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Here in Los Angeles your typical store has 6-10 varieties of apple, almost all of them painfully similar. Braeburn, Jazz, Fuji, Honeycrisp, Gala, Ambrosia, Jon

Here in Los Angeles your typical store has 6-10 varieties of apple, almost all of them painfully similar. Braeburn, Jazz, Fuji, Honeycrisp, Gala, Ambrosia, Jonagold, Envy... these are all the same basic apple: overly sweet, hard/dense, not a lot of taste outside sugar. Envy apples are the yellow version of the same thing. Pink Ladies are marginally better. If anyone knows an LA area market where I can escape the tyranny of obnoxiously "crisp" sugar bombs in favor of Cortlands, McIntosh, Jonathan, or anything out of the ordinary... do tell. If the Granny Smith wasn't available I don't know what I'd do.

kppullin 8y ago
While a bit of a drive from LA, if you haven't made a trip out to Oak Glen I'd suggest a look at the various apple orchards out there: https://www.oakglen.net/ https://www.oakglen.net/ . This place for example lists 25 or so varieties http://losriosrancho.com/produce/ http://losriosrancho.com/produce/ and all the orchards I've visited over the years provide samples of most, if not all, of their stock.
TimesOldRoman 8y ago
Aw man I love the Fuji and never tried a honeycrisp. Are they really similar?
- diablerouge 8y ago
  I used to work at a grocery store, and actually don't feel the way OP does. Honeycrisp are fairly different, in my opinion. A fair bit tarter, and they have an almost fluffy light crisp texture. They even have a different cellular structure than your average apple, IIRC. Though I agree that more apple varieties would be good, OP is underplaying the differences between the widely available apples. Growing conditions have a great effect in flavor and texture as well.
iamnothere 8y ago
Try them fresh from a pick-it-yourself orchard; the difference is unbelievable. The problem is that grocery store "apples" are often picked underripe, and they sit in a cold room for months before making it to the shelves.
Doxin 8y ago
So is it just me or are jazz apples always very powder-y to the point of tasting spoiled? I don't get why any store would sell that so I'm assuming I'm doing something wrong...

kppullin 8y ago

While a bit of a drive from LA, if you haven't made a trip out to Oak Glen I'd suggest a look at the various apple orchards out there: https://www.oakglen.net/ https://www.oakglen.net/ . This place for example lists 25 or so varieties http://losriosrancho.com/produce/ http://losriosrancho.com/produce/ and all the orchards I've visited over the years provide samples of most, if not all, of their stock.

TimesOldRoman 8y ago

Aw man I love the Fuji and never tried a honeycrisp. Are they really similar?

diablerouge 8y ago
I used to work at a grocery store, and actually don't feel the way OP does. Honeycrisp are fairly different, in my opinion. A fair bit tarter, and they have an almost fluffy light crisp texture. They even have a different cellular structure than your average apple, IIRC. Though I agree that more apple varieties would be good, OP is underplaying the differences between the widely available apples. Growing conditions have a great effect in flavor and texture as well.

iamnothere 8y ago

Try them fresh from a pick-it-yourself orchard; the difference is unbelievable. The problem is that grocery store "apples" are often picked underripe, and they sit in a cold room for months before making it to the shelves.

Doxin 8y ago

So is it just me or are jazz apples always very powder-y to the point of tasting spoiled? I don't get why any store would sell that so I'm assuming I'm doing something wrong...