# Red Delicious apple

5 Hacker News commenters recommended Red Delicious apple and 9 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 2 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** A few people say newer Red Delicious strains taste better than the old ones, but most find the apples mealy, bland and disappointing.

## Why people recommend it

- Newer varieties taste much better (2 comments): "Red Delicious, which I'd previously relegated to the "buy as a last resort" list, are actually pretty good now." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49664678)) "the newer varieties are much tastier" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49887211))
- Some like the mealy texture (1 comments): "Actually like the "mealy" texture" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49887829))

## What people warn about

- Mealy texture (4 comments): "It's true that many are this mealy disaster" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47301752)) "I've picked them straight from the tree and they still end up a mealy disaster." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47302173)) "It's mealy, bitter, and has a thick unpleasant skin." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49887143))
- Bland, flavorless or cardboard taste (4 comments): "the flavorless, mushy, dismally awful stand out - Red Delicious" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50039984)) "taste like cardboard and aren't even good for cooking" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49887150)) "It's mealy, tastes pasty and bland with no flavor." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49887168))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Honeycrisp apple](https://hackerapproved.com/p/honeycrisp-apple.md): 9 recommend
- [Cosmic Crisp apple](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cosmic-crisp-apple.md): 8 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Red Delicious apple", https://hackerapproved.com/p/red-delicious-apple/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).