Eh - I think the Red Delicious is a complicated apple. It's also hard to accurately judge because for a long time - it was one of the most propagated apples ou

Eh - I think the Red Delicious is a complicated apple. It's also hard to accurately judge because for a long time - it was one of the most propagated apples out there, and sadly - time matters a lot for this one. So unless you know they're coming from somewhere very close to you, it's probably too old for hand eating (although I still do it - I don't hate the texture). It doesn't go bad quickly, but it certainly loses a lot of its luster very quickly off the tree. It gets progressively more mealy the longer it's been stored. Which... is the second point - older Red Delicious don't make great hand eating apples because they've lost the texture appeal, but they make a really important part of things like apple tarts or pies. I certainly wouldn't recommend only a red delicious pie - since you basically end up with mush, but they really help hold together a pie when mixed in with other apples. I personally love a pie with 1 red delicious, 1 granny smith, and then 4 filler apples (honey crisp is easy to find and tasty - but I actually prefer Rome, since they're not as sweet). Cut the Red Delicious and Granny Smith up more finely than the other 4, so they mix in well. A lot of recipes say things like "no mushy pies!" but that's not really right - what they mean is that the whole pie shouldn't just be mush, but having a little mush in there is critical - otherwise you end up with apple bricks between layers of pie crust, and it's just really lackluster. That Red Delicious in there is going to help soak up some of the water coming out of the other apples, and give a nice contrast to the firmness/tartness from the granny smith. Then the filler apples are there for sweetness/apple flavor. Long story short - I've talked myself into making another apple pie this weekend...