What Are the Sweetest Apples? (Ranked from Tart to Sweet) (2024)

Sarah Beling

Sarah Beling

Sarah Beling is a writer and performer based in New York City. She loves breakfast sandwiches, late dinners, and splitting an app.

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updated Sep 21, 2023

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Ah, the first signs of fall: There’s a crisp feeling in the air, a strong desire to go back-to-school shopping, and most importantly — it’s the start of apple season. Whether you find yourself at an orchard ready to pick a few freshly grown fruits or are shopping for the perfect variety to make apple pie, consider this your comprehensive guide. Before you start making all of the best apple recipes out there, here’s everything you need to know about the sweetest apple varieties as well as the delightfully tart ones.

In This Article

  1. What Is the Sweetest Apple?
  2. A Guide to Apples From Tart to Sweet
    1. Granny Smith
    2. McIntosh
    3. Pink Lady
    4. SweeTango
    5. Golden Delicious
    6. Braeburn
    7. Red Delicious
    8. Honeycrisp
    9. Gala
    10. Fuji

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Quick Overview

What Is the Sweetest Apple?

While there is an extremely wide variety of apples, all with varying flavors, the sweetest-tasting apple is fuji, followed by gala, honeycrisp, and Red Delicious apples. These apples are great for snacking and eating as is.

Granny Smith, McIntosh, and Pink Lady fall on the tart end of the spectrum. While tart apples can be great for snacking, they’re often ideal for baking and can handle a lot of added sweetness. Other types, like Braeburn and Golden Delicious apples, fall somewhere in the middle.

A Guide to Apples From Tart to Sweet

Granny Smith

Granny Smiths are the most tart variety of apple and are indeed named after a real, live granny (in this case, their first propagator Granny Maria Ann Smith). First grown in Australia in the late 1800s, Granny Smith apples are known for their vibrant green color, firm, juicy texture, and strong, tangy flavor. They work well when sliced thin and added to sandwiches or salads but truly shine in baking recipes, where their substantial texture prevents them from becoming overly soft or mushy after cooking.

McIntosh

Far sweeter than the Granny Smith but still tangy, the highly-popular McIntosh are identified by their red-green color pattern, small-to-medium size, and soft, juicy texture. McIntosh apples, which were originally grown in Canada and still serve as the country’s national apple, don’t hold up well to baking but are well-suited for cider, juice, apple sauce or just enjoying fresh from the tree.

Pink Lady

Pink Lady apples are known for their blush color, firm texture, and tart-sweet, juicy flavor. They were first grown in 1973 by Western Australian researcher John Cripps, who discovered the flavor by crossing Golden Delicious and Lady Williams apple varieties. Having landed in the US in the 1990s, Pink Lady Apples are a relatively new apple for American consumers and are popularly enjoyed in snacks and salads as well as in pies.

SweeTango

SweeTangos are the product of crossing Zester and Honeycrisp varieties. They burst onto the scene in 2009 and are known for their red-blush color, mixture of sweet, spicy, and acidic flavors and firm, crunchy texture. SweeTango apples are best enjoyed as snacks but can also be incorporated into baking and cooking recipes.

Golden Delicious

Golden Delicious were originally discovered in West Virginia around the early 1900s and are identified by their bright yellow-green color, thin skin, mellow flavor, and firm texture. Golden Delicious apples hold up well for both raw snacking or baking.

Braeburn

Braeburn apples were first grown in New Zealand in the 1950s and are easily identified by their tie-dye blend of red, yellow, orange, and green colors, nutmeg and cinnamon-adjacent flavor, golden interior, and firm texture. Braeburns can be enjoyed raw in sandwiches, salads and snacking as well as in baked dishes like apple pie.

Red Delicious

Red Delicious apples are an extremely popular US variety but perhaps the most controversial of the bunch. Discovered in 1870s Iowa, they are known for their deep red color, thick skin, and intensely sweet flavor with very little acidity, Red Delicious apples have a soft texture that can very easily turn mealy. For this reason, Red Delicious apples are best enjoyed raw as a snack or in salads.

Honeycrisp

Honeycrisp apples were developed in the 1960s at the University of Minnesota and are engineered to have a juicier bite. They are also known for their bright red-yellow color, tart-sweet flavor, and creamy-yet-crunchy texture. They work well as a raw snack, juiced, or in baked dishes like apple pie.

Gala

Initially grown in New Zealand in the 1930s, Gala apples are a mix between Golden Delicious and Kidd’s Orange Red apples and are one of America’s favorite choices for fall fruit. Gala apples are smaller and more oblong than many other apple varieties and are identified by their orange-red color, sweet flavor, and firm texture. Gala apples are well-suited to snacking and baking and also freeze well.

Fuji

Fuji apples are named after their origin city, Fujisaki, Japan, and were first grown in the 1930s as a hybrid between the Red Delicious and Virginia Ralls Janet varieties. Now one of the US’s most popular varieties, Fuji apples are identified by their red-yellow coloring, firm texture, and deeply sweet flavor that resembles the taste of apple juice. Fuji apples are hearty and store well, making them a good fit for snacking, applesauce, and baking alike.

