ZingSync

WE’RE coming into apple season now, which means most of the 12 varieties grown in Australia will be fresh in the stores.

We Aussies love our apples. Our farmers grow 1.6 billion of them each year, and we eat 200 million kilos a year. That’s more than any fruit except bananas.

Interestingly, we don’t eat apples for breakfast. Prime apple time is in the afternoon, when we crave a healthy crunch to get us through until knock-off time.

Australians have a long and healthy relationship with apples, dating back to Maria Ann Smith, much better known as “Granny” Smith, who in the mid 1800s cultivated the first crop of our now famous Granny Smith apples.

Most people eat their apples whole rather than cut up, according to research conducted by local industry group Aussie Apples.

The main advice from Aussie Apples is to keep your apples in the fridge. Fruit bowls full of shiny red apples look great in impressionist art, but they’re a sure way to make your apples floury.

But which apples are best?

That’s obviously a personal preference, but here’s our rating of the 12 varieties grown in Oz.

If our ratings leave a sour taste in your mouth, feel free to let us know which core issues we got wrong in the comments below.

12. Granny Smith

The blurb says: “one of the best cooking apples with a sensational tart, tangy flavour.”

We say: Great for making apple sauce, but lousy on their own. A snack doesn’t work as a snack if you have to motivate yourself to eat it and Granny Smiths are just too tart to enjoy on a regular basis. You never heard anyone say that about a chocolate bar, did you?

11. Braeburn

The blurb says: “A crisp, juicy apple, it has a cream-coloured flesh and a unique flavour that combines sweetness and tartness.”

We say: These were originally a cross between a Kiwi apple brand and our own Granny Smith. A red apple that tastes sour is just wrong.

10. Golden Delicious

The blurb says: “It is excellent as an eating apple, with its crisp, creamy, white flesh, which is sweet, tasty and juicy.”

We say: Good as an eating apple, especially when the skin’s still a little green but they’re too often mushy and are way more reliable as a cooking apple.

9. Red Delicious

The blurb says: “A medium to large apple with… highly aromatic, creamy, white flesh. Great in salads.”

We say: The fact they say it’s great in salads reveals much. While a good red delicious is the equal of any apple, the reality is that the most commonly-grown apple in NSW is often stored too long and can be floury when it hits the shops.

8. Jazz

The blurb says: “A crunchy, effervescent cross between Gala and Braeburn apples … a firm but dense flesh and a tangy, sweet flavour somewhat reminiscent of peaches and melon.”

We say: If we want something that tastes like peaches and melon, we’ll buy peaches and melon. Overrated.

7. Jonagold

The blurb says: “The Jonagold variety originated in New York State in 1968, as a cross between a Jonathan and Golden Delicious”.

We say: So it’s a little bit sweet like the golden delicious and a little bit crisp like the Jonathan but a whole bunch of neither-here-nor-there.

6. Fuji

The blurb says: “A big apple with a honey sweet taste and a see through core. It is firm-textured, crisp and juicy.”

We say: Delicious but a little too sweet for some.

5. Jonathan

The blurb says: “An old-fashioned eating apple favoured by many mature Australians who treasure their crisp, juicy flesh and tangy flavour.”

We say: Their main advantage is they’re nice and small so they’re good for kids’ lunch boxes or a quick snack at work.

4. Pink Lady

The blurb says: “a crisp apple with a dense, firm flesh, distinctive pink colouring and a fizzy, almost effervescent flavour.”

We say: The Pink Lady is Australia’s best-selling apple, but for some, it’s a tiny bit too sweet. The best apples have a more gentle, neutral taste.

3. Sundowner

The blurb says: “Sugar levels improve with storage, making them a sweet, flavoursome apple, perfect for baking.”

We say: Their sugar levels increase with storage but their crispness doesn’t. Unbeatable if you get a good one, though.

2. Eve

The blurb says: Eve is a sweet tangy apple with a superb white flesh contrasting a bright red skin. Crisp, crunchy, flavoursome and firm, very refreshing and ideal for fresh eating.

We say: Underrated. Any apple with a reliably crisp white flesh is a good apple.

1. Royal Gala

The blurb says: A “round sweet apple... with a dense, sweet, aromatic and juicy with a white flesh”.

We say: they look just right, they taste just right. Right at the top of the tree.

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