It’s that time of year, dead leaves scatter the ground, and there’s a chill in the air. The season for cozy sweaters, pumpkin spice everything, and my personal favorite, apples. 

I have enjoyed apples my entire life, and recently I came to the realization that I consider apples to be one of my favorite fruits, if not my favorite. Something else occurred to me, though. There are so many different types of apples out there, and I’ve only tried a handful throughout my life, so I decided to set a goal for myself: eat as many apple varieties as I can. After all, how could I consider it to be my favorite fruit if I haven’t made an effort to try them all? 

Here’s how I’m going about it: I have a note in my phone listing all the different apple varieties there are—as it turns out, there are a lot, so far there are about 50 on my list—and every week I buy two to three different apples to try. I note the taste, crispiness, and texture of each one and whether or not I would get it again. 

To find all the different varieties I have listed, I looked up as many articles as I could find listing different kinds of apples. Thus far, my favorite options have been Soluna and Cosmic Crisp. 

Soluna apples are a variety from Australia, named for their light interior flesh (sol meaning sun) and their dark outer skin (luna meaning moon). This was the sweetest of the apples I have tried, and the moment I took a bite, I knew it would be a top contender. 

Cosmic crisp apples are a variety made by crossbreeding Honeycrisps – my go-to apple – and Empire apples. This apple is ridiculously juicy and sweet with a delectable crisp. They are relatively new to the market, and from one article I read about them, it appears that I am not alone in my opinion. 

If you see either of these varieties the next time you go shopping, I strongly recommend picking them up. 

The other apples I have tried so far haven’t impressed me like my top two, so I’ll just run through them quickly. 

Gala apples are okay, but nothing to note. Rave apple, a descendant of Honeycrisp, was disappointingly bland, the Ginger Gold was too grainy for me to tolerate, and the McIntosh was too tart for me. 

The Pazazz apple I tried was pretty tasty; it had a light sweetness and crispness, but overall it was just an average apple that wasn’t particularly noteworthy. The pink lady has a nicely balanced tart and sweet flavor, but I wasn’t too impressed with the crispness. The Fuji and Snapdragon apples I tried were tasty, but quite basic. 

I still have quite a few varieties to go, but what I’ve learned so far is that there are so many apples that I didn’t know about. I am glad I decided to set this goal for myself because I am expanding my palate and getting some fruit in my diet, which it has been sorely lacking. 

To all readers: I highly encourage you to do what I am doing. There are many different types of apples out there, and it is fun to try new things. I’ve been going to Acme for my apples because that is where I do my grocery shopping. You can pick up new varieties wherever you do your grocery shopping, but I strongly recommend going apple picking. It is a great way to get exposure to a wide selection of apples, and it gets you outside for some fresh air. 

I strongly recommend taking this journey for yourself because, if nothing else, it will teach you about the choices that exist, and it is an easy way to add some extra nutrition to your diet. After all, college is about expanding your horizons and trying new things, so why not apply that to the food you eat? Even if you don’t believe that you like apples, who knows? Maybe this experiment will introduce you to options you may not have known existed previously that you actually enjoy. 

As for this week, apples I have on deck are Red Delicious, Gala, the go-to Honeycrisp, and Cosmic Crisp — a new favorite of mine. I look forward to the rest of this journey, and I hope that this inspires people to take this journey or a similar one for themselves. 

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