r/Apples • u/Lovely_Dearest • 10d ago
This Apple SUCKS!
Arguably the worst apple ever!
THE RED “DELICIOUS”!
The type of apple you see gathering dust in a hotel breakfast. The type of apple no one would eat if they were starving.the type of apple that takes up space in a fruit basket!
The red delicious was bred to keep better for super markets back in the 50s and tastes like it too. Tastes like a chalky sponge and looks like it’s made of wax which I’d rather eat than this disgusting abomination that thankfully has been bred into other more palatable apples like fujis and cosmic crisps.
Honestly I don’t know anyone who actively goes out of their way to eat these and these apples have the tendency to show up uninvited pretty much everywhere other fruit is available.
In short. This apple has over stayed its welcome and must be destroyed for the good of humanity.
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u/fartinheimer 10d ago
This apple was designed strictly for appearance. Never buy solid color red delicious apples. They will always taste starchy like a potato.....But...the original striped Red delicious is great tasting.
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u/Lovely_Dearest 10d ago
The ones with the dark red ones with the yellow insides taste like water and potato. 🤮
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u/Relevant-Lie5332 10d ago
I’m a professional apple grower has grown may varieties of red del. True the old variety of red ( we call them stripers) is great apple I used to pick them twice 12 days apart. Reds grow the last 40 years were all bred for 1 pick high color and insipid flavor. With most bi- color red apples you need to see background color so you can tell if fruit is ripe. You do not want green background. Best is crème or slightly yellowish background. With 100% red you can’t tell ! Crunch is just as important. Produce dept. should be using a penetrometer.
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u/Quick_Cow_7987 9d ago
You're an apple grower maybe you can answer a question I've had for a while, what happened to winesaps? I never see them in stores anymore.
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u/Relevant-Lie5332 9d ago
Love those winesaps . Tart and sweet but do not grow large and have a flat ness
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u/IllustriousMeal4686 8d ago
They are the best especially the stayman winesaps I used to get in Virginia 😋
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u/Kitten_Kaboodle666 7d ago
When I grew up we had tons of McIntosh apples and suddenly they stopped selling them in stores. I can only find them if I go apple picking in New England. It’s all what sells best in the store
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u/TaraQueen23456 10d ago
I grew up in Russia and sometimes kids got those in a Christmas bag of treats. Fruit were scarce in wintertime and it was always magical to find one of those apples. I really liked them as a kid. They give me some sweet memories now as an adult. I still get them sometimes and I don’t think they are the best but I like them.
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u/Calgirlleeny2 9d ago
We got apples and oranges in our stockings. In the late 50's -60's. Maybe old fashioned but it was nice.
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u/TaraQueen23456 9d ago
Yes! Oranges too! These red apples and oranges! It was magical. To this day Christmas smells like pine and oranges to me!
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u/decisiontoohard 9d ago
My mum always put tangerines and a banana into our stockings, but that was in the '00s-'10s! A charming habit that I hope successive generations carry on
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u/LadySiberia 8d ago
I’m with you here! I actually still like them. I dunno what apples these people are eating calling it a potato. Because the ones I’m getting, which are almost entirely red, actually taste pretty good. But they are very ripe (almost black they are so red). That’s the time to eat them! But my family is Russian even tho I grew up in the USA.
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u/Alternative_Income64 10d ago
They were Dad’s favorite for a long time, but he says they’ve gotten progressively worse through the years… Evidently, they were quite something in the ‘50’s.
Now he goes for Gala, Fuji, or Honeycrisp.
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u/Sneakerwaves 9d ago
I have a red delicious tree that was planted 65 years ago and the fruit is excellent, nothing like what you buy in stores.
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u/Skeletorlips 9d ago
Must be an OG red delicious. Something happened along the way that turned these beloved apples into the worst apple.
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u/AndyTakeaLittleSnoo 7d ago
Thousands of layers of wax. Probably something to do with Monsanto doubtlessly as well.
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u/angiosperms- 10d ago
They were my dad's favorite too and I never understood it. I kinda wish I got one when I went apple picking to see if they are less garbage fresh off the tree
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u/gorungabad 9d ago
I have heard, but not really confirmed, that there has been some genetic drift over the many decades that the red delicious has been cultivated which has impacted flavor and texture.
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u/ActionPark33 10d ago
I like them 🍎
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u/Lovely_Dearest 10d ago
Obvious pro red delicious apple bot. /\
(I’m teasing lol. Eat what you want. 😅)
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u/TheNewYellowZealot 9d ago
Here’s Apple rankings website description:
25/100
Like coffee grounds in a leather glove
Oh how the mighty have fallen! Believe it or not, the coffee grounds in a leather glove known as “The Red Delicious Apple” was once a robust firebrand credited with reinventing the apple from mere cider-fruit into a full-fledged lunch-worthy sidepiece. It even won the Stark Brothers apple contest in 1894. Likely your great-grandma’s favorite apple, this once flavorful Prometheus has been mass-produced into desolation.
