A new favorite apple

Well, for now anyway.

Got tired of all the mealy-soft Braeburns and Galas they've had at the markets this year, so I tried a new one that I had only noticed recently: the Jazz apple.

Tiny bit sweeter than I like, but it sure is snappy crisp. So until the old faves come back around (unless they've ruined them now as well), I'll be snacking on Jazz for a while.

Thanks for the tip. I work in a fancy-pants grocery store and head in to work in about nine hours We stock them so I will have some for breakfast. Do you think it would hold up in a pie?

I think it would be too sweet for a pie, Robert.

Good snacking apple though, and would probably be good with some hard cheeses. Especially cheddars and aged goudas, I suspect.

Is that the one that's streaky phosphorescent red?

[Jenise]

Haven't seen that apple yet, Hoke. Btw, speaking of galas, I met some wine people from Eastern Washington who started out as an apple farm. The topic at hand was marketers deciding that the public is so stupid they won't buy what is naturally the best if it doesn't match some false ideal, and that caused her to mention galas. "It was never supposed to be a red apple," she said.

I've been buying apples every week at the Farmer's Market. Last time I picked up a small, almost black apple. All the apples I've tried have been crisp, more tart than sweet, and last a long time. This is the first year that an apple farmer has joined the market. It has been fun. She packs an applesauce mix using three types of apples into 20 lb. boxes. It was a great mix for my applesauce. Wish I had the names of all the apples for you.

Is that the one that's streaky phosphorescent red?

Not the ones I got, Stuart. They are a dark pinkish red mottled with yellow-green, with fairly broad swathes of each color. About the size of Gala or small Fujis. Only way I could tell they were Jazz Apples was the annoying little sticker on each one.

But I bought some freshly arrived Braeburns along with the Jazz to compare. Jazz, as I said, were a bit sweeter, but way crunchier than the somewhat mealy-textured Braeburns.

Haven't seen that apple yet, Hoke. Btw, speaking of galas, I met some wine people from Eastern Washington who started out as an apple farm. The topic at hand was marketers deciding that the public is so stupid they won't buy what is naturally the best if it doesn't match some false ideal, and that caused her to mention galas. "It was never supposed to be a red apple," she said.

I don't think of Galas as 'red apples', Jenise. Not in the sense of a Red Delicious, say. I first had Galas up in Oregon, and had them with some wonderful extra-sharp, extra-aged local cheddar. Shazzaamm! What a good combo. So for many years, that was the only way I ate them, sliced and served with cheese.

Then I started eating them straight, but found out I generally preferred the Braeburns for that. Don't know if my recent dislike of Braeburns is from harvest conditions, or shoddification of the type for profit purposes, but it's been tough finding good, crisp, juicy Braeburns for a while.

My wife lived for twenty+ years in the Tri-Cities. Wheat, apple, and wine country. She knew vitually all the wine people, and most of the orchardists (often the same folk, a la the Hogues, for instance), and I got a bit of insight into the apple bizness. It's just as middle-man driven as any other major industry.

On the other hand, my father-in-law lives up in the Medford area now, and he has several espalliered apple trees in his yard, with a different type of apple on each grafted branch, so he has access to a long season of apples that most of us buy in the grocery stores. The trees are easy to grow and easy to train, too.

Hoke, the Jazz apple is a cross developed in New Zealand of the Royal Gala and the Braeburn. The Royal Gala and the Red Delicious both appeared in the 1870s -- apples love to create new varieties all on their own.

It's fascinating that only 10 years ago the Red Delicious represented over 70% of all apples grown in the US. I know of one major Washington grower that has just ripped out the last Red Delicious tree in its orchards, even a sentimental example from the front yard.