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The Awful Reign of the Red Delicious (2014)

theatlantic.com

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Re: The Awful Reign of the Red Delicious (2014)

#61

Post by dugmartin »

I'm not an apple snob but if you have a chance (and live in the right temperature zone) visit a local orchard and pick some random varieties to try.

Here is Western Massachusetts you can get Cortland, Macoun, Empire, Mutsu, Spy, Spencer, Ida Reds, Paula Reds, Jersey Mac, Gravenstein, Redfree, Gingergold, Suncrisp, Rom Beauty, Jonagold and (probably) hundreds of other varieties. Some might be better for baking or cider but hey, maybe you'll like them to eat in-hand.

Life is too short to eat crappy apples.

Re: The Awful Reign of the Red Delicious (2014)

#63

Post by mc32 »

baldfat wrote: post #2

I HATED Red Delicious as a kid! Honey Crisp Apples are the best tasting apples I have ever eaten but they cost almost triple the price. Pink Ladies are also phenomenal. My 6 and 10 year old like them better then candy.

I have come to like Opal apples. Fujis can be hit or miss insipid.

Re: The Awful Reign of the Red Delicious (2014)

#64

Post by flyaway »

mprovost wrote: post #60
moses-palmer wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that the reasoning against shipping apples across the globe is that consumers do not pay the full price; one might argue that the transportation is subsidised by our extraction and burning of oil at a rate much quicker than it is formed

You are probably paying that price no matter what - if you want apples out of season, you either have to keep them in a coolstore for months, or ship them from another part of the world where they are in season. It could be that buying local apples that are 6 months old has a higher impact than shipping them.

Apples don't really all have the same "season" - even though they have a time to be picked, more tart apples are meant to be stored in cool conditions, with the starches converting to sugars and the acidity dropping over time.

For example, the Newtown Pippin: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/05/dining/it-s-crunch-time-fo...

Re: The Awful Reign of the Red Delicious (2014)

#66

Post by LordKano »

baldfat wrote: post #2

I HATED Red Delicious as a kid! Honey Crisp Apples are the best tasting apples I have ever eaten but they cost almost triple the price. Pink Ladies are also phenomenal. My 6 and 10 year old like them better then candy.

As did I. In fact, because of how to felt about Red Delicious apples, I thought that I just didn't like apples until I was in my 30s and tried Granny Smith apples.

With the realization that I just hated Red Delicious apples, I tried a few other varieties. I really like Fuji apples too.

When a new variety is on sale, sometimes, I like to buy a bag and try them out.

Re: The Awful Reign of the Red Delicious (2014)

#67

Post by ajeet_dhaliwal »

I was put off apples throughout childhood because of the taste of the Red Delcious, my mother only bought those, and I only returned to apples after working at a software company that supplied free apples (of various different types). Until then I had not known how tasty apples could be, now I eat a couple everyday.

Re: The Awful Reign of the Red Delicious (2014)

#68

Post by legohead »

baldfat wrote: post #2

I HATED Red Delicious as a kid! Honey Crisp Apples are the best tasting apples I have ever eaten but they cost almost triple the price. Pink Ladies are also phenomenal. My 6 and 10 year old like them better then candy.

I buy all the different apples for my kids as they show up in the stores. Their personal favorite? Red Delicious.

Re: The Awful Reign of the Red Delicious (2014)

#69

Post by mikeash »

throwanem wrote: post #53
mikeash wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Privilege comes in many different forms. 90% of the population doesn't have that kind of access.

Yeah, it was a real privilege for a kid and his single mom to be living well below the poverty line in a three-room shack that any half-awake inspector would've immediately condemned - not least for the black mold that ate up one whole wall of the third room so we had to seal it off with plastic - because it happened to sit on a hill next to a tiny patch of half-gone-to-seed apple trees that produced maybe as much as…

The fact that your life sucked in many other ways is irrelevant. Having fresh fruit growing on plants near your house which you can eat is a privilege that most people do not have.

I'm not saying, "your life was privileged, and you suck." I'm saying, "your situation of having fresh-off-the-tree apples was an unusual privilege." Am I wrong, or do you just object to the one word, and want me to know a bunch of other things about how you lived too?

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