Honeycrisp:
7/10
- Although I first found it overrated, underwhelming, and not as sweet as the name would imply (6/10, 2025-09-19), later honeycrisps have changed my mind. A supremely sweet apple, mostly consistent in quality. Their basic flavor keeps the honeycrisp from achieving a greater ranking. (2025.10.06)
Cortland:
5.75/10
- The Cortland has a wide, flattened shape, similar to the McIntosh. The skin is smooth with vertical stripes in hues of red, ranging from a deep crimson to orangish pinks on a canvas of yellow-green. Cutting through its tough skin, you’re met by remarkably pale white flesh. It’s a juicy apple, although it inherits the mushy flesh of the McIntosh. The flavor is mostly tart, though notes of orange and cranberry are present. Its sweetness comes through at the end of the bite. In this particular specimen, one quarter stood out significantly sweeter. It tasted of honey, and the flesh was chewier and less pale. (2025.10.05)
Golden Delicious:
4.5/10
- An average, boring apple. Not much to say for flavor. Slightly sweet, slightly tart, mostly just mild overall. Tastes like unsweetened applesauce. Similar to the Fuji but without the disgustingly overpowering, in-your-face sweetness. Thick skin but not too chewy. The texture of this one was unique. Somewhat mealy and grainy, but the bite starts snappy. Not one I’d buy unless you like apples with ignorable flavor. (2025.10.04)
Fuji:
2/10
- Bland, mushy, horrible flavor. Tastes like a bomb of white sugar with no depth. FAR too sweet. Aftertaste lingered for nearly an hour. Makes me sad. (2025.10.03)
Snapdragon:
6.75/10
- This is a really good sweet apple, but it still has enough tart flavor to keep me interested. Super crispy and snappy, like the name suggests. No weird aftertaste. Has some pleasant flavors in the back that I can’t place. (2025.10.02)
Sugarbee:
3/10
- Super bland apart from an off, sickening taste, like honey if you took away all the sweetness. Tastes like a bland, unripe pear. Also has an odd bitter and chemically flavor. The texture is average, skin is fine. The flesh is oddly yellow. (2025.10.01)
Rave:
6.5/10
- Apple is a bit unusual, but the texture is wonderful. Skin not too chewy, with a good crisp bite. But the flavor? It’s slightly tart, but mostly sweet. Almost too sweet. Weird chemical fruit flavor and bitterness. Tastes somewhat artificial to me. It could be so good, but that flavor is not pleasant. (2025.09.29)
McIntosh:
5.5/10
- Not bad, not great. Average. Too mushy for my taste, and the skin is a little chewy. Redeemingly, the skin does have a pop when you bite, as if it were stretched tight over the apple. The flavor is predominantly tart, but it has a decent amount of sweetness. Would be great if it weren’t so soft and the skin weren’t so tough.
- Elle Lowe, Visiting Critic: “It tasted like
green apple candy, and transported me to Halloween.”
(2025.09.28)
Sweetango:
9/10
- An amazing and very flavorful apple. I had two today, and there was a lot of variation. The first one was punchy and tart with a decent sweetness. Crispy and very tasty. A new favorite for sure. The second one was even more crispy, but the sour flavor was almost completely gone and replaced wholly by sweet. A very good apple. Also, a pretty apple. I preferred the intense first apple, but the second one was still on par with some of the better sweet apples I’ve had a chance to taste. (After finishing the bag, I can say that the rest were as good as the first.) (2025.09.27)
Kanzi:
6.5/10
- It’s alright. Moderate crunch. Very dense and juicy. Sweet in some bites, bland in others, and occasionally bitter, maybe from the skin. The skin is also slightly tough. (2025.09.21)
Sweetie:
4.5/10
- Not good. Mushy with a tough skin. Not very sweetie. Bland. (2025.09.20)
Envy:
7.25/10
- A good choice for sweet apple fans. Excellent styrofoam crunch and decent skin. Delicate sweet flavor. A honey aftertaste. As tasty as it is beautiful. For the price, I find the Envy slightly underwhelming. (2025.09.20)
Pink Lady:
7.5/10
- Probably what Granny Smith was like before she turned an old sour hag. (2025.09.19)
Cosmic Crisp:
7/10
- Very crisp indeed. Extra points for consistency. It has nearly the perfect juicy and crispy texture, but I just wish it would pack a little bit more flavor. It needs more sour flavors and more depth with the sweetness. Still my stable staple. (2025.09.19)
Gala:
5/10
- You know what a Gala tastes like. Eh. Soft and boring. (2025.09.19)
Apples are evaluated only by their quality as a snack. Plain, uncooked, sometimes refrigerated. Unless otherwise noted, all specimens were purchased from grocery stores in Texas.
The birth of this page may be in response to judgement of my once-uneducated apple preferences. Never should the apple consumer consume apples blindly. Genuine apple criticism is the only true path to a riper age.
— Eric Moore, 2025.10.04