As A Result Of Receiving...

[magicaddict]

...some choice denigration on the subject of pink ladies, I have been moved to experiment.

Having never sampled a Braeburn apple from the same shop as the Pink Lady I ethused about not so long ago, I had to agree that I may have just had the lone bad example or five in previous times. To test this hypothesis, today I briefly became the proud owner of a shiny M&S Braeburn apple. I say briefly, as the remaining core is now sitting in front of me on my desk as I write this.

Today's apple and the reference Pink Lady came from the same aisle in the same shop,¹ and were bought within ninety-six hours of each other from adjacent trays. They both spent the same time being carried home in two small charrier bags, before being briefly washed under the same tap and dried with a tea towel hitherto unused since its last wash. Both were eaten immediately after being pronounced dry by inspection.

Short of buying one of each and eating them on the shop floor, I couldn't do much more to make it a fair test outside of laboratory sealed conditions.

Shortly after biting into today's apple, I was affacted with a huge sense of how underwhelming the taste was, and that, in fact, the memory I had of Braeburn apples being quite boring in their flavour wasn't particularly off. As I continued to enjoy (it was an apple, after all) the snack, I couldn't help wishing that this was a Pink Lady, and decided to buy one tomorrow to make up for it.

As I experience the aftertaste, there is something of the slight tanginess that I quite enjoy about Braeburn apples, and had indeed forgotten, but that on its own isn't even close to being able to prove that I had previously known bad examples, and that Pink Ladies weren't the best apples on the planet.

1. Marks & Spencer, Bath

Comments

[marmaladecat]

Totally agreed, I believe we rate the three in a similar order when I say in order of preference I'd go for Red Delicious, then Pink Lady then (and only if there really wasn't anything else to eat) a Braeburn apple.

I bought some Pink Ladies from the Co-Op on Moorland road at the weekend and was really surprised when I tried them today - they're the closest to a Red Delicious I've had without the apple actually being a RD.

Strange.

Btw, does M&S actually do RDs because I have an awful job finding them?

[magicaddict.livejournal.com]

They do indeed. Both M&S and Morrisons sell them loose - not sure about larger packs.

[dbexx.livejournal.com]

Well, presented with this evidance, I will concede that your prefernece is for Pink Ladies.

[trailbreaker.livejournal.com]

I left a French braeburn half eaten today - bland and almost as bad as a golden delicious (was ever a fruit variety so badly named?). I think the English Braeburns taste better. It may also help if they are unwaxed as mine are suspiciously smooth-skinned.

I got all excited last year when Tesco promised to stock specialist varieties. Their list included Blenheim Orange which I tasted from my parents' orchard when they lived in Bucks. The Blenheim Orange is one of the forebears of the Cox's Orange Pippin and quite simply, the tastiest apple you will ever eat. It's also large - generally almost the size of a cooking apple. Needless to say, I never once found one among their specialist varieties (which included Granny Smiths and russets, as if they were somehow rare!).

My advice - find your nearest farm shop and find out what local varieties they stock and when. Then ask them to chase their farmers to widen the range.

[same-difference.livejournal.com]

I second this. I'm lucky enough to have parents with two apple trees (I believe the varieties are Jupiter and Katie) which produce an over abundance of fruit and as such I tend not to think a great deal of any of the varieties available in supermarkets.

Plums are the worst for this though, I still haven't worked out how those that supply supermarkets manage to produce plums with so little favour compared to what they really taste like.

[helbling.livejournal.com]

Try nearly all vegeables; seriously. Even if you're growing the same variety as that which they're selling...the difference is unbelievable. I wish I knew what they did to the damn things to make them so bland and non-food.

[same-difference.livejournal.com]

I absolutely agree, I didn't want to stray too far from the topic of investigation.

With supermarkets it's all about picking varieties that travel well, and look good.

[xanthipe]

And forcing them to grow fast, and picking them before they're ripe.

[magicaddict.livejournal.com]

In the absence of any farm shops within easy walking distance, I'm left with supermarket fruit stalls. I don't count vegetables given the response they evoke in me.

I'll be in aposition to try more select varieties middle of the month when I go on holiday - market research ho...

[dbexx.livejournal.com]

We tried.

[magicaddict.livejournal.com]

The opposite is, of course, also true - consider yourselves very, very welcome to them.