The Awful Reign of the Red Delicious, how the worst apple took over the US & continues to spread

[freshwest]

94. Engineering didn't make them grainy and mushy. Long-term storage is the culprit.

Last edited Mon Sep 15, 2014, 03:10 AM - Edit history (1)

I had them as kid in the South and they were good when I got them then, and good now if I get them in season in Washington.

The real season, not the year round season people think they should be there for them to buy. The illusion they can get them at the peak is from keeping them refrigerated just above freezing to last a long time and get profit year around.

Every fall I go to my nearby COSTCO in Washington state to buy large, organic, Red Delicious when the real season begins. I put them on the kitchen counter and my entire apartment smells like fresh flowers for a week. They taste exactly like the ones when I was a kid.

It's not the apple, it's the timing, so I'm suspect of the story of how unpopular they are. I've seen other varieties being pushed as if they can conquer the problem of what is done to produce with another breed. I've tried all the others and for me nothing compares with them at the right time.

I think this is mostly a marketing scam and the desire for the 'new.' In a way, Red Delicious apples are a victim of their own success. Everyone expects to get them year round, but it's simply impossible. So they are kept in storage and get mealy over time. They look the same but they are mush inside.

Not the fault of the breed. Just people not accepting that they can't the same thing all year around.

I agree with you about the tomatoes, though, that was done in the seventies. They were engineered and had porcine genes inserted to survive mechanical harvesting methods, or so it was said. We used to call them pig tomatoes. It wasn't a secret.

A lot of produce has been engineered for shelf life or ease in harvest. I have not found any Red Delicious in season to be mealy. I'll keep enjoying them as long as I can.

JMHO. YMMV.