My favorite apple and the one second on the list are both apples that I believe are no longer grown commercially to the extent they once were.

My hands down favorite - Newtown Pippin. Crunchy, sweet, tart, a flavor explosion when you take a bite. Green with a brown crown on top at the stem end. Great eaten raw, great when made into applesauce (no sugar needed), great in pie (this is what's used at our favorite small time pie producer, Gizdich Ranch in Watsonville, Ca. They grow pippins partially for sale and partially for pies.)

Second place is an apple I came across in Upstate New York that doesn't look like a Pippin but has similar flavor and physical features. Northern Spy. Great apple. We don't regularly eat dessert but a few times I've found frozen apple pies at Trader Joes with a big phrase printed on the box "Made with Northern Spy apples". I don't know who produces it but the small print on the box says it's from Canada. Delicious.

If the MI in your username is for Michigan, then I'll bet your zone is satisfactory for Northern Spy and maybe for Newtown Pippin too.

A few days ago at Aldi's I found a new to me variety, Sweet Tango, that I am liking.

Northern Spy for apple pies is the only apple I knew growing up. They aren't as

easy to find anymore, but they are my No. 1 choice for that. They cook through,

but remain somewhat firm (as opposed to "apple sauce textured pies). Don't

like them for eating though...tart without the sweetening a pie gets, and hard.

For eating, I like the complete opposite....Red or Golden Delicious and also use

the Golden Delicious for Apple Sauce. Eat them before they go soft though. ;)

Trees of Antiquity has both the Newton Pippin and Northern Spy -- I'll add them to the list for consideration.

Sweet Tango sounds...sweet. In fairness I haven't tried it. The local grocer carries it, I can buy a singular apple just to see.

I'm very fussy about apples. I get an aftertaste from most of the sweet ones.

I had a Fuji apple tree in L.A. that I liked, and I remember liking Winesap before that. I don't like any apples that have a mealy texture.

I'm not a gardener mxk but I looked up Trees of Antiquity (interesting name) and was surprised to see it's located just a few hours "down the road" from me in Paso Robles. Have you purchased from them before?

The Paso Robles area used to be little more than a widespot in the road, a highway intersection and sometime transit point for people going to Hearst Castle at the coast. Surrounded by miles and miles of barren hills used mostly for cattle grazing. These days, the cattle are long gone and grapes are grown on the land instead. It's an important wine growing and producing area.

I heard some people talking about the difficulty of finding Northern Spy apples for pies just last week. Empires are my favourite apple, followed by Cortland, but I don't eat them raw (they make me gassy), but I do occasionally bake with them.

For a classic apple, I love Gravensteins, more for cooking - Red Gravensteins are even better. I like them fresh as well, but they aren’t good keepers. My favorite for a long time of the more current offerings is Braeburn, but they are becoming more difficult to find as more and more ’designer’ apples are being produced. More profit for growers. Mostly I buy Pink Lady now. I really dislike Gala, Fuji and some of the more readily available varieties.

I got a bag of Sweet Blushing apples at Traders on Monday. I had never heard of them but they are sweet and very crisp. I like MacIntosh for baking.

Honey Crisp and Pink Lady

Pink Lady is my favorite eating apple. I like Pippins for baking.

"Have you purchased from them before?"

I have, this past bare-root planting season. Trees arrived in good shape, all growing as well as can be expected for whips or lightly feathered trees. The one I suspect might not survive this first winter in the ground is "Rubinette" because the critters just would not leave her alone, every time she re-sprouted new growth something chomped it back. I do have deer fencing around the trees, it might be rabbit or groundhog damage. So that's not T.O.A.'s fault. I prefer to buy trees locally, but these out of the ordinary cultivars aren't offered around these parts. Shipping costs are $$$$$$ to get trees shipped cross-country but what can I do, I have to suck it up and pay if I want the tree {shrug} If you can order and pick up right at T.O.A.'s nursery that might be worth your while.

The one I'm eating right now!!! In other words, there's not an apple that I don't like!!!

I've been enjoying Cosmic Crisps these last few weeks.

I usually buy Fuji or Galas.

We buy Gala apples, but we grow Honey Crisp. My two apple trees haven't started producing ....yet. I like Granny Smith tart apples for baking.

My new favorite is Envy. Other varieties: Cosmic Crisp, Fuji, Red Delicious.

The only apple I eat is Granny Smith (green apples). I just like the tartness of it. My DH eats red apples and likes whatever I buy him which is usually the least expensive on the day I'm shopping. He does however, like both Honey Crisp and Pink Lady.

Honey crisp for eating, and always a mix of several for pies for the best flavor result!

McIntosh, Honeycrisp, and Granny Smith.

McIntosh.

Honeycrisp

I mispoke. For baking I like Stayman and we got 10 big fat ones at the orchard today.

Opal. They are yellow and I find them at Whole Foods.

Orangepippin.com is another good site for learning about apple varieties.

For pies, my favorites are 2 early season apples - Yellow Transparent and Wealthy; When they are no longer available I will use Granny Smith. As a child my favorite from the local apple orchard was Stayman Winesap but I like Wealthy for fresh eating too.

I've never had either kind of Pippin or Northern Spy, but my mother had the Spy on her list of recommended apples for baking - our local orchard didn't grow them, so she must have been remembering it from earlier in her life. She also liked Lodi, (and I) also liked Rome Beauty, Grimes Golden (haven't seen that one for decades), Baldwin (another no longer seen), McIntosh, Empire.

