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Comment by Grazester | Hacker News Reader

Seems like we share the same sentiment where the red delicious is concerned.

Good news!

> The Red Delicious is no longer the dominant apple in American orchards, the U.S. Apple Association said last week, after lasting five decades in the top spot. The Gala apple is now first;[0]

[0] https://slate.com/human-interest/2018/08/red-delicious-apple...

Honeycrisp is where it's at!

Check out Sweet Tangos if you have the chance, they are an improved Honeycrisp.

Thanks, haven't seen those anywhere yet.

Juici is another amazing apple with Honeycrisp parentage, though I can barely ever find them. I believe they come out of Washington state.

My first thought. Greeks would have called their honey and milk honey crisps if they'd had it.

If you find Opal, my take on them is that they're what Golden Delicious wants to be when it grows up.

I wonder how much of the popularity is based on availability. Like the fact that grey cars are the most popular, and twice when buying a car, they only had the grey available - but I would prefer blue. Salesmen said they only carry grey because they are more popular.

They have such a mealy texture, I can't stand them.

I remember this being a good apple in the past. Is it possible that modern practices of breeding and packing for shipping fitness have caused a decline in the quality?

Your memory deceives you. They look good but they've always been inferior in taste and texture.

Source: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/09/the-evil-...

His memory is correct.

My grandma has lived in Yakima, WA (major apple producer) for 80+ years and tells me all the time that the red delicious used to be a good apple, but was changed with the goal of being prettier, but lost flavor/texture.

Even the article you linked agrees:

"But as genes for beauty were favored over those for taste, the skins grew tough and bitter around mushy, sugar-soaked flesh. "

Thanks for pointing that out. It's not clear from the article when precisely this change happened. It would have been somewhere between 1923 when the crimson "freak bud" appeared and prior to the 1980's. So red delicious apples have tasted bad for somewhere between 38 and 95 years.

My grandma is 82, so somewhere between 38 and 82 years. Scientifically speaking ;-)

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