Bye-Bye, Honeycrisp: My New Favorite Type of Apple Tastes a Million Times Better (and Is Juicier!)

My absolute favorite fall activity is apple picking, and I’m so bummed that I won’t have time to get to an orchard this year. So to cheer myself up, I decided to try something a little different. I ordered a four-pound box of apples online and had them shipped to me. I know it’s not the same as picking my own, but this way I can still have lots of high-quality apples to play around with (I want to make all the apple desserts). Plus, I even discovered a type of apple I’d never tried before.

Yes! Apples has six different varieties of apples you can buy from its website right now, including tried-and-true grocery store options like McIntosh, Honeycrisp, Gala (my long-time fave), and new-to-me varieties like Rave (my favorite!). The apples are harvested from more than 50 family farms in New York, so I get that fall-apple-farm feel even when I can’t visit. 

The apple that surprised me, though, was the Rave. I’d never heard of this variety before, let alone seen it at my grocery store. But it’s wildly delicious (more on that in a minute). 

According to Yes! Apples, Rave apples are a hybrid of MonArk and Honeycrisp apples that are in season until the end of the month. A box of eight Rave apples costs $28 (or $3.50 per apple). They’re a little pricey, but for farm-quality apples that I know will be in great condition when I get them, I feel that they’re well worth it. Unfortunately, they’re currently sold out, so for now I’ll be ordering my longtime favorite apple variety (Gala) for $26 instead.

First off, we have to talk about the packaging. My apples were snuggled into a cardboard box and didn’t arrive with so much as a scratch on them. Plus, inside the box was a pamphlet telling me what apple variety was inside (Rave, of course), how to store them for maximum longevity (up to eight weeks), and even who packed them for me (thanks, Alyssa!). 

I was so surprised by the flavor of the apples. When I cut into them, they smelled exactly like apple juice, so I was expecting that they might taste pretty sweet. They’re actually quite tangy with a little sweetness that rounds out the flavor nicely. They’re also super juicy and crisp. They truly couldn’t be more satisfying to bite into. 

They’re also quite nice to bake with. I made apple cinnamon scones, and the Rave apples offer a nice balance of tangy and sweet without becoming mushy in the scones. (They’d be great in these apple cinnamon muffins, too.) I honestly thought I’d bake with them more, but they’re so good, I just keep eating them instead.

Buy: Yes! Apples Rave Apples, $27.99 for one (4-pound) box at Yes! Apples

This article originally published on The Kitchn. See it there: Bye-Bye, Honeycrisp: My New Favorite Type of Apple Tastes a Million Times Better (and Is Juicier!)