Honeycrisp apples

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13

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  • VictoryGarden
    VictoryGarden Posts: 194 Member
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    We planted one in our orchard last year. Hope it starts bearing in 3-4 years!

    Meanwhile, we're going to an orchard tomorrow so I can get my fix. . . . . .
  • susanhiding
    susanhiding Posts: 88 Member
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    Honeycrisps are in season in Michigan! They have been for about a week on the southwest side of the state! My boyfriend and I are going to go pick some this weekend! I also love Jonagold (for pies) and Fuji!

    Last year there were no pick your owns because 75% of the apple crops were destroyed due to weather conditions. But this year I hear is great! So I'm excited!
  • EmilyJackCO
    EmilyJackCO Posts: 621 Member
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    Considering I work in the department that developed Honeycrisp, I feel like I have to post on this topic! They were developed at the University of Minnesota in the 90's by the Department of Horticultural Science, and the fruit program at the time was led by Dr. Jim Luby. I work for his wife, on strawberries.

    They are delicious! Crunchy and sweet, but remember that they're best if you get them locally. They weren't made for storage like red delicious apples. If you want some other great Minnesota apples, try Zestar! (The exclamation is included, oddly enough). Another tasty one, but hard to get outside of Minnesota, is SweetTango.

    And now, the best Minnesota apples by season:
    Early: Zestar!
    Mid: Honeycrisp
    Late: Fireside

    If you're interested in more random knowledge on Minnesota apples, check out http://apples.umn.edu

    I just got my paws on some Sweetangos, and they might actually be better than Honeycrisps. Yeah, I went there. They are a little smaller, firmer and tarter though, they are really really wonderful. But I was still REALLY happy to get honeycrisps. They came in last week here in Denver.
  • issyfit
    issyfit Posts: 1,077 Member
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    My favorite too! I first tasted them a few years ago when they were giving out samples at at orchard in Washington. Now I buy them whenever they are affordable.
  • micqs
    micqs Posts: 186 Member
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    I just got done teaching a unit on apples! Each day we tried a new type of apple. My favorite has always been the gala...... until I tried the honeycrisp! OMG. It is to die for!
  • slim4health56
    slim4health56 Posts: 439 Member
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    OMG! Yes, yes, and amen! Thanks for the reminder - I've added them to my Saturday shopping list!
  • slim4health56
    slim4health56 Posts: 439 Member
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    I just got done teaching a unit on apples! Each day we tried a new type of apple. My favorite has always been the gala...... until I tried the honeycrisp! OMG. It is to die for!

    Oh, I'm glad I found an apple expert! Whatever happened to the luscious, crisp Red Delicious? They are awful now! Someone told me that they'd messed with them genetically to get a bright red skin and it ruined the taste and texture...I don't know what happened, but what I've tasted in the last couple of years is nothing like what they were when I was a grasshopper. Do you know the story?
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,742 Member
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    Spent $3 on one, didn't think it tasted any better than a Gala.

    I'm told I must have done it wrong ;-) I guess I MIGHT try another...
  • cahtchme
    cahtchme Posts: 32 Member
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    Red Delicious were always my fave until I tried Honeycrisp.

    I was in labor with my son when I tried them for the first time. My mom brought some with her and I was having a hard time keeping any food down. (This was day 3 of 5 of a failed induction after the hospital sent me home). They were amazing. And now I eat them all the time.
  • Restybaby2012
    Restybaby2012 Posts: 568 Member
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    Nobody has mentioned Granny Smith or one called "Greening"

    We usta pick Greenings in the "wild" when I was a kid. OMG they were solid and crisp and tart and snapped when you bit into one. Granny Smith is the same now

    I think the Red and Yellow Delicious are always so woody tasting....so are the smaller Granny Smith.

    I had an apple a couple years ago...medium sized...the meat of the apple was yellow...the skin was a pink / green / yellow. It was a hard crisp apple but the damn thing tasted and smelled like a freakin banana. Ive never seen one since. I remember actually having people I work with taste one because it was so odd.

    I still say Cortland is the bomb!!
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,966 Member
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    Honeycrisps aren't my favorites; I prefer a little more tartness.

    I bought my first apples of the season just the other day at the once-a-week farmer's market near my office. Tried two varieties I never had before, Idaho Red and Snowsweet -- both are a nice balance of sweet and tart, and crispy, although (based on one sample of each), I think the Idaho Red is juicier.

