Stopped by the supermarket this morning and a display of golden apples caught my eye. With some exceptions, I typically don’t eat fruit as I typically don’t eat sweets but this new type of apple caught my attention.
I’ve never heard of Opal apples so I picked one up and it’s delicious. I’d enjoy a bit more tartness because it’s mostly sweet. Apparently it’s a trademarked cross between golden delicious and topaz apples (so it’s actually Opal® apples). I’ve never hear of topaz apples either. Their website claims “This non-GMO apple naturally doesn’t brown and is available for a limited time only.”
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)
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Personally, I would have little interest in any apple that has any of the genes of Golden Delicious - perhaps the most unpleasant apple I know.
Back in the 80s, when French farmers swamped the UK with the product, it was marketed on the basis of being “Le Crunch” - nothing to do with flavour (of which it has little going for it).
They came on the market a few years ago. Boring. Very boring, sweet but no flavor, and even bordering on insipid. Lousy texture as well, slightly mealy or mushy, no nice crispy crunch unless extremely fresh. But like mentioned, anything derived from Golden Delicious is mediocre.
Hmmm…the apple I had was particularly crisp and had lots of different flavor notes. Maybe I got lucky or this year’s crop was better. I didn’t finish it all at once and left it sitting on my desk. Here it is three hours later.
I tried them last year and found them unremarkable.
Look for the limited availability Snapdragon apple at Trader Joe’s. It was developed at Cornell and this will be its sophomore season at TJ’s. It has th crunch and juiciness of its Honeycrisp parent, but a sweet-tart brightness as opposed to the perfumey flavor of Honeycrisp.
I haven’t tried Opals, but I did find GoldRush apples (another Golden Delicious derivative) at a local orchard this season and found them quite good. Firmer/crisper texture and higher acidity than a Golden Delicious but with some of the same perfumey sweetness.
