Why the disgusting Red Delicious apple rules American grocery stores

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Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2014/09/11/why-the-disgusting-red-delicio.html

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I love both Red and Golden Delicious apples, so…go soak your head!
(there, I really told him)

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I always assumed that both Red and Golden Delicious apples were named ironically. Presumably because Mushy Blech didn’t focus group too well.

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since this was a doctorow post, i was waiting for the tie-in to disney making it the most popular one via sleeping beauty or something. i love red and golden delicious apples. i think the market has spoken on this one.

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But who dislikes them MORE, Cory or Mark?

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Me, that’s who.

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Maggie!

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Is this a dupe?

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No, we’re the dupes for buying those tasteless things.

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Just to point out that most of our local grocery stores in NC have both an “Eastern” and “Washington” or sometimes called a Western Red Delicious. The Eastern style has a dull appearance and is usually softer and mealy. I typically like the Washington variety, as long as it is firm and crisp.

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We’re getting into prime apple season, so anyone who can get north to a U-pick orchard, now’s the time. There are some wonderful variants being preserved if you go to them instead of waiting for whatever is shipped in a refrigerated boxcar.

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I love Red Delicious apples and raw potatoes equally.

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I have a feeling I’ve seen this article somewhere before…

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When I was a kid (I’m talking late 50s, early 60s here) my family would go to an orchard north of Chicago every fall for apple picking. They only grew 3 varieties. McIntosh, Red and Golden Delicious. And they all were truly delicious. Not anything like the mushy, tasteless, plasticy crap in the grocery stores now. They quit growing both the reds and goldens by the mid 80s when I was going there with my kids because the quality was shot. The orchard continued to operate into the 90s. Sadly, they’re long gone now. A victim of urban sprawl. It’s a shopping mall now and my kids have to drive all the way into Wisconsin to pick apples with their families. Some facets of the so-called good old days were actually good.

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Anyone else notice that the aliens who think Red Delicious are fine (leave the industry alooooone you filthy liberal!) only showed up to be contrarians on the Cory leg of this particular leg of trousers?

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Not me. This alien thinks they’re revolting mush. Egremont Russet, (scarcer than droid-poo though) or a really good Cox’s Orange Pippin, thanks. Gala only if they haven’t been sitting in suspended animation for months.

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Sorry. I appear to be a bit alienist.

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No worries. I can be a bit #NotAllAliens too.

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Funny, here in Washington every Red Delicious I’ve ever had was mealy and horrible. So are all these people who say they love Red Delicious getting ones that aren’t mealy or do they like the mealy texture? I’m being serious, they haven’t said WHY they love them. I seem to remember crisp, sweet, Red Delicious in my childhood in Connecticut. But those were probably local grown. We have a great apple tree in our yard, but if you don’t prune it and tend to the apples carefully, they end up mealy and gross. So I think it’s more the apple farmer’s fault rather than the variety.

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Slighly off topic, but I bought a whole watermelon at the farmer’s market last week. It was a dull pink, yet it was sweeter and more flavorful than the fire engine red watermelons i usually buy at the store. Color’s got nothing on taste and texture.

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