Pacific Rose -- This apple has a sweet,\ taate and a fine texture. It's juicy with tender skin and crisp flesh. Pacific Rose originated in New Zealand and is a cross between a Splendor and a Gala. In researching this variety, I happened upon an incidence of apple "espionage"regarding the Pacific Rose. In 1997, a Chinese delegation got caught trying to smuggle budwood from this apple out of New Zealand in their pants! New Zealand is very protective of their patented apples and recently found as many as 65,000 trees in Chile, propagated from stolen budwood. I can see why they're so protective. Pacific Rose was an 8 out of 10 for me.
Jazz -- After tasting the Jazz apple, I was left with the impression that this apple is an apple searching for an identity. It is so middle of the road that I can't think of much to say about it. It's sweet but not too sweet. It's crisp, but not too crisp. It's big but not too big. And it looks pretty, but not too pretty. Jazz is a cross between a Royal Gala and a Braeburn and comes from the same New Zealand breeding program that the Pacific Rose comes from . In following it's genealogy, a Braeburn is thought to be a cross between a Granny Smith and a Lady Hamilton. And a Royal Gala is mutated from a Gala apple, which is a cross between a Golden Delicious and a Kidd's Orange Red. I could go on, but I won't. It's enough to say that the Jazz apple is a nice, middle of the road apple that would do quite well for kindergarten snack time. But beyond that, it wasn't much to talk about. I rate it a 5 out of 10.
Sonya - My first impression of the Sonya apple was that it was a very tall apple. It comes from a mix of a Gala and a Red Delicious. It looks like a slim Delicious apple with very pronounced "feet." Then I bit into it and it was the strangest tasting apple I'd ever tasted. It was sweet, but it had a wine-like taste. When I try a new apple I try to summarize the taste in a word and all I could come up with was "spicy." Since I'd eaten it straight out of the fridge, I decided to let it warm and see if the taste changed. It did get sweeter, but there was still an odd taste to this apple It's crisp and juicy but I didn't finish it. My apple rating is a 4 out of 10.
Kiku -- This apple is very large and very juicy and very sweet. It has a mild apple flavor so the sweetness is almost the only thing I tasted. Kind of like biting into an apple full of sugar water. The flesh is very crisp and the skin tender. I had juice dripping all over as I ate it, but for someone who loves a tart apple, this didn't do much for me. That variety was introduced in the U.S. in 2009 and came from a mutation in a Fuji apple tree. When this happens, the variety is called a "sport." Though this is a pretty perfect apple for someone who loves a sweet apple, it's a 7 of 10 on my scale of apple perfection.
This is a great site for info on all apple varieties -- Orange Pippin.com. I find it interesting the different scents and flavors one can detect in an apple, much like wine. I'm going to continue my search for the perfect apple, but for now, I've been eating Pink Ladies and enjoying them immensely.
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