The exasperating case of the missing apples

Walk into any mainstream supermarket in the United States and you won't find this:

 (Photo:  A stack of Golden Russet apples for sale at a supermarket in Montreal late last year.) 

But russet apples are delicious, and mainstream-popular in other countries.

To be sure, you can sometimes find russets in food coops and specialty stores. But your best bets are orchards, farm stands, and farmers markets, and in-season only.

Retailers and growers will say that consumers think apples are "supposed" to be red and won't buy anything else.

But tastes change: isn't the flesh of an apple "supposed" to be white? Yet growers and retailers are are hyping the latest generation of red-fleshed apples.

Lucy Rose is one of a new generation of red-fleshed apples.

And of course consumers don't blink at the russet on a Bosc pear. If you like Boscs, you seek out the russet. The distinctive look is part of the brand.

The truth is that while growers may have to follow the market, consumers are taste-takers, not taste-makers. They choose from the choices in front of them.

Meanwhile...

Apple choices were surprisingly sparse in London. Nonethless, the Egremont Russet was one of less than a half dozen varieties on offer when I visited there in 2023.

In Montreal, just stroll into any grocer for some Golden Russet alongside the McIntosh and the Asian pear.

Pommes Racettes à vendre à Montréal.

It is a shame that our economic system cannot manage to deliver these goodies more easily.