Saturday, 19 September 2009 at 10:10 PM Malus domestica Wolf River II
The Wolf River is a big apple. Here's the photo to prove it.
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"You have Red Delicious! No one has Red Delicious!"
"We have 'em!"
"I know they're kind of a low-class apple."
Listen, she was saying this, not me. I was listening with a polite smile. That is, though it may be difficult to believe, what I do most of the time.
I put her Red Delicious in a bag.
I'm always a little curious about why people buy Red Delicious. Part of it is familiarity. To some people, an apple is a Red Delicious. And some people really like them. Unbidden, she continued: "I like them. They're crisp and they're sweet."
I have opinions about apples, just as I'm sure a lot of people reading this do. Before we go too much further in the season, it's important to remember my credentials here, and what qualifies me to issue these opinions: I am some guy on the Internet.
And if you don't know what kind of apple you like? No problem. I actually enjoy helping you find an apple you like. It's usually a really fun part of my job.
Just don't ask me "What's a good apple for eating?"
Because I eat all of them.
Except Red Delicious.
customers, highlights, markets apples, green city market
Reader Comments (2)
Damn. You should carve a few Wolf Rivers for the Halloween market.
Also, according to the surprisingly interesting Wikipedia entry for Red Delicious, the variety took over and then, a decade ago, bankrupted the Washington state apple industry -- Congress ended up bailing it out. Key quote from the Times story: "They made the apples redder and redder, and prettier and prettier, and they just about bred themselves out of existence.''
Also, did you know mutations of varieties are called sports? As in, "Many mutations, or sports, have been identified in Red Delicious apple trees." Try to work this into your market vocabulary.
Would you believe I did know that?
Our Red Delicious are better than a lot of the ones you'll find in the supermarket. I will say that. It's not so much that I wouldn't eat one. It's that with at least a dozen other apples at hand, why would I?
At any rate, the story of the Red Delicious is an interesting one.