You like an underdog apparently. To the defence of the red delicious!
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The most of us want to grow our own apples, right? So we discuss different varieties to obtain the best tasting for us. I think it’s better to sample fruits locally. The big supermarkets ofen sells bland imported fruits (at least in my country). My favorite apple is Jonagold (Decosta sport) from Poland. Fuji is good, but too sweet to my taste. Red Delicious, Gala, Breaburn, Pink Lady are mediocre. Red Chief (RD sport) is good, but too litle acidity.
Cox, Kidd’s Orange Red, Ashmead’s Kernel, Fiesta and Suntan are still too young to estimate. This year I must try to bagging them on the tree. For now Fiesta is the best among them.
I had old RD tree with good apples. The fruits was not so big and newer was entirely red, but striped. They improved with month storage and keeps well.
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I live in western NY near lake Ontario, with apple orchards all around. I very much like RD when they are ripe and they most definitely are crunchy and very juicy when picked at the correct time. The do have a very unique taste, so I guess “to each their own”. I think they are a very good addition for blending to make a sweet cider.
I’ve had cardboard tasting ones from the grocery store and I can understand why someone would not like this apple if that’s all it could be based on. My youngest daughter, the apple lover, also thinks most of our home grown apples taste much different/better than the ones we buy in the store.
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