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What Are the Sweetest Apples? (Ranked from Tart to Sweet) (2024)

FAQs

What Are the Sweetest Apples? (Ranked from Tart to Sweet)? ›

While there is an extremely wide variety of apples, all with varying flavors, the sweetest-tasting apple is fuji, followed by gala

gala
Gala is an apple cultivar with a sweet, mild flavor, a crisp but not hard texture, and a striped or mottled orange or reddish appearance. Originating from New Zealand in the 1930s, similar to most named apples, it is clonally propagated.
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Gala_(apple)
, honeycrisp, and Red Delicious
Red Delicious
Red Delicious is a type of apple with a red exterior and sweet taste that was first recognized in Madison County, Iowa, in 1872. Today, the name Red Delicious comprises more than 50 cultivars. It was the most produced cultivar in the United States from 1968 to 2018, when it was surpassed by Gala. Red Delicious. Species.
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Red_Delicious
apples
. These apples are great for snacking and eating as is. Granny Smith
Granny Smith
The Granny Smith, also known as a green apple or sour apple, is an apple cultivar that originated in Australia in 1868. It is named after Maria Ann Smith, who propagated the cultivar from a chance seedling.
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Granny_Smith
, McIntosh, and Pink Lady fall on the tart end of the spectrum.

Are ambrosia apples sweet or tart? ›

The flavor is pleasant and sweet, but one-dimensional in that there is no acidity to balance the sweetness - which is not necessarily a bad thing of course.

What apple has the most sugar? ›

Which apples are best for people with diabetes?
TypeTotal sugar content per 100 gCarbohydrates by difference per 100 g
Granny Smith10.6 g14.1 g
Red Delicious12.2 g14.8 g
Honeycrisp12.4 g14.1 g
Fuji13.3 g15.6 g

Are Cosmic Crisp apples sweet or tart? ›

What do Cosmic Crisp® apples taste like? The flavor of the Cosmic Crisp® apple is the perfect balance of tart and sweet. This makes the apple ideal for snacking, baking, cooking, juicing or any other way you like to enjoy apples.

What apples are ranked sweet to tart? ›

While there is an extremely wide variety of apples, all with varying flavors, the sweetest-tasting apple is fuji, followed by gala, honeycrisp, and Red Delicious apples. These apples are great for snacking and eating as is. Granny Smith, McIntosh, and Pink Lady fall on the tart end of the spectrum.

Which apple is the healthiest? ›

Some, however, have unique health benefits. Red Delicious apples are the healthiest from an antioxidant standpoint, Crumble Smith says. The darker the color of the apple, the richer it'll be in antioxidants.

Which is better, gala or Honeycrisp? ›

Gala apples have a sweet flavor, a good crunch and has been the top apple at Kauffman's Fruit Farm for a few years. Yet Clair Kauffman, orchard manager, can see other apples soon rising to the top. Take the Honeycrisp, which has a more complex flavor than a Gala, he says.

Are Cortland apples sweet or tart? ›

The Cortland apple is bright red, with a crisp white flesh that is incredibly juicy with a sweet-tart flavor. Like the McIntosh, the Cortland is a soft apple, though not quite as soft as a McIntosh; however unlike the McIntosh, the Cortland apple can be used in many ways, from eating, baking, to cooking.

What is the best tasting apple? ›

Honeycrisp: You might be able to tell by its name, but Honeycrisp apples are where it's at when it comes to loads of juiciness and honey-like sweetness! One unique feature of this sweet apple is its cells fracture perfectly when you take a bite out of it, resulting in the perfect crunch.

How many apples should I eat a day? ›

Eating 1 apple a day will keep you away from the doctor. Eating two apples a day is good for heart health. You can eat any kind of apple, as long as you eat the peel. Apple peels contain many antioxidants that help fight cancer.

Do apples have more sugar than bananas? ›

While fruit can be a nutrient-rich addition to a healthy and balanced diet, many people aren't aware that different fruits contain different amounts of sugar. Fruits like grapefruit, apples, blackberries, strawberries and raspberries are low in sugar, whilst mangoes, cherries, watermelon, bananas and grapes are all ...

What is the crispiest tart apple? ›

What Are The Crunchiest Apples?
  • Crisp Apples Ranked: Crunchiest to Least Crunchy.
  • SweeTango. ...
  • Honeycrisp. ...
  • Cosmic Crisp® ...
  • Pink Lady® ...
  • Rave® ...
  • Pinata® ...
  • Granny Smith.

Which is better, Honeycrisp or Cosmic Crisp? ›

In short, the greater complexity of the Cosmic Crisp made it the choice of the adults, whereas the simpler and more direct sweetness of the Honeycrisp made it a favorite of kids. A fifth member of the family had to be consulted—Elon, our two-year-old Rottweiler mix.

Why are Cosmic Crisp apples so expensive? ›

“Cosmic Crisps are more expensive.” Different apple species are constantly combined to breed them for selective traits, like the ability to store them long-term and ship them across the U.S., said Evans. The premium pomme is usually a little pricier than its other apple counterparts.

How to know if the apple is sweet? ›

You may find it useful to smell the apples - you can usually tell if they're more sweet/sour etc. As well as this, you could also hold the apple up to your ear and tap it with your nail - if it sounds more hollow, it's more likely to have a 'powdery' texture, and if it sound solid, it's likely to be more crisp.

Are Michigan Gala apples sweet? ›

With its mild-sweet taste and crisp, not dense texture, the Gala is a pleasure to eat fresh.

Which green apple is sweeter? ›

Green Dragon™ Apples have a complex sweetness and very low acidity. Most green apples are known for their tart kick, but this apple rivals the sweetness of the popular red varieties.

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