Is it spring yet?!
I found these rather festive apples a few weeks ago at TJ's on a random whim. Never heard of them, and I haven't seen them since, which is a shame since they were pretty good. But let's be real- it was the packaging that got me. That and the words "extra fancy." Oh you so fancy. Maybe they're stuffed with candy!
How fresh could these apples actually be though? I mean really. I picked these up probably a month after this date. Not so fancy after all.
According to the internet, these babies were first cultivated in Germany during the 1970s. They are a triracial breed of the Duchess of Oldenburg (Russian), Cox's Orange Pippin (English), and the golden delicious (American). Nearly every internet site says these apples are "stripy red over an orange background" with a "tropical finish." What in the world is that.
These look like a cross between a gala and a fuji. They even taste sort of like a fuji. Crisp, juicy, slightly tart but still sweet. As far as the "tropical finish," if I close my eyes, cross them, and transport myself to a tropical island, I can catch a hint of papaya. But I could be making it up, who knows.
Quite the petite little buggers, no? I don't expect you'll find these in any local orchards, unless you happen to be in eastern Washington. Some fruit grower conglomerate has exclusive rights over this piñatas. And what's with the name? I mean I guess it's sweet on the inside like candy?
I haven't used them much baking - they are much too small and ain't nobody got time to go through the trouble of peeling and coring them. I've used them mostly for snacking and slicing up into salads for a nice sweet, tart crunch. A gives a nonchalant shrug about these, but he does acknowledge that so far this has been the only apple he has been able to tolerate without any allergic reaction. How thrilling. Ho hum.
TL;DR: Trader Joe's Piñata Apples. A fuji-esque apple with a tropical finish? Perhaps in my tropical island dreams. 6 out of 10.
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