[gyuserbti]

I agree but there are many varieties that could meet and have met the criteria for public sales, except for current trends in appearance or taste.

It's really remarkable how canalized apple markets have become, when you're exposed to alternatives. The fads become somewhat self perpetuating because they shift context of perception (people judge based on what they know).

It's not so much currently popular apples are bad, just that there's lots more out there.

With apples too you have the interesting case of the cider market, hard and soft. You can kind of get a sense of the effects of fads because cider apples can be really different in appearance but otherwise meet other marketability criteria. You end up with different sets of apples, which speaks to what people like when appearance isn't an issue.

I acknowledge texture is an issue in eating vs drinking, and that cider apples are blended for their charactistics, but many are also varieties that used to be popular eating or cooking apples that drifted in popularity but are still used in cideries because they've stood the test of time and customers like the flavor.