You buy them because they are Delicious. Renaming the Hawkeye apple was exceedingly shrewed marketing.

People buy them because they seem to be on sale a lot. And they look like the classic apple, the kind the kids bring to their teachers.

I'll take a Granny Smith or a Gala instead.

Robert from TBRS, welcome to the Gang of Roberts! or, in the spirit of the Olympics, the Collective of Roberts.

In my long ago youth, Red Delicious apples were just that -- the sweetest on the market (at least in New York groceries). They're also a pretty color. I think it's significant that Wikipedia says they're being supplanted by Fuji and Galas, also sweetish apples. McIntosh and Granny Smith apples were and continue to be available for those of us whose taste buds have matured.

I've never had a red delicious that tasted any different from a January tomato. If they are the only apple in the store, I buy oranges.

The Jonathan and the Macintosh were the tasty standbys of my youth, but now they taste like slightly modified January tomatoes.

Fijis are nice, Granny Smith used to be better, Northern Spies are still good.

I always assumed red delicious sold because they were cheap and looked pretty. Often, they are the only apple available. Yech.

I've bought red delicious at Weber's in the past and they bore no relation to grocery store red delicious.

I love Pink Lady & Honey Crisp the best.

Oh, and Granny Smith is my favorite all-purpose apple.

the Collective of Roberts

Uh, oh, soon you guys will be seceding to form the People's Republic of Robert.

I will eat literally ANY other apple than the red delicious. Especially since they tend to have a crapload of wax on them and a really nasty tasting skin. Heck, I'll even take a crab apple- they can be nice and tart.

My fave is a fuji, but I like to eat all kinds- rome, golden delish, mcintosh, , gala, grannies....

Rob in PCB FL - your prize will go into the mail tomorrow.

Pineapple sherbet...mmmm

People's Republic of Robert Finally. And lead by Chairman Robert.

I assume people eat red delicious apples for the same reason they drink Bud Light and Beringer White Zinfandel. Dead taste buds.

Are you trying to depress me? It's still August... WAY too early to be talking apples.

Oh, Honeycrisp and Empire are my faves.

Mr. Parker, don't blink because it will be Thanksgiving when your eyes open (yes, you missed Halloween) and then its the annual quest for a restaurant open and serving dinner on Christmas. But I know better than to ask for recommendations. I still have festering wounds from the responses because I asked, last year. Have to run, its time to change the dressings.

Thanks Robert from TBRS.

RtSO, perhaps maybe a downtown hotel with a restaurant, like the one in Harbor Court?

Just got some Paula Red and Gingergold from Reed's. They were surprisingly crisp and a bit tart - just how I like them.

I am going to segue from apple to corn. Today I bought some corn from a produce stand in Catonsville. The corn was cold. The operator of the stand refrigerates the corn, and says that corn will not be as good if it is not chilled.
I bought some just because I was there, but I am doubting his words.
What is the truth about corn nowadays? I had also heard that corn does not turn to starch within mere hours anymore, because they have basically bred that factor out.
Does anybody have the real facts on corn?

Rob in PCB FL -- I believe RtSO was alluding to the great Sandbox controversy of last December at this post. (FYI, RtSO did post this review of his Christmas dinner at McCormick & Schmick's.)

Susan WNAJ - this seems to answer your refrigerator question.

It may get to your other question, too. Not sure.

Thanks hmpstd for the link. That was quite the interesting read, and RtSO's review was quite good as well.

Thank you Robert from TBRS, previously known as Bucky! I had searched a little but wasn't sure if I trusted the answers.
Now I know...

Gimme a Fuji or a Braeburn any time rather than that bland piece of fruit with razor sharp skin.

Susan WNAJ wrote ...wasn't sure if I trusted the answers. Now I know...

Keep in mind it was from Wikipedia, your source for facts and things that sound like they could be facts.

Keep in mind it was from Wikipedia, your source for facts and things that sound like they could be facts.

But it wasn't from Wikepedia, it was from answers.com.

