whats with all the different types of apples?

[fluketamer]

growing up in the late 70's we had three types of apples.

red delicious
cortland
and macs

there were yellow apples which looked more like yellow macs then the "yellow delicious" availabel today, bu they tasted like yuck and were called baking apples and were used in pies.

then in 1980 or so the tart green granny smiths came along.
now we got so many apples its hard to choose.

it reminds of tv channels.

there was cbs , nbc, abc, pbs, and that was it.

 

[PCABrewing]

growing up in the late 70's we had three types of apples.

red delicious
cortland
and macs

there were yellow apples which looked more like yellow macs then the "yellow delicious" availabel today, bu they tasted like yuck and were called baking apples and were used in pies.

then in 1980 or so the tart green granny smiths came along.
now we got so many apples its hard to choose.

it reminds of tv channels.

there was cbs , nbc, abc, pbs, and that was it.

Red Delicious - Not Delicious IMO

In the 70s there already were MANY more than three varieties.
Usually you are only exposed to the variety that ships well and those are definitely not likely to be the best tasting.
Many great tasting heirloom apples do not ship and store well, much like tomatoes, so you never find them in your local large grocery store.

 

[Rish]

Where I was in the early 70s there were only a few beers: Bud, Miller, Schiltz, Pabst, except that was wrong.

 

[fluketamer]

when our local shop got guiness we considered it fancy.

 

[Bobby_M]

Do you mean what you're finding in the supermarket? Wait until you hear how many apple varieties are actually out in the wild that you CAN'T get in the supermarkets.

Check out the blend sheet from my favorite orchard for hard cider base.

 

[day_trippr]

Gravensteins have been around New England forever - my mom got me into them in the '50s - and they are my favorite apple. Crisp and tart, and the very best apples for pies imo. Only around early in the fall and store poorly.

But it has been highly praised, with notable American botanist Luther Burbank (who grew up about 4 miles from my home) claiming "It has often been said that if the Gravenstein could be had throughout the year, no other apple need be grown."

Cheers!

 

[fluketamer]

not just the supermarkets in the city. in the hudson valley orchards in the 70's they only had the big three ( red delicious, cortland, macintosh) available for picking . i dont know if they had other varieties on the orchard that they didnt let you pick. i imagine they must have for the (non alcoholic) cider they sold.


come to think of it when was the first time you saw commercial cider in the beer store or anywhere.

i think i started seeing them at the local fairs and green markets before i saw them in the store. i want to say 10 years ago but could have been 15, and definately the first one in the store was angry orchard. now theres a devoted fridge in alot of the beer stores just for cider.

 

[Agent]

Relatively few apple varieties are commercially viable, therefore visible to the average consumer.

But rural farming areas have long been a home of odd/unknown/hybridized apples, some of which have been brought back to more common usage.

Our area is home of the Wolf River apple, which can be quite a sight. And mad props to our neighbors to the west for developing the Honeycrisp apple. And doing it well enough that I can buy bare-roots of the variety on sale for $15.

 

[DBhomebrew]

https://applesearch.org/

 

[PCABrewing]

Gravensteins have been around New England forever - my mom got me into them in the '50s - and they are my favorite apple. Crisp and tart, and the very best apples for pies imo. Only around early in the fall and store poorly.

But it has been highly praised, with notable American botanist Luther Burbank (who grew up about 4 miles from my home) claiming "It has often been said that if the Gravenstein could be had throughout the year, no other apple need be grown."

Cheers!

Gravensteins are FANTASTIC!
I have a tree in my yard and I concur, my favorite too.

 

[dmtaylor]

The realm of apple varietals has expanded in much the same way as beer styles. This is the result of a growing upper-middle class demanding "something different". Exploration, curiosity, new horizons.... many of us want to find the next big thing before others figure it out. It makes us feel special; we know the big secrets that nobody else does. I feel the same way about some of the music I listen to, like I’m just about the only person around who knows and LOVES this music. So proud of myself. I think millions of us feel similarly about something. Apples is another thing besides beer and music where I have strong opinions. Ask me anything, I’ll give you an opinion. Regarding the apples mentioned previously, Red Delicious is horrible, Macs and Cortlands are among my very favorites even to this day after having tasted well over 100 different varieties, these are just really good apples. Cortland and Mac are closely related as well. Cortland might be superior in flavor but I’ll still take a Mac any day. The unfortunate thing about both is that they go mushy within a couple weeks after picking. But their flavor gets even better the older they get. Besides those, I love a good Honeycrisp, I have a tree in the back where I get several bushels most autumns, more than I need. And I have tasted and tried to grow many other new, old heritage, and cider varieties like Arkansas Black, Fauxwhelp, Kingston Black, Hudson’s Golden Gem, Dolgo Crab, Sweet Sixteen, Ashmead’s Kernel, and many others. Each is unique; believe it or not, all apples are not the same, just like not all beer is the same, not all music is the same. We can try them all to figure out our own favorites.

