I had them for the first time last year and LOVED them. I’m not crazy about Macintosh so I was surprised as Cortlands are a Mac offspring. They have a similar consistency but WAY more flavor, and when they are really deep red the flesh is so bright and white it looks like heaven.
Someone mentioned Pink Ladys and those are boss too. Honeycrisps are sweet but bland, as are Galas. Fujis can be quite nice too. The classic Red Delicious are really great as well though I’ve had them so many times they are a bit boring.
I’d love to try some of these other varieties mentioned in this thread. I’m gonna try to find a tasting farm or something nearby.
Michael Pollan’s documentary “The Botany of Desire” has a great section on apples. They are really fascinating fruits in that the seeds don’t have the same qualities as their parents (extreme heterozygotes – yay Wikipedia!). So unlike most other plants cross-breeding is tricky and often results in substandard fruits. Basically you plant 'em and pray, and when you find one that is tasty (very rare apparently) you can graft their branches to other trees to replicate them. That’s why Johnny Appleseed planted so many of 'em. Though nowadays it seems they are doing some cool things with SCIENCE in Minnesota somewhere.
