The Curse of the Honeycrisp Apple • Hacker News Board

Re: The Curse of the Honeycrisp Apple

#101

Post by masonic » Sat, Nov 10, 2018, 11:02 AM UTC

stcredzero wrote: post #25

I have childhood memories of going into the woods around the park to pick blackberries. The flavors to be found in good blackberries are pretty sublime. The other day, I bought a container of blackberries. Somehow, they had been reduced to bloated, flavorless bags of purple sugar water. (I suspect this is why they were a sale item.) Altering plants for better taste does have a place.

There are wild blackberries throughout California's Central coast regions.

Re: The Curse of the Honeycrisp Apple

#102

Post by GatorD42 » Sat, Nov 10, 2018, 2:05 PM UTC

citrus1330 wrote: post #83

GatorD42 wrote: post #80

The Honeycrisp is fine, but I don't love the trend of Apple varieties that taste like jolly ranchers (super sweet and crisp - see also Pink Lady or Jazz). Old fashioned apple varieties like Macintosh and even Red Delicious can be great in season from local farms - I had a Red Delicious today I would take over any Honeycrisp. I have friends who only eat Honeycrisp, I feel old when I complain that it's not a real apple…

I don't understand how anyone could feel this way. Pink Lady and Honeycrisp are so much better than Red Delicious they may as well not even be the same fruit. I'll never eat a Red Delicious again.

Fresh Red Delicious from a local farm can be good. The ones in cafeterias or cheap supermarkets are beyond terrible. My point is that good versions of traditional varieties can be very good, even though they are less sweet.

Re: The Curse of the Honeycrisp Apple

#103

Post by TimesOldRoman » Sat, Nov 10, 2018, 3:09 PM UTC

mfarris wrote: post #71

Here in Los Angeles your typical store has 6-10 varieties of apple, almost all of them painfully similar. Braeburn, Jazz, Fuji, Honeycrisp, Gala, Ambrosia, Jonagold, Envy... these are all the same basic apple: overly sweet, hard/dense, not a lot of taste outside sugar. Envy apples are the yellow version of the same thing. Pink Ladies are marginally better. If anyone knows an LA area market where I can escape the tyra…

Aw man I love the Fuji and never tried a honeycrisp. Are they really similar?

Re: The Curse of the Honeycrisp Apple

#104

Post by diablerouge » Sun, Nov 11, 2018, 12:46 AM UTC

TimesOldRoman wrote: post #103

mfarris wrote: post #71

Here in Los Angeles your typical store has 6-10 varieties of apple, almost all of them painfully similar. Braeburn, Jazz, Fuji, Honeycrisp, Gala, Ambrosia, Jonagold, Envy... these are all the same basic apple: overly sweet, hard/dense, not a lot of taste outside sugar. Envy apples are the yellow version of the same thing. Pink Ladies are marginally better. If anyone knows an LA area market where I can escape the tyra…

Aw man I love the Fuji and never tried a honeycrisp. Are they really similar?

I used to work at a grocery store, and actually don't feel the way OP does. Honeycrisp are fairly different, in my opinion. A fair bit tarter, and they have an almost fluffy light crisp texture. They even have a different cellular structure than your average apple, IIRC.

Though I agree that more apple varieties would be good, OP is underplaying the differences between the widely available apples. Growing conditions have a great effect in flavor and texture as well.

Re: The Curse of the Honeycrisp Apple

#105

Post by iamnothere » Sun, Nov 11, 2018, 3:52 PM UTC

mfarris wrote: post #71

Here in Los Angeles your typical store has 6-10 varieties of apple, almost all of them painfully similar. Braeburn, Jazz, Fuji, Honeycrisp, Gala, Ambrosia, Jonagold, Envy... these are all the same basic apple: overly sweet, hard/dense, not a lot of taste outside sugar. Envy apples are the yellow version of the same thing. Pink Ladies are marginally better. If anyone knows an LA area market where I can escape the tyra…

Try them fresh from a pick-it-yourself orchard; the difference is unbelievable. The problem is that grocery store "apples" are often picked underripe, and they sit in a cold room for months before making it to the shelves.

Re: The Curse of the Honeycrisp Apple

#106

Post by Doxin » Mon, Nov 12, 2018, 1:17 PM UTC

mfarris wrote: post #71

Here in Los Angeles your typical store has 6-10 varieties of apple, almost all of them painfully similar. Braeburn, Jazz, Fuji, Honeycrisp, Gala, Ambrosia, Jonagold, Envy... these are all the same basic apple: overly sweet, hard/dense, not a lot of taste outside sugar. Envy apples are the yellow version of the same thing. Pink Ladies are marginally better. If anyone knows an LA area market where I can escape the tyra…

So is it just me or are jazz apples always very powder-y to the point of tasting spoiled? I don't get why any store would sell that so I'm assuming I'm doing something wrong...