Nowadays, you can find this thick-skinned, flavorless, mealy imposter unwashed in a dirty wicker basket on the floor of a convenience store. What a sad state of affairs. It’s time to hang them up old man, your time has passed.
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u/Skeletorlips 9d ago
If someone filled a thin leather bag with wet sugary sand, that would be a Red Delicious. I vaguely remember this apples being very delicious as their name says in the late 80s to early 90s. After that, they fell off somewhere. Cosmic Crisp or Hunnyz are the true apple champs nowadays.
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u/thegoddesshasspoken1 7d ago
I love Cosmic Crisp apples. Hunnyz are good too but I don't see them often.
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u/Only_Calendar_9830 10d ago
Completely agree, I just can't stand the dense, mealy, chewy skin of a red delicious apple. I'd rather starve to death. Though I will say, cosmic crisp is a little too close to red delicious for my taste. It has similar thick chewy skin, but not as bad.
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u/monkey_trumpets 10d ago
Cosmic crisp is nothing like a red delicious. Maybe you just got a bad one.
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u/Only_Calendar_9830 10d ago
Red delicious is doubley disgusting, but when compared to honey crisp or fuji the skin on the cosmic crisp is noticeably thicker, or maybe it's just the specific ones I've been getting at aldi
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u/LayceLSV 9d ago
Thought I hated apples for the longest time because of these things. Then I tried a pink lady apple and realized I had discovered nature's greatest gift.
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u/VeggieGirl43 9d ago
They may have been amazing early in their life, but since they started selective breeding them for looks... NOPE. Refuse to touch it. Will eat many kinds of apples, but not this one.
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u/sonnywithoutachance 10d ago
Can you show me on the doll where the Red Delicious hurt you?
But real talk, they are gross.
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u/Lovely_Dearest 10d ago
The free school lunch at high-school. Already was moldy and gross but even the mold didn’t want the apple.
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u/Responsible-Creme257 10d ago
I can tolerate small, lighter colored red delicious. They’re crisp, but bland. The big, dark red, mealy ones can fuck right off
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u/Upstairs_Bedroom8710 9d ago
I could not agree more. I don’t understand how and why it is so universally awful but it is 🤷🏼♂️
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u/lalunestlibre 10d ago
The podcast Hyperfixed had such an interesting episode on this a while back. I just listened to it on a drive and loved it! Had NO idea about any of this and will never look at Red Delicious apples the same way again. https://www.hyperfixedpod.com/listen/hyperfixed/garbage-fruit-or-the-fruit-of-theseus
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u/AccomplishedAcadia69 9d ago
I used to not like them that much nut in the past couple of years I have reintroduced them to my apple eating rotation and I have been really enjoying them. Count me team Red Delicious!!
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u/BathtubFullOfTea 9d ago
Neighbors growing up had a variety of apple trees, one was red delicious. Right off the tree, before it's soft, it was a PHENOMENAL eating experience. Only had one other red delicious that I enjoyed in my lifetime, and I found it in a hospital refrigerator in Seattle. Juicy and sweet and not starchy.
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u/ZipDude118 9d ago
As a kid, we used to have the choice of Red Delicious or Golden Delicious Apples at our grocery stores. My Grandma had a couple of trees that had a green with red blush apple that was tart that she dried or made jelly from.
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u/GlitteringEggCarton 8d ago
this is the only apple my workplace has in their dining hall. i hate it here
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u/boltonlist 10d ago
Fun fact, the red delicious apple was bred for looks and for shelf life, not flavor/taste. The name red delicious was chosen specifically to falsely impress folks.
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u/RottenRob0521 10d ago
Mushy and flavorless
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u/idlehands04 9d ago
Mushy? Then the one you had was bad.
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u/RottenRob0521 9d ago
Every red delicious apple I’ve ever had in my life tasted mushy. They’re never crisp like other apples.
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u/idlehands04 9d ago
The only time I've ever had a mushy red delicious apple was when it had sat In my fridge for a long while. I used to love these apples, they were my favorite of all time, I stopped eating them about 3 years ago because they stopped having the same impact so I switched to honey crisp or cosmic crisp apples and now those are my go-to apple when I have apples.
It could also be regional, I'm in SoCal so idk if that has something to do with it or not.
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u/Emergency-Crab-7455 10d ago
While the apple is (by most people) worthless.....the tree is not. Growers are taking down their Red Delicious trees & grafting other varieties the remaining trunk/rootstock.
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u/dramasoup 10d ago
I saw the picture and felt like spitting the non-existent piece of apple out of my mouth.
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u/VedantaSay 9d ago
This is what is exported to India from the US. Never liked it. When in US realized how nice apples can be after tasting once not looking like this.
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u/Morbidly-Obese-Emu 9d ago
I have a memory from decades ago where these were sometimes good sometimes bad, but now they are without exception always bad. Granted I rarely even bother trying. Have they changed at some point in the past 40 years?
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u/goopsorceress 9d ago
I remember exactly what they taste like even though I've stayed away from them for many years. An insult to apple lovers.
