Which? Apple

[veggiechicken]

Which? asked 936 tasters to sample 13 different eating apples last October. Obviously there are lots of other factors to take into account when choosing which apple to grow but the order of preference for taste was
Pixie 67%
Braeburn & Sunset 55%
Paradis Myra 53%
Red Falstaff & Queen Cox 52%
Fiesta & Pinova 50%
Winter Gem 49%
Cox's Orange Pippin & Gala 45%
Paradis Lummerland 38%
Redlove Era 23%

I, for one, won't be buying Redlove

[chris]

What? No Discovery?!

[VirginVegGrower]

Not many old varieties are there? Think I'll stick with traditional.

[yummersetter]

I think they should have done it monthly from August-January with appropriate varieties. Otherwise you just have the ones that are perfect on tasting day.

[veggiechicken]

Pixie dates from 1947 - anything born that year is very young
About half of the apples have Cox as a parent and they were all chosen because they are widely available.
I'm sticking with traditional too

[chris]

Well, I never I'd have said '57

[Garden_Chris]

I, for one, won't be buying Redlove

I'm waiting for my own tree to go into hibernation, but ever since I posted about purchasing one a year ago, I've been collecting information regarding the tree and in all honesty - I've not been entirely impressed, although, perhaps that is due to my own naivety as opposed to apple-tree expertise.

[veggiechicken]

Sorry, Garden Chris - the verdict was that most people were disappointed with the flavour and found it bland. It has dark pink blossom though

[FB.]

Not many old varieties are there? Think I'll stick with traditional.

Sadly, VC says that they only tested 13 varieties, so the wrinkly, lumpy, lopsided oldies probably never got a look in, against the pretty, fresh-looking young things <modern varieties>.

Our Ashmead's Kernel and Spartan have been particularly good for flavour this year.
The AK's, as usual, had some bitter pit near the base just under the skin but we cut those bits out. A small number of the Spartan's had some small scab spots but the thick/tough skin of the fruits meant that they hadn't split.

The Spartan's are so intensely flavoured that we can actually smell the strawberry/melon flavour when we cut them open.

The Spartan's really benefitted from the "Indian Summer" to bring them to perfection in taste and colour - although they were quite small "fun size" "lunchbox size".

Crawley Beauty cropped very heavily and very few damaged/diseased fruits, although the fruits, as usual, are only average flavour.

[veggiechicken]

I wondered what you'd make of this "test", FB!
The criteria for selecting the varieties was "Widely available varieties of late summer fruiting apples". So instantly the choice is limited. The tasters were asked to compare 2 different varieties at a time and say which they preferred overall and which was sweetest, sharpest, thinnest skinned and best looking. 936 tasters took part comparing every combination of varieties 12 times.
Its a great pity that some heritage apples were not included but I suppose that the majority of apple tree buyers will choose between that which is available at garden centres rather than at the specialist nurseries.

[northepaul]

None of my faves there...no Ashmeads or Discovery.....criminal!

[northepaul]

Hang on a minute.......

Why dont we have our own poll?

[veggiechicken]

Don't ask me this year as I haven't had a single apple But yes, why don't we have a poll of our own

[yummersetter]

The only apples to ripen well so far here are Red Ellison's Orange, almost all the rest would like a couple of warm sunny weeks to get a bit sweeter. As would I.

[VirginVegGrower]

I'd still love a Pitmaston Pineapple, purely because I love the name. I do also like the taste of Pineapple, which this is supposed to have. Any thoughts on it FB?