Which varieties of apples taste like jolly rancher apple candy? I am looking for scab resistant varieties that will grow well in the Pacific Northwest without much if any spraying. I haven’t tasted too many varieties in my life yet but I know fresh Jonathan apples have that candy taste. But they aren’t well suited for spray free in the PNW. I have read that Newtown Pippin may have that candy taste but I haven’t tasted them myself. Any other varieties I can look into that meet these criteria?
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Sweet 16 apple is suppose to taste like a Jolly Rancher. From what I have read
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Don’t think the country store had that sort of candy as I recall…is it good?
My Sweet 16’s tasted like cherry cough drops, and I dropped that branch off of my tree. Really unpleasant.
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My wife used to eat Jolly Ranchers. Hard candy in multiple flavors.
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So if an apple is to taste like one…what flavor would that apple be?
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Apple flavored? 
I didn’t eat them, but it seems to me they had a sour apple. (If I’m going to ruin my teeth I’ll do it with lemon drops or hard peppermint!)
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It’s like a one note quintessential “apple” flavor dialed up to 11. Comes from Acetaldehyde, naturally occurring in apples but manufactured for candies. Granny smith I think comes the closest; if it was 80% sugar it would probably taste the same as a Jolly Rancher.
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Pristine has some of that flavor.
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I second Piblarg; I came here to say the same thing. When I first tried it, that was the immediate descriptor that came to mind, and for my wife as well.
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and i have heard the opposite. its one of those flavors that you either like or hate. i have sweet 16 and its parent frostbite grafted on my sargents crab. hopefully get to taste them next year.
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You aren’t going to get sour candy tastes from those, Steve. But, hope you like. I’ve had just one unripe Frostbite so far…even in unripe state, no sourness.
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fedco reviews rave about sweet 16 and frostbite as something very different in a apple. do you find that or is it off putting like Mark said? i dont mind a sweeter apple as long as its a interesting sweet. tried zestar last fall for the 1st time and found it fit in that catergory
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Yah, it all just depends on what you like, how your taste buds are engineered, and so on. And different areas seem to produce different results with Sweet 16, so one time they might be more licorishy and another more Ludens-like. (Those are words because I said they are words!) And terroir and season will matter too, of course.
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Steve,
Frostbite is very fine apple of balance taste (a bit more on a sweet side). I do not detect licorice flavor. I think you will like Frostbite.
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Its my opinion that the infamous green apple sweet sour candy by jolly rancher is meant to taste like green apples similar to granny smith. Maybe not specifically granny smith but those green apples have the flavor profile your searching for.
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I have Honeycrisp, I have Keepsake it’s parent, and I have Frostbite, it’s grandparent. Sweet 16 is an ‘aunt’ or ‘cousin’ to Honeycrisp.
My intent is using them in breeding, but if I like the taste, and I probably will…It’ll be one of my eating apples.
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Clark, to me, they’re pie apples.
But not for fresh eating. I’ve eaten Granny
while peeling to cook her…but for
fresh eating…NYET.
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Have you tasted the candy? Just add sugar to the juice! If you want it presweetened i liked this one i got from @39thparallel which i believe is cox orange pippin or kidds orange red they have a nice sweet sour balance. Not as harsh as granny smith which is much more acidic. I think the point of the candy though is to taste like a really sweet granny smith. If we replace it with a fantastic apple that tones down the acid and the wang we are defeating the charm of the candy.
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That apple is?
(No, I’ve never bought “jolly rancher” but I have eaten green apple flavored candy. Not my favorite, but have eaten it.)
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