While making hard cider using Apples from a neglected Apple tree, I tasted the apple, found it taste pretty good to me: sweet, sour and very crisp.
I just measured the brix of the apple, itās close to 15%, (>14.5%), ph is about 3.
I am not very sophisticated about apples, store-bought Apple never appeal to me. The owner does not know what kind of Apple it is, the fruits are green.
Can someone tell me weather this is considered good Apple based on the brix and acidity or this is a silly question?
I donāt think you can say an apple is good based on brix and pH. If you like the taste of the apple then itās good Thats what really matters.
Brix alone does not define a fruit as good. Sure it helps because most people like the taste of sweetness. It could taste as sweet as honey but if the texture feels like your eating broken bone fragments youāll hate it.
yeahā¦what speedster said. Brix donāt mean jack as to how good an apple is. We maybe (myself included) talk a bit too much about brix, but mostly itās for comparison within a specific variety, not for defining the quality of one.
Speedster nailed it concerning texture. For most folks, texture of an apple is paramount is determining acceptance of a specific apple variety. Susan Brown mentioned this in one of Cornellās videos.
Bottom line is, if you like it a lot, then itās a great variety for you.
Thereās certainly something to be said for your opinion considering the popularity of Honeycrisp. But maybe people are just saying they donāt like the mealy, stored-to-long, crud they often get in the store. Apples like Golden Delicious can be very good in top condition. But they certainly arenāt good after being picked green and stored too long.
Also consider that the commercial apple supply system can ruin anything. Iāve bought Honeycrisp 4-5 times and all Iāve gotten so far is total crud I wonāt give to my enemies.
Also donāt project your tastes too far onto others. Weāre all different.
Fruitnutā¦Iām not projecting my taste on to anyone. I simply supported speedsters statement on the implied importance of texture. It IS paramount and is stated so by the head of Cornellās breeding program, which did not consult with me by the way.
For example? What is to be said fruitnut of my opinion of Honeycrispās popularity? BTWā¦who said anything of Honeycrisp, save for you of course?
Ok, fine. And this means what?
Then you need to evaluate where you shop, and more importantly, how you shop for produce.
If you disagree with me, then you are disagreeing with speedster, Susan Brown as well as the zillions of other consumers who have voiced their opinions with their shopping dollars. You see, apparently weāre not all that much different when it comes to texture. Folks are pretty much unanimous in their desire for crisp, crunchy
apples. Maybe thatās because crispness etc is equated with freshness, I donāt know. Maybe we just like it, but the fact remains. I know of not a single solitary, mainstream modern variety with a less than breaking texture, regardless of brix. You donāt either, because there arenāt any. Are you seriously doubting or drawing into question my very simple and non-opinionated reply to Sara?
Texture does matter to me, but Iāll tolerate indifferent texture if the flavor is great. Great crunch or snap are fun enough, but I wonāt bother with an apple that doesnāt have the kind of flavor I like. Put the right texture and crunch with the right flavor ā¦ mmmm, yes!
Given the wide variety of opinion on Honeycrisp Iām guessing thereās some very good HC and some barely tolerable. I notice that Fujis that are too big are almost always worthless. Just pumped up with water and they taste like it. HC that Iāve had are big on texture and sweetness but completely lacking in complex flavor- but in the right conditions, evidently they can be wonderful.
I donāt know where I ran across that one, but for some reason it stuck. I have to google it to get it right, but at least itās real Latin, meaning āabout tastes it should not be disputedā.
My favorite, though, is āIllegitimis non carborundumā, which isnāt real Latin but is said to mean ādonāt let the bastards wear you downā ā¦
Back to the original thread what makes a fruit good is completely subjective and everyone is different. I can give examples of sweet fruit I love and some that I donāt care for that much. in my opinion brix doesnāt equal taste. There are all kinds of compounds is foods that work with sweetness, tartness, saltiness, etc that make fruit taste unique. You can have a very sweet fruit with what is considered good texture that just doesnāt float my boat. Like Asian Persimmons (sorry persimmon lovers). To my they were sweet and had a good texture but their flavor just wasnāt that interesting for my tastes. I donāt dislike them but there are lots of things I prefer to them. An example of a very sweet fruit with poor texture to me would be certain sweet cherries. I love cherry flavor and they are nice and sweet but I canāt stomach soft cherries. I just wonāt eat them. I prefer cherries that are firm with a bit of crunch. Or a lot of European pears can be very sweet but if they have a very gritty texture I donāt want to eat them.
On the flip side, texture can not be the only thing a fruit has going for it. I also have eaten many apples that have a great bite to them but just do not have any flavor. And honeycrisp can be one of them. Iāve had some that have blown my socks off and I had some a few months ago that I through out the window because they sucked.
Bottom line, if you like the taste of the apples itās a good tree. Keep it as long as its healthy
Sara, aside from taste, it will ultimately depend. You may grow an apple out and be disappointed in it for the first two or three years and then find it much better as the tree matures. Some years are better than others in the same way that wine grapes have vintages. And whatās good for one apple may be hard on another.
Check out this thread for some thoughtful, useful comments on apple varieties:
It makes perfect sense, now you mentioned it. Hope the apple taste just as good next year. I am already thinking of making hard cider with it again next year.
Fruitnut, I read many of your posts from Houzz for years. I am glad to find you over here. I am your fan. When i buy new fruit trees, i search for your opinions first. Thank you for sharing your opinion on fruit trees. You actually helped me a lot. My hobby is to plant the most tasty fruit. With your opinion, I can just buy the tree you recommend (I used to buy tree and then dug up to throw away after couple years because they did not taste good.)
Surely thereās some Amish orchards or some roadside fruit markets close enough for a drive out and pick up some apples and be home before dark? (probably not in January though)
Thats what really matters.
