The Apple Festival is back after a two-year pandemic hiatus. To celebrate, two of our editors attended an apple tasting last weekend. Here are our honest, expert reviews as students with strong opinions on apples.
Meet the judges
Charlotte Alden, coordinating editor: I’m a Gala gal. If Gala apples have one fan, I am that fan. If Gala apples have no fans, I am dead. I love sweet, crisp apples, and have nightmares about mealy apples. I enjoy apples in all forms, but you really can’t beat a nice apple compote or a crisp apple on a fall day.
Nathan Bawaan, web news editor: The ‘a’ in apple stands for ‘alpha’ — because apples are a top-tier fruit. I love a Granny Smith, or a Honeycrisp if I’m feeling rich, with some peanut butter, mashed together into an applesauce or just in its raw form as a snack. All apples are valid, except for the mealy ones.
We ranked the apples in five categories: look, bite, texture, juiciness and flavour.
Ambrosia
Charlotte: In texture and juiciness, the Ambrosia passed with flying colours. Flavour-wise, this ambrosia tasted a bit watery to me, and lacked the tart and sweet apple punch that I love from my old faithful: the gala apple.
Nathan: I don’t fully remember tasting this apple — sorry to my friend who is a die-hard Ambrosia stan — but I think I liked it based on my scores. The flavour and texture were good, but the look was lacking.
Aurora Golden Gala
Charlotte: Ah, the Golden Gala. While the look of this apple left something to be desired, everything else was perfect. While I was open to having my mind changed about the superiority of Galas, I stand by my original claim: galas are the best apples.
Nathan: I am a Gala girl convert. It was sweet, juicy, had a good bite and the texture was just right. It was also yellow, making it stand out among the reds and greens of its apple brethren.
Hyslop Crabapples
Charlotte: Look, I know I shouldn’t have been coming in expecting this to taste like an apple. It’s a crabapple. I knew that. But nevertheless, this reaffirmed my opinion that crabapples are trash. As Hilary Duff once said, “Eating a crabapple thinking it will taste like a real apple is like waiting for rain in this drought. Useless and disappointing.”
Nathan: This apple should be called ‘Hy-flop.’ From the cheese-like flavour to the way it crumbled in my mouth, there was almost nothing good about this crabapple. The only redeeming quality was that it was tiny, so you’ll only have to suffer for a little bit.
Sweet 16
Charlotte: This apple is forgettable to me. It tasted decent, but the texture was disappointing. I can’t remember much else about this apple, but I’ll take that as a sign that it wasn’t that good.
Nathan: I also don’t remember a whole lot about this apple, except that it kind of tasted like a pear — which I thought was fun and quirky.
Winter Banana
Charlotte: I had such high hopes for this one. A hint of banana in an apple? Innovative! Jaw dropping, if executed correctly! However, the flavour did not live up to my imagination.
Nathan: I became obsessed with this one as soon as I saw the name — love at first sight, if you will. And, I’m still in love. It tastes like an apple, but with a funky, banana-y finish. If you like bananas, I recommend!
Final thoughts
Charlotte: All this tasting taught me is that my opinions on apples are extremely valid: crabapples are bad and Gala apples are the best. Good for my ego and my wallet, as No Frills has had a huge bin of discounted gala apples all month. I feel vindicated that I’ve convinced Nathan of the glory of the Gala.
Nathan: This tasting was lowkey the definition of “slaying so hard that slay loses all meaning.” I went in feeling ravenous and came out feeling sufficiently full. All of the apples (except that hyslop one) were tasty, and I will now be adding Gala apples to my shopping list rotation. Plus, I found love in the form of that Winter Banana apple.
