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Re: [nafex] Your Expert Opinions Needed
Dorreen, I haven't had enough different varieties to answer for most of
these fruits, and you may find my choices prosaic, but what the hey. . .
Doreen Howard wrote:
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> AMERICAN'S BEST TASTING FRUIT, according to NAFEX members.
> Apple: Macintosh, MacCoun, Jonathan
I like a tart apple with rich aromatics. Mac is often disliked because
it doesn't keep well, so the ones in supermarkets have often gone soft
and mushy, or may have been picked under ripe to begin with. But a Mac
fresh off the tree, at peak ripeness, it a wonderful fruit. Macoun has
a similar flavor, and at its best has a wonderful crunch. They also can
be picked under ripe, but a good one is superb.
The Jonathan has a different flavor, and is a heavier apple. But the
flavor is rich and interesting, and the fresh, ripe fruit holds up well
to cooking, making a pie with excellent flavor and texture.
There are lots of new sweet apples on the market, but I like my apple to
bite back and have lots of flavor.
> Blueberry: Most blueberries taste good if allowed to ripen fully - which takes a few days after they color up. You really can't tell by looking if the berries are ripe, because some have purple shoulders when they are ripe, and others need to be fully blue. Still, the very best ones are the little wild ones, picked atop mountains.
I like the flavor of all the varieties I grow - Northsky, St. Cloud,
Northblue, and Rubel.
> Peach:
Whatever is perfectly ripe this week is best.
> Plum:
Some fat red ones I bought in California. I wish I knew their name!!
> Raspberry: Anything red that isn't Heritage.
> Strawberry: Earliglow. Small, with a funny shape, and not as red as some of the later varieties - but such rich, sweet, STRAWBERRY flavor. The berry is soft, but with a pleasant texture, not mushy. The wild ones in the alps are also excellent.