I finally got a hold of some Lucy Glo apples to try. This apple and it’s sibling, Lucy Rose, seem to be the first major RF apples to hit the market. I’ve known for a long time that they are coming and there has been a race to marke them. I also suspected that the first varieties to be released would fall a little short, because of the rush to get to market first. From what I tasted here, that is the case.
I had heard that Trader Joes carried the apple, so I went out of my way to find it there. The batch of apples I had to choose from was rather sad looking. Lots of bruises and flaws, very uneven surfaces and the coloring in general of this apple is kind of unappealing. None of that would matter much if the apples are really good, but it just looked like a subpar batch of apples.
I picked out the best couple of specimens I could that were not too beat up and had quite a bit of pink color to them. This apple looks a lot like pink pearl or Grenadine, two pink fleshed apples that show their color through the translucent yellow skin. In that case, more color on the outside, means more color inside.
In short, tasting this apple was disappointing. The texture was average to below average. The flavor had very little berry and a lot of banana. It took me til the next day when I tasted it again to nail the flavor. It tastes like an over ripe banana. I mean past just the ripe banana phase to the funky phase. Given that I don’t like banana flavor in apples at all, that’s a real deal breaker for me. I can tolerate a little if there are other flavors and it is otherwise a good apple, but over ripe banana is a no go. After tasting it again, I had to rinse my mouth out after about 15 minutes, because the flavor was still lingering unpleasantly.
Now I’m sure that these are poor specimens of this apple, and I’ll be on the lookout for better ones. But this highlights a major issue with apples in the current industrial food paradigm. Varieties have to be able to perform consistently and get to market in good condition. I suspect that red fleshed apples will be particularly problematic in this regard. My observation is that RF development takes time and typically accelerates a lot in the later phases of ripening. Commercial apples are picked under ripe, typically stored, then ripened and distributed. It may be a real challenge to breed up RF varieties that can perform and develop good flesh color and flavor consistently in that scenario.
Of course I want to compare my own RF seedlings to this and any other RF apples I come across. It is hard to conclude much, since these seem to be poor specimens but mine seem to compare very favorably. I kind of expected this apple to raise the bar on red fleshed apples. I’m not sure how much it does. As they are right now, my seedling Appleoosa, which still has some issues I’d like to fix in RF apples, is better eating. I think if it were developed optimally, it would at least give Lucy Glo some competition even at it’s best. My prediction is that given all of them in prime condition in a good year, Appleoosa would compete and my new, as of yet unnamed, red fleshed apple would probably beat both handily.
My newest red fleshed apple ticks a lot of boxes. I actually have several potential, excellent names, but I have work to do on that front before revealing. Given this apple and Lucy Glo, both in peak condition, I predict that this apple would win most taste tests. Of course I am biased though.
I have been thinking about options for my new apple, regarding possible patenting, or alternatives to patenting and protecting it from exploitation. Tasting this apple and being so disappointed and being so sure that my new apple would blow people’s minds if it could be gotten to them in good condition, brings a lot of food for thought. Tasting this now is good timing.
If nothing else, I think my new seedling should be used in breeding over Arlies or any of the other Etter apples. It is a serious improvement. I think this success is due to my choice of parents. Whether it could ever be brought to market in consistently good condition is somewhere between questionable and maybe leaning more toward doubtful… but then again, what if?
