Indie Fruit

I am not knowledgeable about fruit. (I imagine this is not an uncommon trait.) I routinely will look in the crisper¹ and think, "Are those nectarines or peaches? How fuzzy do they have to be?" I doubt I could distinguish a Gala and a New Zealand Pink Lady if my life depended on it.

But I do not eat Red Delicious apples. I would rather eat sawdust soaked in orange juice.² And I have three reasons.

First. They are horrible, horrible apples. A crime against flavour and texture.³

Second. They're overstocked. You see them everywhere.⁴ Even if they were good, they're just too common - I like variety.

Third. Biodiversity.

Many of the pernicious consequences of the industrialization of farming arise from the focus on production. Merely one of these is this: the concentration of single breeds. Every acre that is dedicated to one cultivar of apples alone is an acre at risk of destruction at the hand of a single species of attacker. Think of computers: once someone writes a new Windows virus, everyone running Windows is at risk. And Mother Evolution has plenty of dev teams working on it.

So I opt for the Fuji, the McIntosh, the Granny Smith⁵. And I eschew popularity.

1. That's the bucket at the bottom (with or without water collecting in it) where you theoretically store vegetables, but in practice also store the leftover moo shi pork that didn't fit anywhere else. And, in my family, the fresh fruit.

2. Good orange juice, mind. And I'd still prefer the apples over Goshen coffee cake.

3. There's apparently good cause for this, not surprisingly related to the fact that the Red Delicious is bred for looks.

4. Including at Goshen, next to the coffee cake.

5. Noting, however, that this last variety is also growing dangerously popular.