I’ve seen several discussions on this forum about this “club apple”. It’s a very nice apple in my opinion. Looks like Opal apple should be legal to start growing and trading scion wood as of June 2024. But I imagine availability to home growers will be limited until someone gets their hand on some trees to start propagating them.
6 Likes
I’ve liked the Opal I’ve had. Like a GD with usually a better texture than most GD. I wondered if they couldn’t be thinned better for larger size? They’ve all been on the small side.
2 Likes
I’ve been getting some pretty large ones at Whole Foods in the last few weeks. So it definitely seems possible to grow big ones!
Not to disagree with you but what I have noticed a lot of times the commercial growers irrigate the heck out of their apple orchards ( all commercial fruit orchards I would imagine) to get a bigger sized apple to sell. Bigger apples= more $$ per pound to sell and the grocery stores and to sell to consumers.
Example:The Honeycrisp apples in the stores are usually huge but growing them in your home orchard usually never gets them the same huge size. Plus the Honeycrisp apples are normally a lot more $$ per lb. than other apples.
Just my 2 cents worth.
3 Likes
Strange. I have noticed many newer Eastern European bred apples fall in a 140-180 grain weight range. Large size is not really one of their main aims.
That said I’d love to get Inedit, Valery or a few others.
The Opals at my Walmart had very little taste… mostly spitters.
The Opal bag i just bought from Kroger is freakin fantastic. My favorite club apple of all.
New to me packaging this year… maybe its my location. YMMV
3 Likes
I wonder how many prodigy of Golden Delicious there are now. Way to many? Not enough?..lol
2 Likes
It really is amazing how many high quality apples have golden delicious as a direct parent. Golden delicious has good flavor but the soft and quickly mealy texture isn’t my favorite. Opal has the golden delicious flavor but a nice crisp texture. Although Opal does turn mealy pretty quickly so buying them is a bit of a crapshoot.
1 Like
Some of us store them then eat them later. I am eating 3 month old Golden Delicious and they are much better now then when i put them up.
I am about out…so i will store Opals and hope they last me another 3 months.
Also storing some Pink Ladys and wont get into them for another month or two maybe 3.
2 Likes
Interesting to hear that golden delicious holds up well for you. Pink lady does seem to do well for me in the fridge or even just left hanging for a while on the tree.
2 Likes
Had my first Opal the other day. It was excellent. I believe it was fresh. I was wanting to try new varieties for my orchard. I love fresh Golden Delicious. They havent stored well for me, i have to figure it out.
I think some apples get a bad rap due to being in storage too long. I took my GD and people who said they didnt like GD loved them fresh.
I also bought an Ambrosia at the same time. I have 2 trees in my orchard and look forward to some exxellent apples. I threw it away after 2 bites. Its hard to judge apples by what you find in stores
2 Likes