Apple review: Sweetie

This is a catch-up review; I actually ate this several weeks ago, but never wrote about it.

I was excited to find this delicately pretty apple at the grocery store -- those colors! I wanted to like it, though the name didn't fill me with hope, since extremely sweet apples are not my thing. Its website calls it "Gala’s sweeter, crunchier cousin," and says "Sweetie apples are highlighted by a sweet taste and firm texture and their beautiful red color is accented by golden cheeks."

Adam says: "The flavors are a bit washed out, but pleasant and harmonious: a faint trace of oranges, and a floral note, accent a sweet mild whole. Thought experiment: What if you diluted one Cox's Orange Pippin into a peck of Red Delicious?"



Verdict: Adam seems spot-on for this one -- there's something interesting there, but extremely diluted, and the rest recalls memories (not fond) of Red Delicious. Though I haven't actually dared to eat a Red Delicious recently. I'm hoping to find a good one somehow? Supposedly Red Delicious is a good apple that's been murdered by mass production.

Buy again? BUT IT'S SO PRETTY. I might be tempted to get another and try it again just because of that. But generally, no, mine was rather bland, with a hint of Red-Delicious-skin that did not appeal to me.

Apple review: SweeTango

And here's today's actual apple review.

In the interest of full disclosure, I found some interesting stuff at Bristol Farms today, so I'm kind of getting this one out of the way so I can try those soon. Also, I think the name SweeTango is dumb, but that's neither here nor there.

"SweeTango apples are remarkably crunchy with a lively touch of citrus, honey, and spice," says their website.

Adam says, "It is quite sweet but there is enough balancing tart to allow some floral flavors to show along with a clean refreshing character. ... It's hard to see Sweetango as the Honeycrisp-slayer its growers tout, though its flavors are better. Maybe this is the "Honeycrisp" for people who care about taste."

He later wrote a more enthusiastic review when he got a better sample: "Crisp juicy coarse yellow flesh bursts with an exceptional crunch. Sweetango also provokes a peculiar lingering physical sensation, as if something dry were coating my tongue. ... Flavors are sweet but well balanced by some generically citric tartness, with faint hints of malt and maple, honey and spice. There is sweet raw carrot in the aftertaste. You have to hunt for these blended flavors, but the good news is that they harmonize very well. At last, a decent Sweetango example. Now I can honestly praise this apple as an advanced example of the breeder's art, bearing interesting if subtle flavors. The texture is great."

I bet I haven't got a "decent sample," though.



Verdict: Huh, maybe I did get a decent sample. It had a nice tang and some complexity, though was perhaps a little too astringent at times. The texture was good. I liked it, but it didn't really stand out a lot. I'd sooner eat it than the year-round supermarket staples, though.

Buy again? It was interesting enough to eat again -- so I did, but the second one I tried was sweeter and blander and softer, missing the tartness that made the first enjoyable. It was also missing its sticker, so I'm not 100% certain it was really a SweeTango. But if they're this variable, I'll be less likely to come back. The first apple seemed very hard, the second one less so; maybe I need to take that into account when picking them out.