I used to live in the area around where the red delicious was first developed, and they are indeed very different from what people became used to. The original red delicious - assuming the local orchards have something closer to the original - is/was much smaller, rounder, and closer to something like a macintosh. If you had one you wouldn't recognize it as red delicious unless someone told you and then you'd be confused.
I worry a bit the same thing is happening with honeycrisp. In addition to the the out-of-season sales (some of the dates people are talking about with honeycrisp are ridiculous), there's genetic drift. The University of Minnesota has always been worried about this happening, speaking to staff with their apple program. The problem is clones get propagated from clones of clones, some of which are fraudulently hybrids with other varieties, and eventually you end up with something that's not really the same anymore. Big growers choose ancestors that produce fruit with the characteristics that benefit them, and by that point buyers don't remember the original anymore.
The problem, as people are pointing out, is largely what large-scale agriculture does to plant varieties in terms of breeding, as well as the problems with freshness. What the growers and distributors want from fruit is not what you want as a consumer. There's probably some important lessons there for capitalism or markets in general.
I worry a bit the same thing is happening with honeycrisp. In addition to the the out-of-season sales (some of the dates people are talking about with honeycrisp are ridiculous), there's genetic drift. The University of Minnesota has always been worried about this happening, speaking to staff with their apple program. The problem is clones get propagated from clones of clones, some of which are fraudulently hybrids with other varieties, and eventually you end up with something that's not really the same anymore. Big growers choose ancestors that produce fruit with the characteristics that benefit them, and by that point buyers don't remember the original anymore.
The problem, as people are pointing out, is largely what large-scale agriculture does to plant varieties in terms of breeding, as well as the problems with freshness. What the growers and distributors want from fruit is not what you want as a consumer. There's probably some important lessons there for capitalism or markets in general.