That link about cold corn isn't even wikipedia, it's essentially a blog; It's a user generated answer to a quesiton. BTW, WIKI = What I Know Is ... I would consider the question unanswered.

"Are you trying to depress me? It's still August... WAY too early to be talking apples" - Jon Parker: I've noted some areas of fall colors in "the valley" (Greenspring) and it appears that our friends, the deer are in rut (is that spelled right?) as they are dashing out into the road with reckless abandon as of late. I am always on deer alert as I drive into work at 4:15 am, and have not hit one yet (please let the streak continue, Oh Lord). But, my point is that we appear to be entering early fall this year much to my personal dismay!

Susan WNAJ - I've never really heard anything about refrigerating corn and I've never seen it sold that way, but it kind of makes sense. BTW, to enjoy your corn over the winter, you can blanche it quickly and scrape the kernels into freezer bags and freeze for a very superior winter frozen veggie!

To get back to Susan WNAJ's question, it is true that modern sweet corn varieties don't turn to starch within hours like the Silver Queen and other varieties that many of us grew up on did. I don't have any citations, but I've certainly observed it to be true.

The downside of this is that many of the new varieties are bordering on too sweet, and perhaps lacking some in actual corn taste (although that last part might just be my imagination).

The upside is that you can buy some corn at a weekend farmer's market, and not have to eat it the same day you bought it.

Stayman Winesap, which no one mentioned, is a wonderful apple -- sharp/sweet and crisp, and pretty much the embodiment of Fall. (Oh Lord, I used the "F" word...I'm donna det a whippin'!) Meanwhile, before THIS season ends, I'm going to cram all the peaches, heirloom tomatoes and corn I can into my body. Anyone care to join me?

I am a proud card-carrying member of the Robert Society - or movement, if you prefer. Collective, even. Are there at least seven of us?

Stayman winesap were always my favorite growing up.

The first apples should be appearing in a couple of weeks, if not sooner. Gingergold are wonderful early apples. As with many good things, their time is fleeting, and they're gone by the time the honeycrisp come in. Pink ladies seem to be sturdier, and last longer.

Dottie - I'm with you!

This whole sugar to starch topic is perplexing. As an aside, someone once told me with great conviction that you shouldn't put bread in the refrigerator because the starch would turn to sugar. He also claimed that Catholic school teachers don't have college degrees.

Basically I would like someone to describe the exact chemical process at work on the corn. Generally when organic molecules are exposed to heat, UV light, oxygen or acid they break down. Proteins unravel, free radicals are formed, etc. Turning sugar into starch would mean taking less complex sugar molecules and squashing them together to make bigger more complex starch molecules. I'm out of my depth here, but you would need each sugar molecule to lose a hydrogen atom or an -OH and then have one needy carbon atom bond up with a needy oxygen. How does that work? Sucrose is a disaccharide that breaks down in human digestion (via enzymes?) into the monosaccharides glucose and fructose. How do you reverse that process? Maybe it's not heat per se that is responsible (IF it's true), but that there is some other organic process at work that cold just slows down.

So if this sugar to starch conundrum is true why doesn't it happen to other products? The sugar in your hot coffee stays sugar. Cans or bottles of sugary sodas stay sugary in the supermarket. An apple pie would be disgusting if this process happened during baking. For that matter, why corn and nothing else? Apples, bananas, etc? In the blazing hot August sun corn on the stalk has a lot of sugar. Remove from stalk and put in a house that is 20-30 degrees cooler and molecules start aggregating. Why? How?

Now I need to know. Please help.

Attention Roberts ... there is a blog just for you - people named Robert.

http://therobertclub.proboards50.com/

Where is Harold McGee when we need him/

Too much bad vibing on the Red Delicious. Now let's all dance to Jay & the Techniques' song Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLSF8J5HNAY&feature=related

Thank God for the internet, chicks in halter tops, and White Russians.

Owl Meat,
In addition to being rather dead, that board is, like, weird.

I like the fact that all the moderators are named Robert. EL

I'm ready for some peach pie!

I found it interesting that when you register, they ask your gender. Has anyone ever known a female named Robert?

I thought all of our apples were coming from China now?