Honeycrisp Apples - Where is the cheapest place to buy them?

I tried a Honeycrisp Apple for the first time last week and boy are these tasty compared to other apple varieties. My problem is the price is way too prohibitive to buy these on a consistent basis. Anyone knows why Honeycrisp Apples cost about $1 more than other apple varieties at Jewel, Dominick’s, or Whole Foods. Can anyone recommend a grocer that sells Honeycrisp Apples for cheaper than $2 lb?

Not sure if there are still honeycrisps (or apples at all, for that matter) at any of the farmers markets that are still open (I was getting mine at Green City up until a few weeks ago but haven't been since the third week of October), but the price per pound worked out to just over a dollar for me when I bought a basket at certain vendors. They were sold by the basket, peck, etc. though, not by the pound -- I just weighed them on a scale at home after purchasing and did the math.

At Trader Joe's in St. Louis over the weekend, I saw a 3 or 4 pound bag of small honey crisps (not remotely close to the size of the monstrosities at Dominick's) for $3 or $4, I believe. I'm not sure about the consistency of produce offerings across TJ stores, but it might be worth checking out.

Honeycrisps are at the Egg Store right now for 1.49 /lb. I bought 16 lbs a few days ago, and am probably gonna go back before the sale is over tomorrow. I think they are more expensive simply because the demand dictates it. They are even better than in season Fujis, but the honey crisp season is far, far shorter, I believe.

polster wrote:Anyone knows why Honeycrisp Apples cost about $1 more than other apple varieties at Jewel, Dominick’s, or Whole Foods. Does anyone can recommend a grocer that sells Honeycrisp Apples for cheaper than $2 lb?

Ooops - almost forgot - it would probably behoove you to not buy any produce at Jewel, Dominick's, or Whole Foods especially if the price of apples there makes them prohibitive to buy. Get thee to a fruit market. There are plenty around town, and in the burbs. If you are used to shopping for produce at J/D/WF, you are in for a big shock at the what the prices are for the same items at a fruit market.

seebee wrote:

polster wrote:Anyone knows why Honeycrisp Apples cost about $1 more than other apple varieties at Jewel, Dominick’s, or Whole Foods. Does anyone can recommend a grocer that sells Honeycrisp Apples for cheaper than $2 lb?

Ooops - almost forgot - it would probably behoove you to not buy any produce at Jewel, Dominick's, or Whole Foods especially if the price of apples there makes them prohibitive to buy. Get thee to a fruit market. There are plenty around town, and in the burbs. If you are used to shopping for produce at J/D/WF, you are in for a big shock at the what the prices are for the same items at a fruit market.

I do not regularly buy produce and corporate Grocers, but in the small fruit markets like Jerry's in Niles does'nt have the Honeycrisp Apples variety for some reason.

I'm not sure where you're looking but I just bought some large Honeycrisps from the Brookhaven Market in Darien for 1.49/lb.

I found very cheap Honeycrisp apples at the Marketplace on Oakton a few weeks ago. They were 69 cents/pound, IIRC, which I could not believe. I thought there might be something wrong with them (as those prices are crazy, even by MOO standards), but they were terrific. In general, one can always find very cheap, very good apples there, IMO.

Marketplace on Oakton
4817 W Oakton
Skokie IL

Honeycrisps are supposed to command a premium price--it was part of the goal to save small midwestern orchards from being made irrelevant by the huge commercial orchards of Washington state. There's an interesting article about the development--and marketing--of the honeycrisp here.

The Honeycrisp's road was slow and, at first, uphill. Consumers were used to generic varieties available at grocery chains selling for less than a dollar a pound. But somewhere in the mid-nineties, as Courtier and others were hand-selling Honeycrisps to specialty markets, consumer tastes were changing. Suddenly, there were organics, slow foods and micro brews. Small-scale was big time. And big stores, though by no means going away, seemed to compete for a different consumer.

By the late 1990s, a pound of Honeycrisps retailed for $2.50. And they were selling. Stores couldn't keep them on the shelves. That was good news to growers who took a chance on planting this experimental variety in the mid- and late '90s.

A third of Courtier's growers went out of business in the hard times between 1990 and 2000. But those who switched to Honeycrisps are doing well. "They're sending their kids to college — and not necessarily on a scholarship," Courtier says. At the end of the day," he says, "consumers are willing to pay a higher price for a better product."

I bought some yesterday at Eurofresh in Tinley Pk for 1.78 lb. I also heard on another board that Meijer has 3lb bags for 3.99.

A while back I got some Honeycrisps at Produce World at Dempster and Waukegan Rd. They were surprisingly cheap, but not as cheap as sweetsalty found (I think they were .89/lb). The skins had small cosmetic problems, but the apples were delicious.

seebee wrote:Honeycrisps are at the Egg Store right now for 1.49 /lb. I bought 16 lbs a few days ago, and am probably gonna go back before the sale is over tomorrow. I think they are more expensive simply because the demand dictates it. They are even better than in season Fujis, but the honey crisp season is far, far shorter, I believe.

Where is the Egg Store?
Thanks!

I bought some at the Devon Market for $1.99 a pound a couple weeks ago.

Far and away my favorite kind of apple to eat.

cupcake wrote:Where is the Egg Store?
Thanks!

