When are Jazz Apples in Season?

Apple names have sure changed over the years.

We use to names apple with names like Epous Spitzenberg, Gravenstein, Cox’s Orange Pippen. or even Red Delicious (yuck!). Now ever newer variety has a name with the word “crisp” in it like Honeycrisp, Crimson Crisp, Evercrisp, etc. or it has a single easy to say name like Juici, Pazzazz, Pinata, or Jazz.

The name of the apple gives away whether it’s a new variety or an old one.

Today, I want to talk about a newer variety that has established it’s place in the market over the last 10 years. That is the Jazz apples.

My First Jazz Apple

I first wrote about the Jazz apple when I first tried it back in 2010. Here is what I wrote back then –

Now here is a cool name for an apple, Jazz! I found this cool apple on display at the Produce Station in Ann Arbor, MI. The apple’s color is mainly red with patches of yellow/green. It is a cross between two popular apples, the Gala (technically the Royal Gala) and the Braeburn, which is easy to see by just looking at the Jazz. When I cut the apple open I discovered an off-white color.

The apple was created by grower in New Zealand. The apple is licensed under the ENZA brand and can be found growing in New Zealand, France, Chile, and the state of Washington. It is a late maturing variety, which is why I am enjoying it here in early March.

My Experience with this Apple (Rating Scale 1-10)
Crispiness: 7
Tartness : 3
Apple Flavor: 6
Sweetness: 7
Juiciness: 6

Overall Feeling: It is crisp, sweet apple. It is a lot in flavor like a Gala, but is a firmer apple. This apple is a good out of hand eating up, and seems to hold up well in baking applications. It’s sweetness would make it a choice in making applesauce that you wouldn’t have to add sugar to.

Apples Change Throughout the Season

That was a fun trip down memory lane 🙂

I have been reviewing apples since the start of this blog and what I have come to notice is that apples are hard to rate. One apple eaten in October, can be different when I have it again in January from the same origin. I have now shied away from giving those kinds of ratings, I don’t think they are fair. Now I talk more about when apples are at their best and what they taste like then. So for an apple like Jazz it comes down to answer the question we posed in the title of this post.

When are Jazz Apples in Season?

Now!

Whenever you are reading this, it’s now. Jazz apples that weren’t widely available in 2010, are now pretty much hard to not find at a store any time of the year. When they aren’t from Washington, you can find them from Chile and New Zealand.

The question becomes now when they are in season but when are they the best?

When Do Jazz Apples Taste the Best?

The best tasting Jazz apples I have had I tasted in January. In the fall, you still find them from New Zealand a lot, left over from a crop harvested around the world, 6 months ago. While I think Jazz holds up well in terms of crispiness, I have experienced that the flavor mellows out too much over time.

The Washington grown Jazz are the best tasting one I have tried. I have never been that impressed with the New Zealand or Chile grown Jazz. Usually when they arrive in stores, I am too busy getting cherries and wiping peach juice from my chin.

My advice in the fall, find a different apple to enjoy. Honeycrisp don’t hold that well in storage so they are better in the fall. Jazz are a good winter choice. I do believe the flavor fades as we enter the spring when they have been picked 6 months ago.

If you are looking for an apple that is sweet and crisp to eat in the winter months, you could do worse than Jazz, no doubt.

Have you tried this apple? What did you think? Leave a comment below telling us. Be a helper and share where you found it. You may make someone’s day with your insider info on where to get them!