Because this is what we get in the store…
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At Wegman’s, organic Honey Crisp apples go for $3.99 a lb.
Honey crisp are relatively easy to grow here but they lack that wonderful flavor they have when grown in some locations. I have two trees and they produce bushels of apples that in spite of not tasting like HC they are very good.
Mine were very good. Family and friends whom I gave them to, raved about them.
I’d gladly pay $5 a pound if they were good; I don’t care how cheap the ones in the photo could be, these are picked so green they’re not worth giving away.
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The ones I have seen locally at Wegman’s and Trader Joe’s have the right coloring.
Mine picked from late Sept to early Oct.
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I also see most of the ones at store picked way early. The last two weeks of ripening make a huge difference…
Seems a terrible practice. They get such a good premium on them, but I think demand will drop if they keep doing it
They do store better green, but why store boring empty crunch
Applenut you are right. That also summarizes why I grow my own plums, and pears, and tomatoes, and corn.
Mamaung, you grew some beautiful apples! Those look great!
I can see why breeders want to have tight control of the growing and marketing of their apples, as anyone buying the Honeycrisp in my photo will have a “bad customer experience” that would hurt the brand.
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Applenut,
Glad you brought this up. We see substandard apples in the store every time we buy apples in this area. We love red delicious and they truly are delicious wonderful apples when grown locally. I thought when i was a kid I hated red delicious apples because the ones we buy at the store are void of flavor with a texture reminiscent of cardboard. What I consider my honey crisp lacking flavor is better flavored than any gala, Fuji, or pink lady we have bought in the last year. Once in awhile that load of honey crisp show up that are amazing and that’s why we keep buying them. Some of the apples I bought one year at the store I took a bite of and being void of flavor I tossed to the chickens. The chickens would not eat them either after taking a bite. The apples laid on the ground for a week with rabbits, possums, raccoons etc walking past them daily before something finally ate a couple. I’ve tasted gala, Fuji, pink lady etc when they are good and the difference is night and day. If growers are trying to build the market they have some room for improvement based on what gets shipped to Kansas.
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I totally agree with everyone here. “bad customer experience” stays with me. I have not eaten any store bought Granny Smith since the first one and never will.
To me, store bought peaches and plums are far worse than store bought apples. For eating fresh, I have had good luck with several store bought apple varieties, not with peaches or plums.
I am not talking about farmers’ markets. I talk about supermarkets.
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That is the truth. I can’t even touch a supermarket raspberry or blackberry. Fruit from the supermarket is taboo in my house. I haven’t eaten supermarket fruit in five years. Oh what we know now! We are all spoiled in a good way! Oh cannot wait for next summer and many more peaches!!!
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Somebody should be ashamed of putting out those Honeycrisp. Most of the ones available here aren’t worth eating, often 11 or 12 brix, sour and uninteresting.
But in that photo are Opal’s that are less than $2/lb. So no worries, load up. I wish I could grow Opal, but on the other hand, with club apples at least they can maintain some contractual quality control obligations to protect the brand.
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I did end up getting the Opals, reminds me of what the older strains of Golden Delicious used to look like.
I’ve bought Honeycrisp about 4 times. None were even close to being worth eating. About 10-10.5 brix. I even wrote to Good Fruit Grower once and complained about the growers killing the golden goose. They published my letter.
The growers selling this worthless crap at high prices will only have themselves to blame when the golden goose is toast. In fact they deserve just that.
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Isn’t it funny that those green Honeycrisp apples are given the white glove treatment, with those blue formed cushion liners, when the much better apple’s next to them are unceremoniously piled in a heap?
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Opal can be really good; sweet and crunchy with a vinious flavor. Too bad it’s a “club” apple. Boo.
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The Opal club will point to those Honeycrisp in the next bin and say “this is why we’re a club variety, so growers won’t do THIS.”
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Wow Mamuang, those are some BEAUTIFUL apples! And as a big honeycrisp lover, I’m sure they were also DELICIOUS. Wish I was one of your neighbors! 
Because they are imo the overall best apple there is and ever has been. They produce like crazy, keep well, taste awesome both fresh and cooked…especially baked in pies. I can’t think of any other apple with anywhere near the following or broad appeal of a Honeycrisp.
My 4 year old semi-dwarf tree (badly damaged in it’s 2nd year) produced way over 100 lbs. of market quality apples. Delicious to the core. I ended up having every flat surface in my house covered with HC apples, including my dining room table, not pictured in these photos.
Why would anyone not want to grow these?
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