Side-by-Side Blind Tasting: Honeycrisp, SweeTango, Zestar

Side-by-Side Blind Tasting of Three Apples: Honeycrisp, SweetTango and Zestar

At the Oak Park Farmers’ Market, it seems like everyone wants Honeycrisp. It’s a rare Saturday that I don’t hear someone asking for them, raving about them, or walking away downcast when the vendor confesses that, alas, “We’re all out.”

The name “Honeycrisp” is marketing genius: it states key benefits precisely. If you ask most people what they’re looking for in an apple, they’ll say sweet (but “not too sweet,” naturally sweet, like, you know, honey) and crisp (no one wants a mushy apple or mushy fruit of any kind). A similar effort to highlight the key benefit(s) in the name was attempted, of course, by “Delicious” apples, but in this case the taste and texture of the fruit were so much at odds with the actual name that this moniker seemed ironic at best and at worst a cruel joke: the Delicious apple is pretty, I guess, but it doesn’t deliver on the name. If some rose raiser hadn’t already registered the moniker, the Delicious apple might have been more appropriately named American Beauty; like so many Miss America contestants, it’s conventionally attractive but painfully vacant.

Honeycrisp delivers. For that, we can thank men and women in lab coats; it’s these hardworking taste technicians who also developed the SweeTango and Zestar. The University of Minnesota is doing for apples in the twenty-first century what land baron John “Johnny Appleseed” Chapman did for apples in the eighteenth century….with the exception that Honeycrisp, SweeTango and Zestar are all registered names, and you need a licensed orchard to grow them. None of these varieties are the result of random seeds broadcast by a barefoot carefree character sporting a saucepan hat.

Last week, I got a call from a PR agency working for SweeTango. They sent me two of their apples, carefully cushioned in a two-fruit mailing container. “Must be expensive,” I thought, but actually all three of these apples are approximately the same market price.

Carolyn had bought some Zestar apples the week before, so we decided to do a side-by-side blind tasting to see which one of the three U of M varieties we liked best. Here are our notes on the ones we tasted, all available at the Oak Park Farmers’ Market (and I’m guessing many markets everywhere in the U.S.), in order of our preference.



• Honeycrisp: probably, as advertised, the most crisp and sweetest of the bunch, very juicy. Though somewhat one-dimensional, this is still a good apple, and it’s no wonder it’s so popular. This apple did not exist before 2006, and it is quite a success story, having gained what seems to be market dominance in something like 6-7 years after product introduction. The nice lady at Ellis Farms at the Oak Park Farmers’ Market said to us, sotto voce, that she wasn’t a big fan of Honeycrisp, though she sold a lot of them: “too watery,” she explained.



• SweetTango: juicy and with more mouth-puckering acidity than the Honeycrisp, but without more actual flavor. Taste was flatter, less interesting, but not at all bad. SweeTango is a hybrid of Honeycrisp and Zestar, and in the side-by-side tasting, this fruit’s lineage is very clear. A good apple, but not quite the equal of its parentage.



• Zestar: our favorite, not as crisp nor as sweet as either of the other two, but with good juice, and better balance of sweetness and acidity. Beautiful white color, this apple looks great on a cheeseboard and it blends beautifully with all kinds of cheese (we liked it with Roquefort as well as cheddar). YMMV & FWIW, the Zestar we had for breakfast this morning was was dull and lifeless, without sweetness or distinct astringency; perhaps the U of M technicians are still working on a consistent taste for this apple.

Though Zestar was our favorite on two out of three tasting, this is not to say that we wouldn’t buy or eat either of the other two. There are a lot of apples out there, and I wouldn’t throw any of them uneaten into the composter.

One thing I kind of miss with all of these highly calculated fruits is the sense of romance and heritage one gets from biting into, say, a Northern Spy, celebrated by Edgar Lee Masters in “Conrad Siever.”

NOT in that wasted garden
Where bodies are drawn into grass
That feeds no flocks, and into evergreens
That bear no fruit—
There where along the shaded walks
Vain sighs are heard,
And vainer dreams are dreamed
Of close communion with departed souls—
But here under the apple tree
I loved and watched and pruned
With gnarled hands
In the long, long years;
Here under the roots of this northern-spy
To move in the chemic change and circle of life,
Into the soil and into the flesh of the tree,
And into the living epitaphs
Of redder apples!

It’s kind of funny that the speaker, interred beneath his beloved apple trees, hopes to engender, through his fertilizing corpse, “redder apples,” as there are few apples redder than the unsatisfying Delicious. Anyway, I kind of doubt anyone is going to write existential life/death meditations upon the self-consciously engineered Honeycrisp, SweeTango or even Zestar, but they’re all worthy, though we generally prefer the Zestar, which like the other two was the result of “long, long years” of labor, not by gnarled hands, but by market-sensitive agricultural scientists: better living through chemic.

