Has anyone tried Opal Apples?
I have, and they are so delicious!
I find Opal and Jazz to be the best tasting apples from the store!
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I donāt find it inspiring to hear about how great club apple varieties are. We are barred from purchasing trees or getting any scion wood from them. In fact, Iāve read that it is illegal to plant seeds from their fruit! How do they enforce that one? Fine to post, not complaining but comments about these types of varieties probably belong in the lounge, not the general fruit growing section, unless you are talking about the fact you canāt grow them.
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Itās been talked about in many threads here. I love them and most people agree itās one of the better apples. Very unique taste. Wish it was available to purchase.
Our Stop and Shop has them sometimes. I would think as more become available they will show up everywhere. Itās almost overwhelming how many new apples are showing up this time of year. I think their appearances will only help them sell as a standout.
What is considered āClubā varieties anymore?
Iām definitely the outlier on Opal ā doesnāt seem to match my taste preference. Tried it a couple of times and something about the texture just doesnāt work for me. Envy is my favorite among the Club apples. Love the flavor, although I wish they werenāt all so big!
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I ended up with a pre-packed convenience bag of Opal apples when I swung through Wal-Mart last week. I am not impressed with the quality of these bagged apples, despite them being decent sized. I probably should have went for the per-lb loose Opals, as they seemed firmer.
To me they are sweet with the artificial banana flavor. My opals are slightly soft, and have lost most of any tartness that might have been there. If I find more that are firmer, I will re-evaluate them. I am one to prefer a balanced sweet-tart apple. My favorite of the new club apples is āSmittenā because it has some tart to it. I havenāt seen it yet this year.
I loved the Opals from earlier in the season. They had the crunch and that bubblegum flavor. They lose their crunch pretty quick IMO.
When the patent holder only allows growers under their contract to have trees or wood. Only large commercial growers need apply.
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Alan, do you think the seeds would grow true to type, being as they are grown in large orchard blocks? Who on earth would be able to police that? You could grow any Club apple seedling, name it whatever you want, and what are they going to do? DNA test your tree?? You would have to be in the commercial growing business for anyone to even take an interest. Not saying I condone that, just pondering the logistics of policing and discovery.
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I know what the club is, iām asking what apples are in it. Last article i seen was in 2014 that listed the varieties. Lots of us have Honeycrisp & Pinata that were on that list. Iām just curious what is considered a club apple anymore.
I assume that is true for all potential patent violations. The legal process is expensive. It doesnāt make any sense to sue unless you can win significant compensation or prevent significant losses.
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Exactly, ādeep pocketsā prevail with these sorts of things. Again - want to stress Iām not condoning violating somebodyās patent here, just to be very clear 
But, the logistics of a company going after you for planting a see from an Opal apple to grow a seedling tree would be slim to none.
From what Iāve seen, many orchards have crab apples mixed in to do the pollinating. I think itās with growing out seeds ā I do a lot of that ā but I wouldnāt expect them to be true to type.
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Iāve purchased Jazz and was not impressed. Growing and harvesting conditions effect the result so there are no guarantees with fruit quality. I havenāt seen Opal in my local stores.
I got a small bag of Envy apples at the store yesterday, and they were quite flavorful. Some had a tich more acid then others, and the softer ones were very sweet, with a pronounced pear like flavor. It was nice to have something besides a simple crisp sweet for a change.
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Iāve eaten most of the popular club apples like jazz, pinata, envy, etc and I prefer opal to all of them. Itās flavor is very unique. Nothing else tastes like it.
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I believe that the apples that come truest to seed are self fertile varieties. Otherwise you could grow a thousand trees and not find one close enough to its mother to be worth a damn. However it is interesting that the patent holders donāt want anyone using their apples for breeding stock. That is just plum mean spirited. But business is business, and you might be breeding their competition.
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Has anyone made Opal Apple Pie?
I might try to make one this weekend.
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