Do a quick web search. There are several locations. They are probably not worth the drive if one is too far away from you, but if you have one near you, I highly recommend checking it out. Usually quite cheap for "in season" produce. I don't buy much else there at all. Really, I just stick to in season produce. Like right now, I get my apples / pears from there. In winter, I'll probably only buy citrus fruits from there. And I mean that's all. I'll walk in, check to see if the oranges are heavy, and if they are, then it's probably a good bet that their pricing is gonna be great like 49 C lb for california navels. I'll buy 15 lbs, meander around to check for other bargains, generally maybe find one or two more things and then leave. It's a quick stop for me since I have one right on my way home. I've been in two or three different ones, and they are not the nicest grocery stores ever, but for "in season" produce, I love em to death.

Per the article linked above and comments from a grower at a recent Botanic garden event, the high price of Honeycrisps is largely due to the difficulty grwoing them and lower yields per acre than more mainstream varieties

Just bought some at the Family Fruit Market on Cicero for $.69/lb. 3 large ones came to the whopping total of $1.32. I love that place!

Family Fruit Market
4118 N Cicero Ave

cupcake wrote:

seebee wrote:Honeycrisps are at the Egg Store right now for 1.49 /lb. I bought 16 lbs a few days ago, and am probably gonna go back before the sale is over tomorrow. I think they are more expensive simply because the demand dictates it. They are even better than in season Fujis, but the honey crisp season is far, far shorter, I believe.

Where is the Egg Store?
Thanks!

There is one at Harlem and Cermak

LynnB wrote:Just bought some at the Family Fruit Market on Cicero for $.69/lb.

I may be misinformed about the economics of apples, but I wonder how they do that. I just bought a big bag of Honeycrisp for $1.49/lb at an orchard in Door County, WI. Most Honeycrisp are grown in colder climates; Minnesota and thereabouts. Considering the cost of shipping and storing them, it seems unlikely you'd see the genuine article down here being sold so cheaply.

HoneyHill orchards grows them about 30 min west of chicago. They were the best honeycrisps I've ever had. They can be grown more locally. Some mkts might also have something set up with an orchard / farm, or actually simply be the farm's "city" retail outlet. Just a thought.

I may be misinformed about the economics of apples, but I wonder how they do that. I just bought a big bag of Honeycrisp for $1.49/lb at an orchard in Door County, WI. Most Honeycrisp are grown in colder climates; Minnesota and thereabouts. Considering the cost of shipping and storing them, it seems unlikely you'd see the genuine article down here being sold so cheaply.

I'm sure the store is selling them as a "loss leader" to get you into the store and spend money on other things. Very common on a lot of sale items.

polster wrote:I tried a Honeycrisp Apple for the first time last week and boy are these tasty compared to other apple varieties.

Polster,

I'd not tried Honeycrisp Apples so when I spied them at Whole Foods Canal/Roosevelt I bought a few despite the $3 per lb cost. Quite liked the crisp lightly sweet flesh, a very good apple for eating out of hand.

Whole Foods Canal/Roosevelt (11.14.07)


Glad you posted about Honeycrisp apples or I may not have tried them, thanks.

Enjoy,
Gary

I bought a 3lb bag at Trader Joe's last week for $3.69 or something like that. They are kind of small, but I prefer them that way when I am eating them out of my hand.

The Brookhaven Market in Darien - western suburb - still has large, beautiful Honeycrisp for $1.39 per pound.

Do they bake well, or are they just for eating out of hand?

Brookhaven is on the northwest corner of Plainfield Road and Cass
Avenue.

Devon Market has them 99 cents a lb right now, but they aren't as pretty as at Whole Foods. They were a little more yellow than red and some were mildly bruised, but still very tasty.

$1/49 at Harvestime on Lawrence today.

Update: quality was pretty nice. Big, a little greener maybe than you might see at WF, but very tasty.

.89/lb at Stanley's on Elston as of yesterday. I've seen better quality.

Well, like everything these days, Honey Crisp prices are up this year. No more $.69/lb at Family Fruit Market. $1.49/lb was the price on Thursday. However, the Jewel across the street had them for a whopping $2.50/lb! Still better off at the "indies." Apples were delish!

Family Fruit Market
4118 N Cicero

Treasure Island currently has Michigan-grown HoneyCrisps on sale for a buck-sixty nine a pound. Sale price effective thru 9/30.

There's a thread on "Another Board" about Jazz apples. Some say they are better than Honeycrisps for crunchiness, and juiciness. I've never had one (yet.) Any opinions, apple lovers? Figured those chiming in about HC apples might know here.

Jazz apples are every bit as good as honeycrisps. I'm not sure I can judge one as better or worse than the other. They also tend to appear during different seasons, since Jazz are mostly grown in Australia and New Zealand.

gleam wrote:Jazz apples are every bit as good as honeycrisps. I'm not sure I can judge one as better or worse than the other. They also tend to appear during different seasons, since Jazz are mostly grown in Australia and New Zealand.

Jazz apples are also grown in the US. Along the line somewhere I posted this long pdf about Jazz apples and they have a chart which shows the months where they are available. I think this time of year one gets the US apples and the imports hit more in the spring (since they are grown on the other side of the world).

I am a great fan of the Jazz apple but I am a little depressed that the Family Fruit Mart does not carry them anymore (but I have seen them at evil Jewel). I'll eat my honeycrisps and long for Jazz apples at better prices.