Certainly gives growers a better value. I stopped in at Fresh Thyme in Deerfield over the weekend and their familiar apples (golden, red, Fuji) were 57 cents a pound. The "name" apples were upwards of $2/lb.

spinynorman99 wrote:Certainly gives growers a better value. I stopped in at Fresh Thyme in Deerfield over the weekend and their familiar apples (golden, red, Fuji) were 57 cents a pound. The "name" apples were upwards of $2/lb.

Behold the power of branding.

Orion Samuelson was interviewing a grower from Michigan, a couple of years ago, on The Morning Show (yeah, there are people that listen to that stuff).

You could tell the grower was an old guy, and he was talking about apple varieties that trend and then fall back when something newer comes along (he remembered when Delicious was a new variety). He said he didn't ever remember anything like Honey Crisp's popularity. He attributed it all to marketing and modern communication. He said in the interview that it was a good apple, but wasn't his favorite, but they had alot of trees and he wasn't going to discourage the fad.

He mentioned how long it took to get production from a tree, and how alot of growers were just planting them, at that time, to cash in. He said by the time their trees came into production, the market would be flooded and everybody would be on the next apple bandwagon.

That interview always stuck with me. It's like everything else, if you can wade through the hype, somewhere in the background is a guy that saw into the future or just got lucky, and will cash in for a few years on a good decision, then he'll go back to making regular money again.

Thanks for writing this up David, I can't wait for all the nay sayers to line up and tell you how wrong you are (although that probably won't happen here, LTH'ers seem to have their heads on a little straighter than other forums).

Tim

Nice post David! I'm always slightly amused by people running for the Honeycrisps, while ignoring my personal favorites, the Winesaps and the Spys. It can be tough to find the latter two, but Nichols usually offers both. Try the Winesap and you'll certainly understand how it got its name.

I really like the Jonagold apples for eating out of hand. Still looking for the holy grail of pie apples, the list of which was apparently written by someone on the east coast, since I can never find Gravenstein here.

leek wrote:I really like the Jonagold apples for eating out of hand. Still looking for the holy grail of pie apples, the list of which was apparently written by someone on the east coast, since I can never find Gravenstein here.

I think a mix of Jonagolds, Winesaps & Spys makes for a terrific pie -- nice balance of tart and sweet. I find that Gravensteins break down too easily, though some people don't mind that.

Jonathan apples are supposed to make good apple pie. Apparently somebody did a taste test once, and Jonathan came in number 1. Concerning delicious, I won't eat red delicious, but when I go home at Christmas time, my sister Annette, usually gives me a large bag of her apples, and all she has left usually by then are golden delicious, empire and fuji. Fujis are the only ones that I don't care for. They are too crisp for me, although I will eat them if they are free. I just cut them up, and they are easier to eat. I like honeycrisp, but it is not my all time favorite. For one thing, it is too large for one person to eat all at once. I have been told that honeycrisp are a pain to grow, but my sister says that she could sell twice as many honeycrisp as she grows, and they are by far her most requested apple. It seems like she told me a few years ago though, that a ton of honeycrisp trees were being planted I believe in Washington, and she was worried that they were going to flood the market, and the price would go way down. I have not tried them yet, but my sister raves about the zestar apples. I have tried Sweet Sixteen at the Evanston market, and those are good. They should be available about now. If you want Northern Spy and Cortland, my sister has both of those variates on her farm, and her fruit stand is open until October 26th if you are traveling to Michigan anyway. She also still has upick peaches this weekend, and maybe next. Everything is late this year. If you go this weekend you might be able to get the tale end of my all time favorite apples, chinango strawberry apples. They make the best applesauce. My sister primarily sells them to the Amish to make sauce. She is the largest grower of this variety in the country. They don't ship well, and that is why not very many people grow them.

I believe red delicious is still the number one variety in the country. People buy them because they look pretty. I personally think they taste like cardboard. We used to have an older variety of red delicious that tasted better, but was not as pretty as what you see in the grocery store, and my sister took them out because she could not sell them. Hope this helps, Nancy

Hi- FYI Fresh Thyme has their organic honeycrisp on sale for $1.97 starting tomorrow, and on 9/20--9/21 they have all their organic produce on sale with 20% off, and so the honeycrisp should be about as cheap as it gets. Hope this helps, Nancy

NFriday wrote: I like honeycrisp, but it is not my all time favorite. For one thing, it is too large for one person to eat all at once.

I'm guessing size varies by orchard (climate, location, etc.). The Honeycrisp apples we tasted were the smallest of the bunch, but I know that wouldn't always be the case.

Hi,

Some years ago, I did a side-by-side comparison of Mirai corn to bi-color corn. The bi-color was my contribution to the picnic.

My conclusion:

Here is my seat of the pants analysis of Mirai corn vs bi-color from Von Bergen. Mirai touts itself as a patented corn. Whoopee! I can guarantee the bi-color is patented, too, though it is not treated as a feature. The Mirai is packaged like an upscale select product with labeling stating, "The Gold Standard of Fresh Corn." Von Bergen's bi-color is piled high on a table with paper bags ready to be filled. Mirai has a carefully thought out pamphlet with recipes and information where to find their patented corn. Von Bergen's has photocopied recipes, if they remember to put them out.

