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Red delicious apples weren’t always horrible

newengland.com

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Re: Red delicious apples weren’t always horrible

#131

Post by happymellon »

dathinab wrote: post #103
phkahler wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> San Marzanos are origin-protected in Italy What does that mean? Protected under what laws?

It's like trademark but instead of: "only this company can decide who can use the trademark" It's like: "only if it's production fulfills certain criteria can you use the name" It's made as a consumer protection so that people can not just claim their product is this kind of "traditional" product when it isn't. Except that it's less used like a consumer protection as it's mainly used like a trademark. Controlled by a…

It's a shame that Cheddar doesn't have good protection.

Real cheddar is full of flavour, slightly sour. Great stuff.

But you can go to places like the US and cheddar is not cheddar and they should not be allowed to call that cheddar.

Re: Red delicious apples weren’t always horrible

#132

Post by mithr »

mcv wrote: post #71

As a kid, I was a fan of Golden Delicious, while others criticised it for being too mealy. That wasn't my experience, at least at first. Eventually I encountered increasingly mealy Golden "Delicious", and started favouring other apples. Even the cheapest apples here, like Elstar and Jonagold, are pretty good in comparison. I wonder if it's the fate of any breed to eventually be bred for looks instead of taste. If you…

I've had similar experience with Golden Delicious -- I stopped buying it years ago. But last year, I went to a pick-your-own place where I discovered extremely crisp, juicy, and flavorful Golden Delicious apples! Picked a couple of bagfuls.

So I'm happy to report that they still exist. The trick is getting hold of them...

Re: Red delicious apples weren’t always horrible

#133

Post by krupan »

jbluepolarbear wrote: post #3

There are Apple orchards that were abandoned in Washington State that my dad use to to take us to. These orchards had only red delicious and they were the best apples I’ve had. There are a lot of abandoned orchards around Washington and old species keep getting found.

Where in WA?

Re: Red delicious apples weren’t always horrible

#134

Post by Panoramix »

mcv wrote: post #71

As a kid, I was a fan of Golden Delicious, while others criticised it for being too mealy. That wasn't my experience, at least at first. Eventually I encountered increasingly mealy Golden "Delicious", and started favouring other apples. Even the cheapest apples here, like Elstar and Jonagold, are pretty good in comparison. I wonder if it's the fate of any breed to eventually be bred for looks instead of taste. If you…

Looks might fool you once, but it's not a mistake you'll keep repeating over and over.

Re: Red delicious apples weren’t always horrible

#135

Post by mcv »

Panoramix wrote: post #134
mcv wrote: post #71

As a kid, I was a fan of Golden Delicious, while others criticised it for being too mealy. That wasn't my experience, at least at first. Eventually I encountered increasingly mealy Golden "Delicious", and started favouring other apples. Even the cheapest apples here, like Elstar and Jonagold, are pretty good in comparison. I wonder if it's the fate of any breed to eventually be bred for looks instead of taste. If you…

Looks might fool you once, but it's not a mistake you'll keep repeating over and over.

I think the food industry over the past century proves that wrong. Lots of food has been bred for looks over taste.

Re: Red delicious apples weren’t always horrible

#136

Post by acdha »

jefftk wrote: post #99

Since apples are propagated by grafting (cloning), has anyone kept original ("heirloom"?) Red Delicious stock from before it was optimized for looks? I'd be very curious to try one!

If you go around local orchards, you'll see them from time to time — I've seen them in CT, MD, NY, PA, and VA. If they don't look like supermarket apples, they're worth eating.

Re: Red delicious apples weren’t always horrible

#137

Post by quantified »

Spooky23 wrote: post #119
quantified wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US Northeast has so many apples that don’t travel well and have so much flavor: Spenser, Macoun, Empire... on the West Coast they’re all lacrosse balls that taste OK to decent but mainly travel well.

Everyone complains about the northeast re: weather, etc. But there’s a ton of stuff like this that many of us who live here take for granted!

I miss that aspect of New England. Agriculture there is much more local. Apple picking in the fall was a delight.

Re: Red delicious apples weren’t always horrible

#138

Post by jhgb »

rsynnott wrote: post #95
jhgb wrote: post #42

Does this apply only to the US-grown apples, or is this a global problem? > When you picture an apple, you probably picture a Red Delicious Actually, I picture a Granny Smith. ;)

Applies in Ireland; we don’t have the red delicious, but we do have the “golden delicious” (if consumer protection law had any teeth, these would be called “yellowish horrible” instead) and Gala and other Bad Apples. I think it may apply less in continental Europe.

By virtue of preferring green apples, I've only had a local Red Delicious a few times in the past, but I don't recall having had any problem with the taste - except for, well, being too sweet for me.

I guess I'll have to buy some the next time I see them to see what the fuss is about (and if there is any fuss to be had in the first place).

Re: Red delicious apples weren’t always horrible

#139

Post by agurk »

ggm wrote: post #52
joe_the_user wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

Another counter-example to my argument would be farm-frozen peas. They're unquestionably better in every sense, than canned peas, or dried peas, or peas which were not snap frozen at picking time. So not all food is worse for being industrialised. And as you point out now food handling methods have improved and food storage at scale through warehousing and distribution, there's every chance of quality coming back in…

Interestingly I used to believe this, to the extent that I snubbed my nose at fresh peas in pods being sold in various countries I have lived in. I can't remember why, but I bought some last summer, and it was one of those moments when I realised how wrong I'd been. Frozen peas are a pale imitation of fresh peas. There is more variance - sometimes you'll get a pod with quite mealy peas, especially later in the season, but they're otherwise so good it makes up for it.

Re: Red delicious apples weren’t always horrible

#140

Post by dylan604 »

asdff wrote: post #122
cdelsolar wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always thought tomatoes were pretty good and then I had tomatoes in Europe.

Anyone can grow a pot of heirloom tomatoes outside in the summertime and end up with tomatoes that blow everything at the supermarket out of the water, if you can manage the pests. You can get pretty great produce at certain farmers markets, too.

After shelling out ~$50-$100 for intitial setup, you too can harvest $5 worth of tomatoes! And as you say, if you can keep the pests free, but that also requires for money to add to that inital purchase.

The insect/worms/catepillars in my area are more vicious than rodent invasions. If you get catepillars, they can wipe out an entire plant in a day.

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