I’ve tried Gala maybe 10 times or so and never had one that I liked. I’m stumped by its popularity, but maybe, like Honeycrisp, the ones available here aren’t good samples. But unlike Honeycrisp, I can’t ascribe the popularity to its texture, which have been sub-par.
I’m beginning to become convinced that WA reserves its crappy apples for in state sales 
I’m interested to learn how Cosmic Crisp will do in my own garden. I have it on M27. It is still small. It bloomed last year but the apple was scorched during the 115F heat wave so I removed it. The little tree seems as healthy as any.
I generally want to grow varieties that are not readily available at the grocery store. Other than just that I love puttering around my garden, I want fruits and vegetables that are opportunities for great flavors, or a window into the past. I like to think, an apple like Newtown Pippin, say, is what Ben Franklin or Queen Victoria loved to eat, or the everyday person who was my ancestor. With Cosmic Crisp, I’m hoping for great new modern texture and flavor, disease resistance and long keeping traits. We’ll see if that’s true.
Not being commercial orchard, I’m not expecting giant size but you never know.
If they are $3 in the store and my tree eventually bears 25 fruits a year, I think that’s a nice return on investment. Especially if it bears that well for ten years.
The store bought I’ve had were too sweet & sour for me, nothing subtle about them. We’ll see how they do in my garden.
I just ate a small one that had a lot of flavor but there’s also a perfume taste. Last year I ate large ones and they had no flavor. I gave up after paying almost 6 dollars (1$ a piece) in bags.
Yesterday I bought small Cosmic Crisp and one I’d never seen named Lady Alice. Last nights large Lady Alice tasted really good. No perfume, however not a crispy texture.
I just ate (1) small Lady Alice and (1) small Cosmic Crisp and the small Lady Alice was like water in flavor. Last night the large one was very flavorful. This Lady Alice had very crispy texture.
I’m going to say Cosmic Crisp is not an apple I care for.
@barkslip Lady Alice is one of my favorites. It should be crisp and flavorful. I also really like Smitten and Opal when it comes to the club apples. Now I’ll add Lucy Glo. Those are all in my top 10, and probably top 5 for grocery store apples.
Golden Russet, Goldrush, Freyburg and Rubinette are high on my list for ones that aren’t generally available from the store.
Cosmic Crisp isn’t competing with any of those, for me, unless it gets much more consistent - and like the best samples of it I’ve tried compared to the average of the others.
I really appreciate the list. I have Golden Russet and Gold Rush & Rubinette, Cameo also as single specimen(s). I have done much apple planting.
Both, lists, thanks.
I’m not sure I’ve seen Evercrisp here. I’d like to try it.
It’s a NY apple…so it might never make it to Seattle.
I’m betting Evercrisp makes it throughout the country, at least at outlets like Trader Joe’s that distribute many varieties of apples. It’s certainly not a NY apple, although growers here seem to be very excited about it. It was bred by the Midwest Apple Improvement Association to perform well in the Midwest.
I didn’t realize it was a Fuji-Honeycrisp cross- that makes it less interesting to me for personal use. I like to have some sweets, but I want them also to be superior culinary apples like Jonagold. Nevertheless, I’m sure some of my customers would like a crunchier Fuji that was dependably annual.
It’s still a ‘club’ apple, MAIA or NY or that state on the upper left coast. But…the entry fee is reasonable to ‘join the club’. It’s going to have to out-compete both parents, plus Gala & RD, if it is going to make all 48 states in the produce aisle. And other ‘rationed’ apples keep popping up clamoring for shelf space. I see it as a regional apple.
But, since I find Fuji the most dependable item at the grocer…no surprise I find Evercrisp having the same qualities.
I think your data is out of data. Honey crisp holds 27% of market, RD is behind Fuji at only a little more than 6%
Too many pop ups and cookies…not going to do all that to look at some data that doesn’t account for mom and pop trees and is only as good as the input of the chart.
You are lucky you couldn’t open it, apparently their numbers are inaccurate, however the true numbers do show how volatile the numbers are with RD about to drop to third in production. Americans are likely already investing a lot more money in HC than in RD, since production is about bushels and not gross profit.
How much of that RD is crushed into cheap apple sauce we can’t know but that would tell you much more about the economics of the apples- the question brings into light how limited your def of popularity is. Popular with who? This isn’t a trade publication. Only huge producers are selling apples to processors.
You probably define McIntosh as popular, I don’t. It’s definitely a regional apple except for sauce.
I’m talking about consumer choice in my definition of popularity. (Not choice for pie or sauce by large processors.)
Since I couldn’t see your chart, is HC the apple that is threatening to take second place from RD?
Couldn’t open the FG page? That’s odd. It is predicted to pass Red Delicious shortly and I bet it has long since passed it in both revenue production and acres devoted to it.
Who cares what variety growers are producing the most of? That also pertains to the relative productivity and RD is reliably annual and very productive. You keep using the word popular and farmers often hate Honey Crisp because it’s difficult to grow in many places it is heavily under cultivation. Honeycrisp is, by far, the most popular apple in the U.S. based on consumer willingness to pay high prices for it.
Evercrisp is reputedly sweeter and less demanding to grow than Honeycrisp and has similar crunch. Honeycrisp didn’t reach decent popularity until its patent ran out, the race is on for these new imitations to rake in some profit on the investment in breeding and I’m guessing that Evercrisp is in pretty good position to do that.
I think there is a business case for that. The largest per capita supply of apples in North America is in Washington. The largest number of sellers of apples in North America is in Washington. Therefore I assume the lowest price for apples in North America is in Washington. Selling your better apples a little further away where there is less competition allows one to have a larger margin. Keep growing your own - they always taste better! 
We bought some Evercrisps in Maryland in December. They are a real winner!
Interesting observation about Gala. I’m right there with ya on ‘something being off’. I don’t know how to describe it - but I taste a sort of dry-bitter hint of something. So, I don’t buy them. Maybe I’ll try your cooler trick! Galas are very inexpensive here. And I always have had to pass them up - and choose other varieties, wishing we liked the cheaper ones!
For the Evercrisp fans here, do you think that someone who isn’t a fan of Fuji would like this apple? I am curious about growing it due to the hype, but I haven’t had the opportunity to buy any at local markets. I like most of the Honeycrisp offspring, but I’m not a big fan of Fuji.
Don’t know.
I like both Fuji and Honeycrisp and also Evercrisp.