Help me, food scientists.

[snarp]

Is there any general overall difference between shiny, smooth-skinned apples and matte, rough-skinned ones in terms of taste and texture? Or am I just an Apple Hipster who thinks shiny apples are gross because Aesthetic?

Comments

[esmenet]

IANAFS (I am not a food scientist) but this has generally been my experience also, so I would say matte apples with weird splotches on the skin do taste better than smooth shiny ones roughly 100% of the time.

[nicki]

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/09/the-evil-reign-of-the-red-delicious/379892/

:P

[snarp]

Yeah, I'm aware that Red Delicious apples in specific are crap, but I was wondering about shiny ones as a general class.

[vass]

Depending on where you get them, some of the shiny ones have wax on them to make them shinier?

[jinian]

Shiny ones as a general class have the same problem as the Red Delicious, only not quite as institutional and long-standing: all selected to look pretty and ship well rather than to taste good.

Also, popularity in itself messes things up. Even a good variety like a Honeycrisp is now mostly picked green, so it's watery and bland when you get it in the store. When they first came out they were fantastic, because they were still a small-batch thing and picked when they were actually ready.

[telophase]

In addition to the wax issue, I have heard somewhere that fruit and vegetables that are a little banged-up while growing often taste better because the plant deploys flavinoids to fix problems. Don't remember where I got that, take it for what it's worth.