Any lists of apples with highest Brix readings?
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Golden Sweet and Husk Sweet are regular 20 brix apples.
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Golden S. finally fruited either on G-30 or G-202 (I’ve lost the tag)…in it’s 6th leaf from grafting. Even by July 1st it obviously had sugars…I don’t know what it’s actual ripening date is as I picked the last one before July 10th. I didn’t wait for squirrels or raccoons to find them! Glad I have another tree still in a pot…I like the idea of a high brix summer apple. *It also had no blemishes on the fruit…another great sign as I didn’t spray the tree except using dormant oil.
Husk S. I grafted it to B-10 and I’ll probably get fruit in another year…is it really top 10 in Brix? That’ll be nice if it is.
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The first year I got Hunt Russet - & only mild summer in living memory - it stood at 18 & 19 Brix when picked. Wickson measured 21 Brix at harvest, also in eastern WA & not my tree. If I’d kept Wickson a couple weeks it would probably have read higher. Claygate, my own tree, has shown 24 Brix 6 weeks after picking. A Hewes Crab - the only one I’ve had direct contact with - picked maybe three weeks after it came ripe, had to be measured on the refractometer of my friend, whose had a scale high enough, & registered 31! Definite cinnamon overtone, too.
Clearly you know things I do not, but perhaps what little experience I can draw from may prove useful.
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At 31 there had to be a lot of sucrose staining.
You are talking about Golden Supreme? That is one apple I grow that I really enjoy. This year I got more apples from this tree than any other apple in my orchard. In fact I still have some of these apples left in my fridge. Some have some bad spots on them but for the most pert still good.
Of full sized apples- Sansa, Fuji, Goldrush, Ashmead’s Kernel, Golden Russet, Spitz. Sansa, Fuji and Golden Russet do not have an acid balance if you are looking for sweetest taste. When Evercrisp comes off patent or becomes legally available to non-commercial growers, we can discus it.
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Beyond a general list of our high brix apples tested at home, the world of sensory evaluation in fruits and vegetables is a fascinating science in my opinion.
Despite all the chemical analysis from starch to sugars, sub acid to acid, sensory evaluation panels still have a role in breeding new varieties. Aromas can have an important role in the perceived sweetness of apples. In general we don’t think of aroma in apples say compared to white versus yellow peaches.
With the ever growing introduction of new Club apples and even rebranding here and in Europe to gain market share, aromas have taken on a new importance in apples.
At one time juicy apples that burst with flavor was thought to be the key to consumer acceptance. In various studies even small increases in aroma before tasting can make our brains perceive a greater sweetness that is not there by instrument measuring. Sensory panelist who smelled the sliced apple before tasting found the fruit sweeter than just tasting the slice of the very same apple.
Where does that go from there in apple breeding? Fruit that release enough aroma when cut or bitten into can be the one consumers will buy more often. The trend toward unexpected tropical flavors in an apple like Ludacrisp is the next wave in apples. Adding increased aroma in the mix can make it a hit. The consumer is already primed with the thought of “Juicy Fruit” flavor in ads for Ludacrisp.
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I’m not sure. Say what you will, I believe the average U.S. shopper is guided by appearance above all else. There will always be those who celebrate flavor nuance but those people will never become a critical market share, IMO. Not in this country.
We don’t tend to take fresh fruit all that seriously compared to most other cultures.
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Mostly I agree with that. But it’s certainly not the case with Honeycrisp vs Red Delicious. Those shapely RD win beauty contests. The HC I just bought are butt ugly. Yet RD is dead and HC ignited a new class of apples.
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But the breeders made no money on Honeycrisp because it was no knockout as a beauty, so languished for years as a commercial variety. It is so exceptionally different in texture that it was eventually noticed and became a fad apple. You might say that, so far, it is the exception that proves the rule, which is a silly expression if taken literally. But I think it’s fair to say its chances of being a breeder money-maker would have been far better if it was a bright candy apple red.
I don’t think the average Honeycrisp in stores are ugly, just rather plain.
The most beautiful high brix apple I grow, IMO, is Spitz. The most beautiful apple is Pink Lady, at least how it appears in groups in a tree.
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IMHO Honey Crisp commercial success suffered from two problems (other than being hard to grow), first is blandness, which is a result of early picking, lack of thinning and perhaps too much water. True that many people love the crispy texture, but if that is not accompanied by flavor and sweetness, it becomes another tasteless cousin of supermarket Red Delicious.
Second is overpricing, unless an apple is extraordinarily flavorful and sweet, the majority of people will not pay $3/pound for it.
Farmers are part of the problem here, they favor overcropping, overwatering and aesthetics over eating quality. The greatest majority of fruits in supermarkets are absolutely tasteless, even at farmers markets and orchards they are selling the illusion of freshness and the farm experience more than true quality. I ate for breakfast today an apple that I picked on Nov 11 and has been sitting in my fridge for more than two month till it became wrinkly and soft, but it was very sweet and packed a lot more flavor than a lot of apples that I sampled from a pick your own orchard with overcropped trees last October.
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Well, in my pompous opinion the early Honeycrisps did not suffer those ailments and they came with the over popularity of it and over planting it in regions not conducive to highest quality, along with the issues you talk about. Like a lot of things, it suffered from its own popularity but it became popular because of its attributes. Three things- mostly the crunch, but also the acid sugar balance and juiciness.
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I doubt USA consumers do not care about nuances. I merely think they are too time addled to prioritize it. A difference with distinction. And a lesson in forcing a value judgement. Few growers ever thought an old fossil like Brushy Mountain Limbertwig would dominate taste testing; but it did.
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Golden Sweet, Mike.
I haven’t heard
of a
Golden
Supreme.
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Too many brix covers over the complex flavors that make an apple great. Same with acid.
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Golden Supreme is yet another Gold Delicious sport/seedling. Supposedly a fine pollination apple too.
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The oldest documentation of Golden Sweet is in Connecticut in 1830’s I believe.
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Not just pretty but eye-catching. Lots of classy-looking bronze/ russeted apples out there that look great in a still-life painting. But they don’t sell.
Back on the original topic, I would agree that some crabs can be very sweet. Wickson and Hewes I have had very sweet fruits from. Another category which is often very sweet are the late keepers. I had a Yates a few hours ago and it seemed quite sweet so I measured it … 22 brix. GoldRush and Black Limbertwig are some other late apples that have been very sweet for me recently. There are other apples which are very sweet as well, for example Rubinette is often above 20 brix for me.
Note that growing picking and storing are also big factors. My Yates were definitely not 22 brix when I picked them, but store them for a few months and all those starches will convert. It they are picked too early they will not have enough starch to begin with. Same for too much nitrogen etc etc.
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