Happy New Year! Time for the first fruit variety review of 2012. I am at Whole Foods today, using their wonderful free wireless internet. As I walked in the door, I was immediately greeted by an apple variety never before seen by my eyes – the Candy Crisp. The apple is a nice golden color that looks similar in a shape to a Red Delicious (it’s likely that the Red Delicious is part of Candy Crisp’s parentage). It has bumps on the bottom like a Red. The Candy Crisp skin is smooth with no russeting (browning of the skin). Most of the apples had a nice appealing red blush on them.
This apple was discovered in Hudson Valley area of the state of New York. It came from a chance seedling. The ones I bought were grown in Ellsworth, Michigan at Royal Farms, which is known for their cherry juice concentrate. The apple ripens in early October and can last in storage for 4 months, which makes it a great winter apple.
My Experience with this Apple (Rating Scale 1-10)
Crispiness: 8
Tartness : 1
Apple Flavor: 5
Sweetness: 10
Juiciness: 9
Overall Feeling: If this apple wasn’t crisp and sweet I would say it’s guility of false advertising. But it definately meets up to it’s name. It’s a very sweet, crisp apple. There is pretty much no acidic to be found. It’s an incredibly juicy apple. This variety would make a great option as part of a mix for apple cider. Flavor wise its not bad, but not anything spectular. It has almost a pear like taste. The lack of any tartness does make the taste a bit one dimensional. But overall it’s a nice apple to be munching on in the winter, and munching it out of hand is this apple’s best use. It’s a bit too sweet for baking or cooking on it’s own. I would mix them with some tart apples (like a Granny Smith or Northern Spy) if you wanted to make a pie or applesauce. It would especially be a good mix in applesauce, as you could get away with only using the apples natural sugar.
One more thing to point out is that the apple oxidizes rather quickly. It was already starting to turn brown as I was slicing pieces off to eat. Probably not a good choice for a salad bowl in terms of aesthetics.
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