I grow SnowSweet and like it; I've planted but haven't gotten any fruit yet from Winecrisp, Haralson, Goldrush, Pristine or Transparent.

I like a good Fuji too. Many of the "new" crisp & sweet apples haven't made a big impression on my taste buds - certainly not enough to pay the premium prices for them.

Absolutely dislike Red Delicious.

Well, I did see Cosmic Crisp at the grocery so tried one. It was indeed crisp, nicely juicy but not overly so, but sadly it didn't have much flavor. Not unusual for a grocery store apple, but still a bland Pink Lady or McIntosh is more flavorful than the C.C.

My favorite is Golden Delicious. I like a sweet apple. I really never cared for Granny Smith. I was given a bucket of a very nice read apple. I think they are red delicious, not sure but they are very good too. I just eat them raw, no baking any more. I eat a lot of different kinds.

Sue

@Elmer J Fudd - This link was just sent to me, I haven’t looked to see who this is but I was amused to see where your ”hands down favoriite” landed on the list. Taste is subjective I guess!

https://applerankings.com

Oh my gawd, foas, thats hilarious.

My latest favorite, Sugar Bee, got thumbs up.

I seem to be finding that luck is about as much of a factor as variety when it comes to apples. I’ll buy some, love them, buy them again and they’re disappointing.

I think some are better keepers than others. For example, in the fall, I often travel to Eastern WA which is the top apple growing region in the country. Along with the huge commercial orchards are lots of smaller orchards and home orchards, often offering boxes of apples roadside at prime harvest time. Some of the best I've ever eaten were Golden Delicious, freshly picked. But buy one from a grocery a few weeks later and they are nothing near the freshly picked.

I laughed at your post and the new link! Golden Delicious was rated pretty poorly, but I'm certain they weren't tasting fresh picked. However, ratings have to be made on the apples that are available to consumers, not orchard-side.

Good comedians are busy, others have time on their hands. He seems to be in the latter category. Without regard to his lifting his leg on pippins, some might find him clever, but I don't if that page is an example of his work.

I do note that he's originally from Long Island, a place known elsewhere (even in NY) for having many folks with certain types of attitudes.

You know, that's quite the coincidence, that's exactly what I've been asking certain people who have been pretty smug until about a week ago: how do you like them apples?

Because the turn around on apple varieties is so fast these days with dwarf trees what was once a really good apple like Jonagold quickly turned into wallpaper paste as they tried to make it red. People didnt want a yellow green apple. I once was given a couple of Red delicious apples grown for the asian gift market which made me realize why they were called delicious. Sweet, crisp, amazing but what we could buy made wallpaper paste sound good. Thick skin, bitter, mealy and so on. Apple varieties change so fast. DH presently likes Honey Crisp but he doesn't depend on that staying true.

Has anyone ever tried Envy apples? My mom and I love them

I know my mom likes Envy. i’m limited in mu choices because I insist on orgsnic. Lots of local apples available, but organic not so much.

I agree; I was thrilled when Trader Joes started carrying bags of organic Pink Lady that are grown in WA. They also have organic Cosmic Crisp now, too.

Remember when a Red Delicious was still delicious? Now they are tasteless, often mealy. For baking I buy McIntosh, for anything else I like Sugar Bee, Honeycrisp or Envy.

We like Honeycrisp. I don't remember these until a couple of years ago. Are they 'new' or just new to grocers in the Chicago area?

I have six framed pictures of apples I bought as decor decades ago. I remember having a hard time choosing from among all the different prints.

Honeycrisp has been around but didn't hit the market in any numbers till about 25 years ago. Cosmic crisp is a Honey crisp cross. If I am recalling correctly Honeycrisp came from your neck of the world. so it is surprising it wasnt in the stores where you are sooner. Still it can take a while for a variety to catch on. I remember when Gala showed up out of the blue and for a while it seemed to take over the apple section. DH eats a lot of apples and has attitudes about them.

I realize we are all chattering on about our favorite apples but not addressing the original ask of a good tart apple. And there is the issue of what does well in your area with your micro climate. Local advice might not come amiss.

I realize I'm late to the party, but for baking I buy Granny Smith. My nephew loves a apple cream pie and will often ask for one. It's simply an apple pie with very little sugar, lattice top, cream poured into the top crust openings the last 20 minutes of baking.

I think we've eaten fresh apples with every dinner since Spring. On a whim, I picked up a 3# box of Rockit apples one day (the only way I've seen them offered) and DH loved them. He cores and slices two or three and puts them in a bowl for the dinner table every night. Quite small, definitely a snacking apple....you would never want to peel that size for baking but the taste appeals to both of us and we haven't tired of them yet.

granny smith for pies ... flavorful ones [varies by year it seems; michigans almost always are good] for munching or dicing into coleslaw

I went to Trader Joe's today to get sea bass and found some apples that I bought for an apple crisp for our Thanksgiving dinner, which we're having next week sometime. I've never had them before but after googling the name, thought it might be good for a crisp: tart and a little sweet. It has a dark pink flesh and is called Lucy Glo, which I've never heard of or seen in the supermarkets here. I just tasted one and like it. I also like that the apples are on the small side so if I wanted to snack on the apples fresh, they'd be the perfect size. I'm cooking the rest in a little butter, cinnamon and sugar to eat with my breakfast in the morning.

Lucy Glo apple

➡️ https://www.eatlikenoone.com/what-are-lucy-glo-apples.htm

It looks very interesting, Kath.