In a nutshell, Mirai corn is driven by a crafty marketing program. You are being convinced this is the better product by the packaging, labeling and best-use knowledge. Mirai is not outstandingly different from bi-color corn grown in our region. The difference is certainly price with Mirai at $22 for 48 ears (or ~ $29.79 for 65 ears) and Von Bergen bi-color at $15 for 65 ears. Once you have tried them side-by-side, there is nothing significantly distinguisable about Mirai to justify the hefty price increase. You are paying for a marketing program.

One of the first things I baked with my oldest daughter was Tart Tatin. It's so simple that the effort to payoff ratio is perfect for a little one to get their feet wet. We use the old Julia Child recipe which calls for Golden Delicious; normally I never buy them but they work well for this recipe.
Daughter and I had been happily making our tarts, about once a week for about a month, when the film Julia and Julia came out. Suddenly everyone wanted to make Tart Tatin and the humble little apples literally quadrupled in price in the space of a week.

I guess it pays to be popular

leek wrote:I really like the Jonagold apples for eating out of hand. Still looking for the holy grail of pie apples, the list of which was apparently written by someone on the east coast, since I can never find Gravenstein here.

Like (it seems) every apple in existence, Nichol's grows (at least some) Gravenstein.

You don't like Norther Spy for pies? Regardless of Edgar Lee Masters, there is something so damn classically Middle-West, like when Northwestern University was actually in the Northwestern part of the USA, about these apples. Good keepers too.

Braeburn (New Zealand) here of the most popular varieties. To throw a wrench in the works, I detest Red Delicious from Washington state but had a couple once from Michigan that looked and tasted like a different variety. I wonder if terroir enters into the equation at all.

Hi- I was in Jewel today, and they had Honeycrisp on sale for $3.79 a pound. They are regularly $3.99 a pound. I guarantee you the farmer is lucky if he gets paid $1 a pound for the apples.

They sell the Mirai corn at the WIlmette farmer's market for too much money. I don't like the fact that you have to buy six ears of corn too, and you are not allowed to pick out your own. Yes the corn is slightly better than bicolor corn, but it is probably only 5% better. Nichols sells Mirai corn at the Evanston market, but he does not officially call it Mirai corn. Todd told me that buys the seed from them to plant. He also charges less for the corn, but it is still more expensive than bicolor corn. Nichols charges $.75 an ear or 6 ears for $3. I believe the Mirai people charge $4 for six ears. When I was at the WIlmette market to purchase some peaches on 9/6, I decided to get some corn too, since I was afraid they would be out when I got to the Evanston market, and I went up there with my usual four ears of corn, and the farmer told me that the corn was $.50 an ear, or $2 a dozen, and so I ended up getting a dozen ears for the same price, and giving half of it away. It was good corn too.

NFriday wrote:Hi- I was in Jewel today, and they had Honeycrisp on sale for $3.79 a pound. They are regularly $3.99 a pound. I guarantee you the farmer is lucky if he gets paid $1 a pound for the apples.

Today's fliers included $1.79/lb at Ultrafoods for Honeycrisps.

What I miss is what Bell's Apple Orchard called Golden Delicious, but are very different from the dull-flavored Goldens we get these days: They had a slightly blushed, russet (small rough brown freckled) skin, crisp, and a little spicy. Applesauce made from these would taste like it already had a bit of cinnamon. Every once in a while I'll spot this variety at farmer's markets, but I just don't hit those markets often enough.

JoelF wrote:

NFriday wrote:What I miss is what Bell's Apple Orchard called Golden Delicious, but are very different from the dull-flavored Goldens we get these days: They had a slightly blushed, russet (small rough brown freckled) skin, crisp, and a little spicy. Applesauce made from these would taste like it already had a bit of cinnamon. Every once in a while I'll spot this variety at farmer's markets, but I just don't hit those markets often enough.

I have a friend who lives in a townhome on the old Bell's Orchard property. If you ring his doorbell, I'm sure he'd be happy to give you an apple. Not quite the same experience....

The name "honeycrisp":

- Reeks of market research

- Makes my teeth hurt

- Reminds me of a Peanuts strip from back in the day:

Linus [in front of TV set, eating something from a bowl]: Crunch crunch crunch!

Lucy [entering room]: What on earth are you eating?

Linus: Sugar lumps with honey!

Lucy [rushes from room, eyes bulging, hands covering mouth]

Linus: They're good with cinnamon, too!

But, enjoy!

Honeycrisps at Jewel are $1.99 now through Tuesday the 23rd.

Roger Ramjet wrote:The name "honeycrisp":

- Reeks of market research

The research, however, came together very well. Most of the sellers of these refer to them as "Moneycrisps."

Call me a lemming, but they are easily my favorite apple since I learned of Fujis. Fujis are a distant second for me now. I've never really had a decent Jazz or Sweetango (not saying that great ones do not exist, I've just never had a great one yet.) I've had a decent Mutsu, but Honeycrisps are the variety that pretty much "makes" apple season for me.