Click on an apple.
Honestly these things kind of suck. Maybe I got really unlucky but I bought a handful of these at the supermarket the other day because they were on sale and they mostly just taste like water. A real testament to the failures of global apple trade.
When you smell a Gala apple you can immediately feel that it's more rich than a Fuji. When you bite into it you find that it's at once thicker and softer than a Fuji. It's sweet, but it's an earned sweetness. Compare to a Fuji which tastes more like hardened sugar water with apple flavouring. To me, Galas evoke the feeling of autumn, possibly because they were one of the more common cultivars where I grew up.
To be honest, as I write this review I have a lot on my mind. I had always hoped my apple reviews would present a clear and level-headed yet sincerely personal reaction to different apple cultivars, but if this week has taught me anything, it's that there is no perfect time to review an apple. Every apple we eat, even the lowliest Fuji, is shaped by the experiences we bring to it. If my apple reviews truly were to come from a clear mind, then they wouldn't be my own.
I think what I'm looking for in an apple is this sort of ineffable snappiness. A Cosmic Crisp is not snappy, it's crispy. It's sharp. It's just a little sour. There is something real about eating a Cosmic Crisp. And because of that, I think I'd put Cosmic Crisp on par with Gala. A Gala isn't good because it's the unique thing I'm looking for, so much as the taste is personally meaningful to me in its own way. Cosmic Crisp is much closer to the ineffably snappy apple. Not perfect, but almost there. Maybe it's the closest I'll ever get.
Coming soon.