The Alcoholian

Posted by johngl

Everyone knows that saying about comparing apples to apples, but does anyone ever actually do it?  I mean, sure, you go into the grocery store and fondle 50 apples out of the same bin to find the one or two that meet your requirements. Most of these are the same 40 apples that 100 mothers of runny-nosed kids have fondled (and rejected) before you.  It’s a perfect way to spread swine flu.  Who needs a pig?  But I quickly digress.

What I really want to do here is compare apples type to type:  Tentation vs. Pink Lady.

Personally, I’m truly a HoneyCrisp man, but I only eat them when they are in season.  I don’t care what the marketing people tell you, they just don’t hold up as well to long-term storage as other apple varieties.  I eat about 10 of them per year, then impatiently wait for the next year’s crop.

Hey, johngl, I thought you were talking about Tentation and Pink Lady apples?

I’m sorry, I was.  I am having some attention difficulties tonight.  Perhaps it’s because my 18th anniversary with the most glorious spousal unit is tomorrow.

Apples. Yes. Apples. Must. Write. About. Apples.

If you look at the apples in the photo, you might notice they are well traveled.  The Tentation came from New Zealand.  The Pink Lady, from Chile.  So much for my political correctness. My carbon footprint is way larger than my size 15 feet might indicate.

Oddly, neither of these apples came from the place where they were developed.

Now before all you Pink Lady fans get your undies in a bunch and yelp about these not being real ones, Pink Lady is a brand name of Cripps Pink variety, first developed in Western Australia.  Look at the label: Cripps Pink. Now, pull your undies out of your crack.

Cripps Pink, a natural cross between Golden Delicious and Lady Williams varieties are pinky-yellowish, sweetly tangy, and crisp. An apple has to make that crunchy noise you bite into them.

On the other hand, Tentation apples originated in France and are a cross between Golden Delicious and Grifer varieties. They are yellowy-orange-ish, sweet and tangy, and crisp.  Hmmm.  Sound familiar?

So, I sampled a couple of these head to head, several days apart. The first Tentation I had was simply outstanding.  It was tart with enough sweetness to take a bit of the edge off.  I thought I might have found the sit-in for the HoneyCrisp.  The first Pink Lady didn’t even come close. It seemingly leaned more toward a Golden Delicious which hasn’t even been in my top 10 apple list in decades.

In the second round, the Pink Lady edged out the Tentation.

The best news is that both of these apples held their crispness very nicely.  No mealy-icky old Red Delicious apple stuff here.  They are both bright and almost effervescent in flavor and very juicy.  Crisp.  Juicy.  Tangy yet sweet.

I’d like to get a hold of these guys when they are very fresh — perhaps both from the same area of the world even.

This particular match went to the Tentation, mainly because of that first apple.  I wonder about the consistency of them though since the flavor of the Pink Lady didn’t waver as much apple to apple.

So, while I wait for the next appearance of the HoneyCrisp variety, I’ll carefully pick through the piles of apples and find the best ones.

I will also wash them in pure white vinegar to kill the lingering bacteria left behind by the mothers of all those snot-nosed kids.

The best things in life should be shared!

Tags: apples

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 12th, 2009 at 11:03 pm and is filed under Fruit. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.