2 November 2015 Brix of Apples

[Durgan]

http://www.durgan.org/2015/November 2015/2 November 2015 Brix of Apples/HTML/index.htm 2 November 2015 Brix of Apples
A variety of apples were purchased and the brix, sugar content, was measured. The optical instrument has a scale of 0 to 31 and the higher the reading the sweeter the measured product is. Most products are from 11 to 15.Here are my measurements. I cook in the microwave for about four minutes.There is a large difference in sweet taste between 11 and 15.
Golden delicious 13
Jona Gold 14
Honey crisp 12
Mutsu 14
Northern spy 15
Royal gala 12
Courtland 14
Tulman sweet 14
Red delicious 15
MacIntosh 11
Ambrosia 13
Shamrock 14
Golden gala 14

 

[IcyBC]

Wow, red delicious top the chart! I only buy gala, ambrosia, and fuji apple for eating. My son does his juicing with red delicious. There are a few on your list that I haven't heard of or seen around here.

 

[headfullofbees]

You do realise that, to some extent, brix levels are reflected by how "well" a plant is grown?
I have a refractometer and my egremont russets regularly score 18-19. Even my beef tomatoes scored 14 this year.

I'm sure we'd all agree though, that sugar isn't everything.

I love the acid-sweet Mackintosh.
A Granny Smith's apple is a treat too.

 

[claudine]

This is very interesting. I must try Red Delicious and Nothern Spy. They sound like great apple varieties I love sweet apples.

 

[DavidM]

In nature, there are no two apple trees alike. Same as people.

Apples range in flavor from very acid and tart, to sweet.

And all kinds of textures.

For brix readings to make sense, apples need to have three categories:

Regular (MaCintosh for example)
Medium sweet (Courtlands for example)
Sweet (Delicious for example, that is the sweetest apple I know of.)


And yes, soil fertility determines the brix. The more fertile the soil the higher the brix.

There are lots of videos on youtube now on this subject.

Headfullofbees said that sweetness isn't everything.
Headfullof bees evidently did not study RBTI agriculture.
Headfullofbees assumed that brix only measures sugar.

That is not true, a brix reading measures a lot more than sugar and can tell you a lot when you know how to read it.

 

[headfullofbees]

I do know the value of brix readings, and I also know that, whilst it does indeed give a measure of overall mineral content in f&v, since it cannot detail what the mineral balance is, it does not accurately imply anything other than sugar content.
I did not study RBTI agriculture, but I did write this, make of it what you will: https://www.gardening-forums.com/threads/dont-cut-out-the-middle-man.2676/#post-36629