That is interesting. There are A. chinensis and A. deliciosa that have a red inner pericarp, and a few with some red throughout. The ones with bright yellow surrounding a bright red center are much more attractive. This pink one does not look quite so nice. Hopefully the taste will make up for it. ~kiwinut

This hype around the Honeycrisp reminds me of all the marketing hype around the Dekopon (Sumo) mandarin that was introduced this season. Huge, huge mandarins, seedless, and easy to peel. Taste-wise? Okay. Not exceptional from store-bought mandarins. Off the tree they were much better, but still not as good, in my opinion, as two other commercial varieties, the USDA 88-2 (Lee x Nova cross), or the Gold Nugget. Or, nothing near as good as the non-commercial Seedless Kishu variety. It really is all about trying to support growers who have made a significant investment in buying the trees and growing them for that first commercial crop. I'm sure there is something similar going on with the Honeycrisp. We are supposed to now have them in our local supermarkets, so I'll buy one or two, just to see what all the hype is about. I am going to try to grow my own Honeycrisp, so we'll see if it sets fruit, and if so, what the quality will be here in my lower chill hours area. Patty S.

How can it be that growing such an ordinary fruit like an apple could be so rewarding? If you're not already growing apples, plant an apple tree, it's such a tasty fruit. Preach on, brother! ain't it the truth. People other than those who come to this forum just have no idea. I have been eating Jazz apples I steal from a neighbor. In late October, just before he is to pick his crop, I wait until he and his family have gone to church on Sunday and then I go over there and pick two boxes of his private variety Jazz apples. He paid about $2500 per acre just for the right to grow the apples, plus buying trees, sprinklers, growing them for two or three years, etc. etc. Membership is limited. They don't want to glut the market and drive down prices so they limit the production. Jazz is from New Zealand and similar in taste to Pink Lady, but it might be better. Or maybe at least more consistently good if that makes sense. I luv 'em. They honestly remind me of the candied apples at the state fair. Even kinda look like them. And don't worry about my stealing apples. This guy has owed be about $300 for over ten years. We were at an auction together and he conned me into paying for something he bought. Don't ask about that. He is a Hollander and never pays for anything if he can help it. The neighbors see me go over there and he knows I get his apples. I go over there while they are picking them and pick the nicest, biggest and best looking one I can find and eat it in front of him. Really make it snap and crunch. "These are really good. How much you making off these? How much would two boxes be worth?" This is the third year. Am I revealing too much if I say that stolen apples seem to taste better?

Speaking of brownies... I always loved the Ghiradelli brownie mix (never made them but had them at a neighbor's house and asked her for recipe since they were so good and she told me they were this mix). Anyway, it turns out that I always liked boxed brownies better than my own because they were chewier and I love a chewy brownie. Then one day I came across this (link below). Cooks Illustrated set out to figure out why boxed brownies were better than home made and this recipe is what came out of that. If you like chewy brownies, these are really, really good. I was so excited to find this because first I don't use boxed stuff for baking. Always make from scratch. And, second the Ghiradelli mix has articifial ingredients so even if I was going to buy one, it couldn't be that one. Sorry for the hijcak, but you got me thinking about brownies. Here is a link that might be useful: Chewy Brownies