I have had the pleasure of enjoying many new (to me) apple varieties this fall. Many I tasted at the All About Fruit Show, and many were available on the Fruit Loop or at New Seasons. I have even had some very fine apples from Fred Meyer.
I seems to my inexperienced palate that many of the newer apple varieties have unmatched crispness. This seems to be the Fuji/Honeycrisp/Ambrosia/Jazz family of apples. They are sometimes remarkably crisp. I quite enjoy them.
However, while tasting some of the older varieties, they seem to have such great flavor. Depper, more interesting flavor, generally. The texture seems more variable, and never quite like the newer varieties. But crispness does seem to be related also to how fresh the apples are.
Anyway, this is all a convoluted way of asking: do you have any varieties that have both that crisp quality and a more ... complex and deep flavor than the new style of apples?
I agree, Jade, that there is a general tendency toward newer apples being crisper. This is considered a part of an American style apple. Other factors would be large, unblemished, sweet, red. It is also a characteristic of a traditional Japanese style apple. It is not characteristic of a traditional English style apple, in which several refer to them as chewy? In my mind, caramel is chewy, apples never are. English apples are also typically more tart, and with more complex flavors. Many English people prefer apples that are not so crisp.
I think that growing the apples in your yard is a big factor in crispness. Many have stated that they believe McIntosh is not a good variety to grow in the NW. They claim that they are soft and miss the flavor that it gets in very cold areas. I think this is mainly of factor of freshness. McIntosh that I buy in a store are almost always disappointing. I never liked them until I worked in an orchard. Then they became my favorite. I grow Red Mcintosh and they are spectacularly crisp and flavorful when I grow them. Some apples like Fuji, Red Delicious, and Honeycrisp aim more for crispness than for flavor, and miss the boat in my opinion.
So it seems that there are two factors: freshness, and style of apple. You can certainly grow many more crisp apples with flavor than you can buy, although some types, like Winter Banana, will very likely not be too crisp even if you grow them.
John S
PDX OR
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Marsha H
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