Hawkeye vs. Red Delicious smackdown

Take number 2, this time with a local Red Delicious.

America gets its fruit at the supermarket, and that determines what we eat and what farmers grow.

So I thought it fair and reasonable to compare these apples using a store-bought Red Delicious.

Which I did.

Remember?

But my Hawkeye is fresh from an Indiana farm. Perhaps a truer comparison would involve a direct-from-the-tree Red Delicious.

Which I've got. A 100% modern Red Delicious grown in Massachusetts and bought at farmers market.

(Speaking of fresh: it's November now, but I tasted these in mid October.)

One of these things is not the same

I am not going to walk you through how it is that these are, in a sense, the same apple. My previous comparison can fill you in on that.

I do think it's fascinating how market forces exerted such a powerful influence on this variety by a kind of "natural selection by sport."

There's no breeding involved: these are technically clones. Rather, farmers select for traits produced by genetic mutations.

What's revealing is what those traits are: deeper, earlier blushes, so they can be picked unripe; thicker chewier skins, to protect them when shipped and handled; and not taste, texture, or crunch.

The result is an apple with a deep, purple-inflected blush that has the capacity to grow into the voluptuous elongated shape for with Red Delicious is known. 

Also, alas, an apple with very little flavor.

Compare again

My orchard Red D is lopsided, and would not pass muster in the wholesale market. Nonetheless it has those signature "chins" at the base (on one side), and is a deep red with those star spangles of tiny light lenticels.

Hawkeye, meanwhile is striped, not saturated, with a warmer red over yellow, really more of an orange on this sample.

Since we are taking notes: Hawkeye's calyx is closed, Red D's open

Unfortunately, My Hawkeyes have deteriorated in quality while in my refrigerator. They are still good to eat but are softer, without much of an actual crunch, and their flavors have melded.

I can still taste the citric note that, in the better sample, reminded me of tangerine. There is also a fuller, rounder flavor, like banana or vanilla but less defined.

Two disappointing

Red Delicious has a slightly better texture, but the apple is still soft enough that it melts away long before the thick, chewy peel. The result is not a winning chew.

Red is less flavorful than Hawkeye, though as sweet. There is a very small nod towards table grapes in the flavor set. Possibly a better sample would reveal clearer flavors, but possibly not.

Based on my earlier experience with a fresher Hawkeye, I was expecting this match to yield a clear favorite. 

I also thought my orchard Red might be better than the store-bought, but the opposite turned out to be true this time.

Thus does experience confound expectation.

Hawkeye is still better on this go round, but it is not really possible to rate them when one and probably both are not in good shape.

Links

• Red Delicious (2009)
• Hawkeye (2022)
• How we got there (2017)
• Previous comparison, with surprisingly good supermarket Red D (2022)