[kylebyproxy]

Maybe I'm crazy, but I remember when I was little red delicious were crisp and sweet and juicy and perfect in every way. Then over the years, they became more and more hit-or-miss, until they became the mealy, flavorless kind you're describing. I've always been curious what the truth is there.

Reminds me of the first time I had the opportunity to travel abroad. Until that point, I had always thought I hated bananas. All the stores I'd ever been to in the US only sold Cavendishes. They're stiff and stringy and have very little flavor. But the ones at the produce stand weren't like that at all; they were vibrant, sweet, custardlike, and melted in my mouth. My second thought after the initial shock of how delicious the first bite tasted was the realization that I'd been lied to the agricultural industry for decades and the hollow sting of betrayal from being sold-out by my countrymen.

[etempleton]

My understanding is that Red Delicious are a casualty of their own success and were cloned and bred with themselves so many times you now had a very pretty apple that tastes horrible. At least that is what I think remember reading from an article about how Honey Crisp came about.

[jonstewart]

Red Delicious used to be good, supposedly, and I bet they’d be good if you found a small old orchard.

[ramses0]

Take a look at Small Red Delicious v. Large Red Delicious. Nowadays you can only find large's, and larges used to be "mealy and icky", while the small red delicious were wonderful. Everybody dunks on Red Delicious apples, but I've tended to like them when they're firm and crisp. There's lots of other varieties around and I haven't found a new consistent favorite yet, but glad to see such an systematic overview of apples! :-)

[jamroom]

I was a produce manager at Safeway in the 1980's. Both Red delicious AND Golden delicious were great eating apples. Not sure much anymore and I'm not sure why.

[joelwilliamson]

A family from Costa Rica just moved in down the street from us, and the wife was complaining that the bananas here are terrible compared to her home.