How to select apples

I wanted to share a tip for selecting the best apples. This tip deals with the color of the skin, basically you need to ignore the color of the skin. I've noticed apples come in three main skin colors; solid red, solid green, and red/green combo. If the apple is suppose to have solid red or solid green colored skin, then you're not going to find them in the grocery store with the wrong skin color. So this tip mainly applies to the third type of apples.

Probably two of the most common red/green colored apples are Fuji and Gala. These also happen to be my favorite varieties of apples. I think a lot of people believe that the more red the skin the sweeter the apple will be. But this is wrong. On these types of apples, think of the red color as a sun burn. Basically the apples that grew on the top of the tree in direct sunlight will be more burned (red) than apples shaded by branches and leaves. But this doesn't affect the sweetness or taste. The best way to pick a good apple is to feel the apple for firmness. Feel the apple all the way around and select the firmest apple you can. All around softness is a sign of over ripeness and soft spots are an indication of having been dropped. In fact, in the store I typically select "greener" apples because most people want the "red" apples so you have better success finding firm green apples.

Again, this tip is most useful for apple varieties such as Fuji and Gala.