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DHS, you’ve tasted and you’ve voted. Here are apples to pick up the next time you venture to the Cider Mill
By Heather Brouwer and Lisa Zuiderveen
Honey Crisp (8.0)
The rating is very accurate for this apple. Known for its crisp, juicy, and sweet flavor it’s no wonder Honey Crisp is so popular among the masses. Honey Crisp are good for any recipe, sweet or savory. From cheese recipes to caramel desserts, Honey Crisp adds a sweet zing to all of the recipes they are involved with. The aftertaste is a mix between sweet and tart. Every bite fills your mouth with its juicy sweet combination.
Pink Lady (7.0)
The name Pink Lady is not very accurate for the apple itself. Pink Ladies are a very diverse. Some of them have yellow, red, and a light green skin all mixed together. But even with the confusion of the “pink,” they are well known for their unique taste. All the diverse colors probably are what makes Pink Ladies have all the great combinations of your favorite apples. If you didn’t know already, many apples are man made. The Pink Lady is a combination of the Golden Delicious and Lady Williams. It surpassed one of its parent apples in ratings (see Golden Delicious below). John Cripps did a good job of making this apple crisp, but it has some sweetness to it with a sharp taste by enhancing it from the parents. If you didn’t recognize the Pink Lady, you may know it by it’s other names: Cripps Pink, Lady in Red, and Rosy Glow.
Macintosh (4.0)
Macintosh apples are small, red, and look deceptively sweet, despite the fact they are horrible snacks. They only stay crisp for a few days after they are picked, and then they go soft and mushy. Macintosh apples also have very little juice which exponentially adds to their unappealing texture. Plus, they are more bland than oatmeal without brown sugar. There is also that awkward aftertaste that makes you wonder why you ate the apple in the first place. Yet, by taking this apple and cooking it with cinnamon, you magically transform it into something amazing (Think Cinderella before she goes off to the ball).
Fuji (6.3)
Fujis are typical middle-class apples. On the apple taste spectrum, Fuji apples are right about in the middle. They aren’t as sweet as a Honeycrisp or as sour as a Granny Smith. They still have some of both components with the sweeter taste being more predominant. Fujis have a pleasant crispy texture, but they also tend to have a thick skin which can hinder an apple connoisseur’s experience. The aftertaste is sweet, but not unbearable like that of a Paula Red or a MacIntosh. Fujis also have a fairly average appearance: a regular-sized, red and yellow apple. And, just like almost every other apple out there, cooking them in cinnamon makes them so much better.
Paula Red (3.0)
Paula Red shouldn’t even be considered an apple. If anything, it tastes predominantly like a pear. It’s parentage comes from Macintosh, so the hard exterior and interior make sense. There needs to be a name change to make sure no one confuses this with a real apple. Something like apear or pearplle, so everyone knows that what they are about to bite into shouldn’t be considered 100 percent apple.
Granny Smith (5.3)
If you can eat a lemon, then Granny Smith apples are for you. For most people, Granny Smiths are just too sour. Despite their sour taste, Granny Smith apples are nice and crisp. Also, their bright green skin is unique for most apples and appealing to the eye. These apples tend to leave behind a slightly tart aftertaste. Aside from eye-watering sourness of Granny Smith apples, these are great for baking into pies at grandma’s house or cooking into apple sauce for a lovely fall snack. Granny Smith apples are also great for caramel apples because the sweetness of the caramel offsets the gut-wrenching bitterness of the apple.
Red Delicious (4.0)
There are two types of red delicious: the ones you buy in bulk and the ones you hand pick. Like anything else, red delicious is better hand picked. The ones served in the school cafeteria are disgusting and most likely purchased in bulk. Red Delicious are soft and sweet, which for some is appetizing. For others, the softness is mushy and gag worthy. If they are bruised anywhere, it possibly might be the most disgusting thing you will ever bite into.
Golden Delicious (4.8)
Golden Delicious apples are basically pears. They taste like pears, they feel like pears, and,sometimes, they can even look like pears. So, if pears are your thing, pick up a bushel of these next time you swing by the grocery store. When they are fresh, Golden Delicious apples are fairly crisp and don’t leave much of an aftertaste for you to grumble about the rest of the day. However, for many, Golden Delicious apples, and pears, can be exceedingly sweet, and are easily bruised. Since most Golden Delicious apples in Michigan come from Washington State, you should always be prepared if they’re already bruised when you find them for sale in the cafeteria.
*Ratings of Apples are based off a 64 person taste test
