Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Foods You Wanna See What a $3 Apple Looks Like?
Posted by Chris Chamberlain on Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 10:15 AM
There's something new on my food radar lately. I know I'm probably a few years behind on this one, but it seems like everywhere I go on the Foodienets, people are talking about Honeycrisp apples. (Now that pumpkin-mania is finally dying down until next October...)
The cross between a Macoun and Honeygold apple has been around since 1960 and is now apparently achieving cult status as one of the best eating apples available. Crunchy and sweetly tart, Honeycrisps make your average Red Delicious or Granny Smith taste like a mealy chunk of styrofoam. And grocery stores are extremely proud of them.
The apple on the left is an organic Honeycrisp from Harris Teeter, while the behemoth on the right is from the Piggly Wiggly in Monteagle. At a whopping $2.99/lb., the apple from the Pig cost me $3.02. Now I don't know what they're fertilizing the trees with wherever this beast was sourced from, but it sure demonstrates the difference between H-T's organic offerings and P/W's mass-produced version.
After comparing the two, I can say that the organic version was definitely a better piece of fruit with concentrated flavors and a delightful snap. The Piggly Wiggly Honeycrisp would have required you to unhinge your jaw like a python to snack on it, but cut into wedges it made a perfectly acceptable dessert substitute for two people for two consecutive meals.
Was it worth three bucks?
I recall the words of Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction:
That's a pretty f-ing good milkshake. I don't know if it's worth five dollars but it's pretty f-ing good.
Comments (16)
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Honeycrisp apples are my favorite. Last year, we were in Hendersonville, NC during the NC Apple Festival. I literally ate freshly picked Honeycrisps until I was sick. An apple a day will keep the doctor away, but 3 or 4 a day...well...there were other issues.
I've been buying them this year at either Publix or HT...but the are all HUGE. The NC Honeycrisps were a little larger than a tennis ball, and that is about the perfect apple size in my opinion.
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You and Jim Ridley are both Honeycrisp fans. Macoun is my favorite, so I guess it's time for me to try Honeycrisp.
Nothing beats the McIntosh apple. Nothing.
Though I can't say much about the McIntoshes I've seen at the grocery--they're hard little apples, not juicy and mouth-pleasing like the ones from the produce stand. But I'm almost out...we'll see what replaces them. Not a $3 apple, though.
Morecoffee,
I had that exact thought but haven't experimented yet. I was also thinking that just the thinnest film of peanut butter you could swipe off a knife might be excellent.
Will report back.
Fuji apples are another fave of mine.
I can't remember what variety they are right now, I'll have to check when I get home, but I've gotten GREAT bagged apples from Sam's Club. No they are not organic or local, but they are crisp and fresh. I literally eat an apple EVERY DAY, so I look for a good deal. I usually avoid the apples that come in a bag at all costs, but the ones I've seen my last two Sam's Club trips have been superb!
Erin, I always avoided bag apples too because they were usually an undesirable variety (like rome or winesap) and mealy or banged up. But I developed a strategy: I choose a crisp variety like gala or Granny Smith, looking at the bag to make sure they're this year's crop. And I stop buying Washington apples in February or March, when their season is five or six months past.
I need to go check the SuperTarget -- they had boxes of Honeycrisp last year that were excellent and at a much more advantageous price than that quoted above...
Trader Joe's has bags of delicious, smallish organic honeycrisp apples (not sure what the weight is on the bag, but it's more than a pound) in the $3-4 range. Per bag, not pound. They are goooooood.
Honeycrisps are also wonderful sliced up and sauteed w/ onions. A friend served that over pork medallions at a dinner last week. Delicious!
I had one for the first time yesterday at the Frothy Monkey - a local HC for $1, and I have seriously been thinking about it ever since. It was a huge apple, so the price seemed fair (and it was the last one in their cooler, so I'm guessing I'm not alone in that!)
made a quick trip to Whole Foods today and spotted a prominently placed Honeycrisp display. i picked one up. i'm on the lookout for the perfect apple to mix with Granny Smith for pie...this sounds like a contender.
Went by yesterday. SuperTarget has 4lb boxes of smallish Honeycrisps for $4.99...
