Apple Buyer's Guide

How to choose the best apples for cooking and eating.

Sweet, tangy, juicy and flavorful, the apple is nature’s perfect treat, especially when you’re lucky enough to pick them straight off the tree in the fall. Plus, you can feel good about eating them—apples are low in calories and are a good source of fiber, particularly the soluble kind linked with heart health. Apples are great for snacking, but they are also versatile in the kitchen.

When cooking with apples, texture is just as important as flavor. Some apples cook down to “mush,” while others hold their shape after baking. For most apple baked good recipes we like to use a combination of apples for the best texture. For example, the best apple pie filling combines “saucy” apples (varieties such as McIntosh, Cortland, Macoun, Mutsu (Crispin), Paula Red or Empire) and “shapely” apples (Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, Jonathon, Jonagold, Northern Spy or Ida Red).

See our apple descriptions below to help you find the perfect apple.

Also of Interest

Paula Red

This early-ripening variation of the McIntosh is soft and nicely balanced between sweet and tart, cooking down perfectly into sauces. Its dusty red skin with gold and tan spots yields to tender, slightly mealy white flesh with a flavor evocative of strawberries.

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