Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Red delicious apples weren’t always horrible

newengland.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 257 posts

Re: Red delicious apples weren’t always horrible

#31

Post by joe_the_user »

ggm wrote: post #16

Apples, like Tomato are textbook examples of what mechanised volume production and warehousing does to "tasty". You can either have cheap food, or you can have good food, but good cheap food (where good means nutritious, delicious) is a lot harder and Cheap generally beats out good anyway, for most people. Remember in context, we probably waste over 30% of the produce along the supply chain, seeking absolutely "perfe…

The interesting thing is that tomatoes first declined with mechanization and breeding for longevity and rose again. Once the mechanization process was done, they could be bred for taste again.

Note: link about effort to revive tomato taste. That they succeeded is my personal judgement - ie, I think tomatoes taste good again.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/geneticists-qu...

Re: Red delicious apples weren’t always horrible

#33

Post by addicted »

ggm wrote: post #16

Apples, like Tomato are textbook examples of what mechanised volume production and warehousing does to "tasty". You can either have cheap food, or you can have good food, but good cheap food (where good means nutritious, delicious) is a lot harder and Cheap generally beats out good anyway, for most people. Remember in context, we probably waste over 30% of the produce along the supply chain, seeking absolutely "perfe…

I don’t think this is correct. We can have good food, and cheaper food than we have now without changing anything. At least as far as vegetables are concerned.

The problem here is that groceries are tailoring their product not for the eater of the food, but for the buyer of the food. That results in a lot of vegetables/fruits being thrown away even after they’ve been selectively bred to look good vs tasting good.

If the consumer was better educated and did not turn down food that did not look different, there would be a lot less wastage and the food would not need to be selectively bred to look good, but rather to taste good. Which means the food would taste better and less wastage would mean it’s cheaper.

Re: Red delicious apples weren’t always horrible

#34

Post by mark-r »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #18
smhost wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's crazy. I always subconsciously assumed that Red Delicious apples were how apples have always been (because they taste/look so much less appetizing than the other ones, therefore they must be the most "natural"), and that those other apples were genetically modified. And, being an immigrant, I thought it might even be a cultural difference, and that Americans just prefer the taste of Red Delicious. This is blowin…

> (because they taste/look so much less appetizing than the other ones, therefore they must be the most "natural") This is just a problem of lack of familiarity with the space. Crab apples are indeed much less palatable than Red Delicious apples.

Funny story. Johnny Appleseed was famous for planting apple seeds across much of the U.S. But because his apples were grown from seed, they weren't hybrids and were probably all crabapples. And the only use for crabapples was making cider, so he was basically ensuring all these communities would have hard cider available when he came back to visit.

Re: Red delicious apples weren’t always horrible

#35

Post by wyldfire »

tipoftheiceberg wrote: post #4

Please support your local orchards if possible! The apples you find in stores don’t even compare to some of the unique cultivars you can find at many orchards

Visiting orchards in Autumn was a fun annual tradition when I lived in the Northern US. The whole fam would enjoy those days together picking apples. No orchards nearby this part of Texas, though.

Re: Red delicious apples weren’t always horrible

#36

Post by axaxs »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #19
mark-r wrote: post #5

The Red Delicious stands out to me as the textbook example of the power of naming and marketing. The origin story is unbeatable. The power of a name on our perceptions is undeniable. Realizing all of this has been one of the most empowering discoveries of my adult life.

> The Red Delicious stands out to me as the textbook example of the power of naming and marketing. The origin story is unbeatable. The power of a name on our perceptions is undeniable. Eh.... the Red Delicious's twin in naming is the Golden Delicious. Golden is a more prestigious description than red by any standard, and they're both "delicious". If you want to credit naming and marketing with the success of the Red…

Good point. I think looks have to follow. Golden Delicious always look...dull. Red Delicious look absolutely stunning. I guess I'd lump that in with 'marketing.'

Re: Red delicious apples weren’t always horrible

#37

Post by axaxs »

petespeed wrote: post #22
axaxs wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, but it also sucks because so many people say 'i dont like apples', including me until my mid 20s. Red Delicious are awful in every metric. Once a friend opened my eyes to pink ladies and honeycrisps, I was blown away and felt..cheated somehow.

https://images.heb.com/is/image/HEBGrocery/article/apple-gui...

I'm not sure I agree with this chart, but I guess everyone is different. To me, a red delicious is not tart at all. It's...tasteless. I also find 'good' cripps/pink ladies far more tart than any apple listed.

I buy honeycrisp only for its texture, so I can't comment on the sweetness ratings as it's not my thing.

Re: Red delicious apples weren’t always horrible

#38

Post by Clewza313 »

wyldfire wrote: post #23
ggm wrote: post #16

Apples, like Tomato are textbook examples of what mechanised volume production and warehousing does to "tasty". You can either have cheap food, or you can have good food, but good cheap food (where good means nutritious, delicious) is a lot harder and Cheap generally beats out good anyway, for most people. Remember in context, we probably waste over 30% of the produce along the supply chain, seeking absolutely "perfe…

> Remember in context, we probably waste over 30% of the produce along the supply chain, seeking absolutely "perfect" blemish free apples in a tray, wrapped in plastic, cheaper than before. over the last fifty years (or more?) grocery stores have evolved to have onsite bakeries/etc that take food that looks unappealing or would otherwise spoil soon and make them into prepared foods. Ready to eat meals, prepped ingred…

Really? I had always assumed that unsold food gets thrown away (or maybe at a best case donated), and supply chains for bakeries etc are 100% separate by design.

Re: Red delicious apples weren’t always horrible

#40

Post by brohoolio »

aetherson wrote: post #25

Envy apples are good.

I do enjoy Envy apples but only if they are fresh. They fade faster than any other Apple I’ve encountered. By that I mean they lose their crispness and become undesirable.

My personal favs are honey crisp and cosmic crisp, but I’d prefer an Envy only if it’s fresh.

Post reply on HN