It’s apple season… and coming from the tropics, the only apples I am familiar with are the traditional Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Granny Smiths and if you want to get exotic, some Galas once in a while.
From my local experience, I prefer to use Granny Smiths or Golden Delicious in most of my cooking applications – to make an apple crisp, to eat with Brie en Croute or Camembert Chaud and to enjoy in a picnic with the Laughing Cow’s cheese wedges… I like their flavor and look much better than the Red Delicious. To me, the typical red-skinned apple tends to be too mealy and not very appetizing, although it tends to be ubiquitous in any local potato salad recipe.
Given I was going to be in apple country during apple season, why not expand my horizons to trying other types of apples, which I have certainly heard of but never ever tried before???
So during our 2 visits to Union Square Street Market, we visited a few stalls who concentrated in selling apples and apple cider and juices. There were sooooo many to choose from so we concentrated our efforts on a few types only:
Fuji Apples
Macoun Apples
Macintosh Apples
Sonata Apples
Cameo Apples
The results of our research derived the following conclusions:
- The ones my mom and I kept trying over and over again were Fuji and Macoun. They were both sweet and crisp tasting. They were both good!!!
- I think my tastebuds are not as developed in apple knowledge to detect much difference in most of the apples. Sonata, Macintosh and Cameos all blended in the mix. Maybe I needed to cleanse my palate in between tastings???
- After tasting so many pieces of apples, they all kinda tasted very similar to me. An apple is an apple is an apple…
- I was told that Macoun apples were particularly juicy, even much so that the juice would drip down my arm, but that was not the case with the apples we had. Maybe it was the 50F degree weather that kept all that juice trapped inside the fruit, but I’ve only had that “juice down the arm” experience with mangos, peaches and nectarines. Sorry apples…
- I do love apple cider and I do not particularly care from what apple it’s made of.
So, after much deliberation I am glad to say that I can add Fuji and Macoun apples to the list of preferred apples in my domain. If I ever see them on sale here in Puerto Rico, most probably in Costco, I will gladly add them to my shopping cart.
Do you have a favorite apple??? Do you have a favorite apple recipe you would like to share???
KarmaFree Cooking 
Hey there now! I just made something with apples on my blog!! Come soon! I want to know what you think.
i came here (italy) and now i only see apples at this time! I didn’t like apples, i come from venezuela! I eat papaya, watermelon, oranges, pineapple…
But i bought one apple from each kind and finally had a favorite. Big red apples, soft ones, sweet and stuffed with air.
😀 i use the skin to make some tea! (black tea and apple skin)
i like the tea made from apple skins… i think my grandma made one for me once. I am sure it’s supposed to be good for something!!!!!
I live in the heart of apple country around here so I guess I am spoiled! (Michigan) I am only a few towns from Comstock, which makes the canned fruits you may see on store shelves. We do apples right around here. 🙂
I definitely have a favorite apple-the Honeycrisp. So sweet and so crackling crisp, not much else compares.
Pink Ladys and Braeburns are also very sweet and crisp, and I do like those Macouns also, but not as much as a Honeycrisp. Those have a shorter shelf life and don’t travel as well, so don’t tend to be found too far out of the growing areas (at least with any quality left in them) but I hope you can try one someday.
When you get apple cider, whatever apples it is made from, be sure to get REAL cider (even if you are stuck with pasteurized/homogenized, though fresh and unfiltered is best) and make sure the label does not say apple juice with added colors and chemicals. That is not even worth looking at, much less drinking or cooking with. Lots of those store jugs SAY cider, but are really just colored apple juices with more chemicals than a drugstore. Yuck.
Hope you enjoyed being in apple-ful areas! Can’t be beat!
Honeycrisps are on the TO EAT list now… and thanks for the tips on apple ciders.
I love trying out different apples. I bought a ton from a farmers market in Brooklyn recently and determined that my favorite is Honeycrisp – hard, sweet and tart without being to sour. They are perfect this time of year.
two votes for Honeycrisps!!! i should have tried them…
Honey crisp is my favorite. A blogger put me on to them a few years ago and I’ve looked back since! Not a fan of Macintosh or or Delicious Red. ick.