    It's about time to head out to the local farm stand in the next week or two to do my annual stock up. I buy a couple dozen or so, just two or three each of a bunch of different kinds, and store them in the fridge in paper bags. They keep until I finish eating them. Depending on how early I go, I sometimes do a second apple spree before winter sets in. I love Nittaneys and Staymans.
  • lolapedia88
    lolapedia88 Posts: 178 Member
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    Granny Smith are at the very bottom for me. Good for baking but I do not want to eat an apple that tart! Ugh, honeycrisp are like the opposite of Granny Smith ... Sweet and yum
  • momwhosbusy
    momwhosbusy Posts: 154 Member
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    I am feeling super spoiled and lucky at the moment! I live in West MI and we have tons of orchards here. Honeycrisps are still quite pricey BUT one of the orchards delivered a shipping crate of Honeycrisp "seconds" (the ones with less than perfect looking skin that they can't sell to the stores) to the hardware store where my son works. I was able to get 8 lbs. for $2.50!!!!! I'm hoping they have some left yet next week when he works again. We've gone through about 12 lbs of apples so far this weekend! (I dehydrates some for apple chips, make crisp, and then we just eat the rest.)
  • iechick
    iechick Posts: 352 Member
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    I am feeling super spoiled and lucky at the moment! I live in West MI and we have tons of orchards here. Honeycrisps are still quite pricey BUT one of the orchards delivered a shipping crate of Honeycrisp "seconds" (the ones with less than perfect looking skin that they can't sell to the stores) to the hardware store where my son works. I was able to get 8 lbs. for $2.50!!!!! I'm hoping they have some left yet next week when he works again. We've gone through about 12 lbs of apples so far this weekend! (I dehydrates some for apple chips, make crisp, and then we just eat the rest.)

    Hey, we're neighbors :bigsmile: Love apple season in our area! I made a great apple raspberry crisp earlier this week, using gala apples from the orchard across the street from us and then some of the $1 raspberries that Meijer had last week :)
  • healthygirl503
    healthygirl503 Posts: 2
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    Great apples:smile:
  • crayonbreakywillow
    crayonbreakywillow Posts: 44 Member
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    Yep! My fave apple by far :) I sometimes slice and peel them, sauté them in just the tiniest bit of butter, sprinkle with just a bit of brown sugar and cinnamon. It's like a mini-apple pie without all the calories. SO good. Oh! and it makes an amazing topping for oatmeal.

    Great idea!

    Honeycrisp are by far my favorite! Been eating one every day since they arrived this summer. Wish I could store them up for winter!
  • ksuh999
    ksuh999 Posts: 543 Member
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    I just got done teaching a unit on apples! Each day we tried a new type of apple. My favorite has always been the gala...... until I tried the honeycrisp! OMG. It is to die for!

    Oh, I'm glad I found an apple expert! Whatever happened to the luscious, crisp Red Delicious? They are awful now! Someone told me that they'd messed with them genetically to get a bright red skin and it ruined the taste and texture...I don't know what happened, but what I've tasted in the last couple of years is nothing like what they were when I was a grasshopper. Do you know the story?
    Apples are very sensitive to cultivation methods. Put a different compost on the ground and they will taste different. This is actually a fairly recently discovered phenomenon. One place flew farmers from Japan to compare notes because theirs still tasted the way they used to. It'll take a while though to get the trees producing apples the way they were before.

    It has nothing to do with "messing with them genetically". Apples are genetic chimeras, and are basically impossible to breed via traditional methods.
  • AnotherOrangeCat
    AnotherOrangeCat Posts: 54
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    Honeycrisp are my favorite too! Come September I start searching for them. Just found the first ones of the season last week - and now they are in pretty much every store. Best apples ever - while they last. The rest of the year I have to do with Braeburn - it was my favorite, until they started growing Honeycrisp around here, about 12-13 years ago...

    I should give another shot to Pink Lady. So many votes for it, but I was underwhelmed when I tried them...
  • YumemiruJin
    YumemiruJin Posts: 133 Member
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    I agree wholeheartedly! I actually just finished eating one :)

    I look forward to these fleeting 6 weeks every autumn. I remember when a couple years back they were the size of melons! I wonder what happened to those...

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