i converted from the honeycrisp to the fireside apple this winter. it's got the same perfect crunch of a honeycrisp, but isn't quite as juicy (juicy enough for yummyness, not juicy enough to make a huge mess), and is just a little more tart than the honeycrisp. bonus: it's usually at least a dollar cheaper a pound.
Havent tried Japanese Apple Pears? Its not a genetic freak of nature, been around for decades. Color and taste of a pear, shape and crispness of an Apple.
@11 I have! They're delicious. They're also usually pretty expensive, though, so these are a nice substitution when I don't feel like paying $5 a pound for fruit.
"Apples in America are a $1.7 billion industry today. Large markets favor industrialized agriculture practiced on a vast scale; the bottom line is consistency and efficiency. This factor combined with changes in American family life, has meant that within a century, the number of apple varieties available has shrunk to a tiny fraction of the 700 plus grown in the this country when S. A. Beach wrote The Apples of New York in 1905.
This loss of variety means a loss of genetic diversity. The genetic diversity of apples has continually eroded from a high of 7000 worldwide commercial varieties described between 1804 and 1904 to the present, when most of the world's commercial production is based on two varieties, Red and Golden Delicious and their offspring."
Sorry Megan, this apple is not as good as a honeycrisp. It was nice and sweet, perhaps too sweet but that wasn't the problem. The apple was mealy. I hate mealy apples. I like my apples to snap and crunch when I eat them (or else i'd eat a pear) but this was just too soft. Flavor was good, texture was bad. Overall a good apple, but not better than the honeycrisp.
@26- You have persuaded me to never try this variety. Also, I'm stealing "I like my apples to snap and crunch when I eat them (or else i'd eat a pear)"
I grew up with the tart apples of the Northeast, sour and mean like the people there. The sickly sweet apples of Washington state make me pine for the McIntoshes and Cortlands of my youth.
That's just me being an asshole, though. These look great, and I'm going to try one today at lunch.
APPLES.
Yummy, yummy seedy motel & hooker...
Obviously, then, you care deeply about Will in Seattle.
This loss of variety means a loss of genetic diversity. The genetic diversity of apples has continually eroded from a high of 7000 worldwide commercial varieties described between 1804 and 1904 to the present, when most of the world's commercial production is based on two varieties, Red and Golden Delicious and their offspring."
http://exhibits.mannlib.cornell.edu/appl…