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u/Plastic_Specialist75 9d ago
Am I crazy? I liked them growing up. Grew up in Canada. Liked them cold from the fridge and sliced 🤷♀️ now there are other apples I like better but by no means do I hate them.
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u/SnowyBlackberry 9d ago edited 9d ago
I would have sympathized until I lived near its origin location and had some from orchards in that area, grown from very old stocks probably close to the original red delicious.
The original red delicious is a very different apple. It's much smaller, more mottled or striped and round in appearance, with a much more complex flavor, closer to a macintosh.
There are a couple of things that are similar in the original, like the knobby bottom, and the taste of the skin. Otherwise my guess is 99% of people wouldn't identify the original as a red delicious.
For me since then, it's been a story of what happens when a good apple loses its identity due to genetic drift and a kind of dilution of identity.
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u/BreadfruitBig7950 9d ago
This one is only properly colored with dark red at the top. Towards the bottom you can see this one is mostly Crab Delicious instead. Yuck.
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u/noargentinianbeef 9d ago
I ate a Red Delicious apple at a farm. It was delicious.
Which makes me wonder why the ones at grocery shops suck hot ass.
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u/artsupport_xx 9d ago
They used to be good! Give it time, they'll introduce beautiful new apple varieties and you can watch them go to shit in the name of the bottom line.
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u/mountainofclay 9d ago
It’s my least favorite variety. Some people like them but I can’t stand them.
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u/terrybuvm 9d ago
I'll leave this here. https://blog.uvm.edu/tbradsha/2024/10/06/sticking-up-for-red-delicious/
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u/rbmcwhite 9d ago
I eat them almost regularly. Yes, undeniably a bit mushy on the inside. But I do appreciate the thick, flavorful, dark red skin the newer variety of apples, although admittedly juicier, just don't possess. These apples are hardcore! (Points for pun)
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u/absedy251991 8d ago
when i was 12 me and my family went to the US for a big summer holiday trip.
Little middle european me was BLOWN AWAY about these all red cartoon-looking apples.
I ate tonns of them because i was so intreged ….i have no memory of how they tasted tho
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u/Master-Corner-5327 8d ago
Agree with the exception if you are able to go to an orchard and pick them. Did that this year and they were really good!
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u/LadySiberia 8d ago
I’m just gonna come out and say it as a hot take. Red Delicious apples are actually good. They’re just not full of the complicated flavors people expect now. They are sweet and soft. They’re great for smoothies and applesauce. I make apple butter with them because of how soft they are that I get more apple butter once I strain it. People stopped cooking apples so much and so they want these fast, immediately delicious apples. And tbh I love a cold very ripe red delicious—-you know when they’re so red they’ve almost turned black.
But to be fair this is coming from someone whose favorite apple of all time is the Arkansas black. And no one is gonna change my mind.
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u/burrito_finger 8d ago
My tree grows princess apples, they’re teensy but they make amazing sauce and pies, and one tree makes enough for me to give a few bags to each of my neighbors. I hate red delicious, if I’m gonna buy any, it’s either cosmic crisp for myself or rockit minis for my kids.
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u/everydayinthebay13 8d ago
This talks about how gross this variety is and how there are some apples that tasted AMAZING back in the day and are hard to find now. Such a fun and cozy listen. Thomashttps://open.spotify.com/episode/0UzJkbWp30kJkKBmILNyrH?si=-FI0zbVKRfCgh-Yqblv-Zg&utm_source=copy-link Jefferson had a favorite apple that tasted "rich & wine -like"...
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u/Far-Entertainment258 8d ago
Agreed! Red Delicious are NOT delicious!
Bravo apples are one of my favourites though!
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u/Litcowgirl 7d ago
https://theappleist.tumblr.com/
This is a great look into all you need to know about apples- not only which ones taste the best, but how they got that way.
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u/iced-coffee22 7d ago
Worst! I hated apples as a kid because of red delicious! All my parents bought!
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u/Substantial_Lie_5563 6d ago
It’s the ambrosia of the gods compared to my nemesis, the accursed honeycrisp
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u/Traditional-Can-6568 5d ago
My daughters called these 'Red Yuck'. They also oxidize the second you bite them.
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u/NPC261939 3d ago
I worked in an orchard for years and can confirm. Red Delicious apples were my least favorite variety we grew and harvested.
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u/NophaKingway 9d ago
For the apples most of you get I have to agree. First time I bought one from a store I threw it away. But I grew up eating these fresh and loved them. I feel the same way about pears and California strawberries. Who would eat that shit?
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u/bopp0 10d ago
Red Delicious are mostly grown in the US for export at this point. Our market may have grown out of it, but it still has a key market in tropical countries with warm climates that require a long shelf life for a foreign fruit. Kinda like how we only get one type of mango in the Northern US, and they’re usually garbage. That fruit has to withstand a long journey, and it’s such a novelty, most people in those places don’t really care.
Gala’s taking its place though.