This Winter’s trendy apple seems to be the Pink Lady… Remember when it was the Fuji, and before that the Granny Smith?
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/dining/reviews/blog/2008/03/the_pink_lady.html
By trendy, I mean that Pink Ladies are having a greater presence in supermarkets and are showing up on restaurant menus. I can think of a couple of them off the top of my head: Victoria Gastro Pub in Columbia had Pink Apple compote and another dish or two made from them, and the newly opened Abacrombie offers a salad of frisee, Pink Lady apple slices and Camembert.
The Pink Lady is a relatively new variety developed in Western Australia, a cross between… A Golden Delicious and a Lady Williams. The Pink Lady’s tart-sweet flavor isn’t much like a Golden Delicious; that must be the Lady Williams in it coming out.
I’ll have to see if Dave Reid, the owner of Reid’s at the Waverly Farmers Market, grows Lady Williams. I’ve never seen one, although he does have Pink Ladies. They’ve been around in supermarkets, too, for the past couple of years.
Up until now my favorite hybrid has been the Honeycrisp, but the Pink Lady is right up there.
For a really cutting-edge apple, look for the Sundowner. It’s the other commercially viable apple to come out of crossing Golden Delicious with Lady Williams. I’ve never seen it around either, but the Pink Lady America Web site says it’s very good.
I’m not sure what makes a particular variety the Apple of the Moment. I guess it must be an aggressive marketing campaign, although I haven’t noticed any ads for Pink Ladies. One thing that certainly helps is a good name. I’m not sure I want to eat a Cat’s Head or a Gray Stark. (Yes, both real apple varieties.)
I did learn from the Pink Lady America Web site that there is going to be a “wide range of new apples” coming to the market in the next five to ten years. I’ll have to keep an eye out for them.