 

[Agent]

Speaking of Cortlands, our local orchard had windfall apples for $6/bu if you gather your own. I had the dehydrator going for apple slices for better than two weeks straight to get through them in time.

Too bad I've still got 40 qts of applesauce from my unknown tree, because that's all those apples are good for.

 

[DBhomebrew]

Too bad I've still got 40 qts of applesauce from my unknown tree, because that's all those apples are good for.

My toddler wonders if you deliver.

 

[Agent]

My toddler wonders if you deliver.

Corporate says 15 mile radius.

I'll cheat it out to 25 miles if there is beer.

 

[mashpaddled]

Historically there have been a lot of apple varieties but commercial growing paired them down over the 20th century (like most produce) to what grows and harvests quickly, easily and reliably. A lot of heritage varieties fell by the wayside for lack of demand and lack of desire to grow produce that is more susceptible to disease with lower yields. Most of the newer varieties you see in the grocery store reflect these same principles but a desire among consumers for sweeter fruit with a better taste. Despite seeing a small number of new varieties, we're still missing the vast majority of apples from major food sources because they aren't appealing as hand fruit.

Hops follow a close path today. Many old hop varieties fell out of favor because they were susceptible to disease, had lower yields and more difficult to harvest. Even smaller countries like England and Belgium used to have far more landrace hop varieties but they fell out of favor. The US hops produced in the 1960s-1990s are increasingly disappearing from fields due to changing interests from brewers and yield for farmers. We get new varieties but they are geared towards a specific set of characteristics and profitability, while many legacy hops become more difficult to find because they aren't appealing in modern IPAs.

 

[PCABrewing]

Historically there have been a lot of apple varieties but commercial growing paired them down over the 20th century (like most produce) to what grows and harvests quickly, easily and reliably. A lot of heritage varieties fell by the wayside for lack of demand and lack of desire to grow produce that is more susceptible to disease with lower yields. Most of the newer varieties you see in the grocery store reflect these same principles but a desire among consumers for sweeter fruit with a better taste. Despite seeing a small number of new varieties, we're still missing the vast majority of apples from major food sources because they aren't appealing as hand fruit.

Hops follow a close path today. Many old hop varieties fell out of favor because they were susceptible to disease, had lower yields and more difficult to harvest. Even smaller countries like England and Belgium used to have far more landrace hop varieties but they fell out of favor. The US hops produced in the 1960s-1990s are increasingly disappearing from fields due to changing interests from brewers and yield for farmers.

The loss of genetic diversification is a threat to many of our crops. Look at bananas, strawberries and corn for starters and I suspect it applies to hardwoods and other important species. I once picked straw berries from an old small nursery. The berries were small and delicate so they would not be chosen by big buyers, but they had flavor and sweetness that I had never experienced before from those monstrous, bred for appearance supermarket berries.
That affects more than the eating experience. The loss of genetic diversity puts crop sustainability in peril.

 

[Dland]

When I was getting some higher agriculture edumacation at the local ag state college in the early '80s, I took a couple of orchard classes. When weather was inclement on a lab or field trip day, and the professor did not want to go out, the class sat in room next to apple cold storage facility, and we tasted and discussed pros and cons of a couple dozen apple varieties. There are a lot of old apple varieties that are really good, and some especially good for cider.

Most of the common types in stores are and were the most easy to handle, store and transport. Not necessarily the best in any other attributes.

 

[Kharnynb]

over here in Finland, we have the same selection in stores, but every autumn, the "finnish apples" will be available (often from own garden, but shops do sell them too). They are by far the best apples when in season, but don't store well and get flowery fast.

 

[Rodent]

I have a small homeowner type orchard that fills around an acre. in it there are several apple cultivars that are included in my ~40 fruit trees

- Cosmic Crisp (currently only available for sale to commercial growers and/or residents of WA State)
- Honeycrisp
- Tompkins King
- Braeburn
- Gravenstein
- Kingston Black
- Hews Virginia Cider
- Kingston Black
- Grainwinkle
- Arkansas Black
- Fuji

The trees were planted last year, so I don't anticipate my first apples for another year or two. A couple of these are specific for cider making, though in reality most all of my apples will get pressed, sauced, or dehydrated with very little being eaten fresh.

 

[passedpawn]

I grew up in Ohio and there were red apples and green apples. We (2 brothers and I) ate them all like crazy. One of the joys in life, growing up in small town ohio, was eating apples off of the trees while watching your old man playing softball with other old dudes. We climbed right up into them for the gold.