Apelil — Apples as a food product: varieties by sugar and | apelil.com
Pick by the numbers: sugar at harvest runs from 12 °Bx in tart Granny Smith to 18 °Bx in sweet Fuji, and firmness decides whether an apple bakes or crunches.
Sugar at harvest is measured in degrees Brix. Granny Smith tests 12-14 °Bx, Honeycrisp 12-15 °Bx and Fuji 14-18 °Bx. Read plainly: Granny Smith is the tart end, Honeycrisp the balanced middle, Fuji the sweet end.
Sweetness is only half of the taste. Tart apples pair moderate sugar with noticeable acid, which is what makes a Granny Smith taste sharp next to a Fuji even before the numbers are compared.
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Firmness decides kitchen behaviour. Most dessert apples are harvested at 14-18 lb (6.4-8.2 kg) of flesh firmness on a penetrometer; fruit picked softer than that tends to go mealy in storage rather than stay crisp.
For cooking, the rule of thumb is simple: firm, tart apples hold their shape in pies and tarts, while high-sugar apples are at their best eaten fresh, where their sweetness needs no added sugar.
Storage life follows the same numbers — the firmer and sounder the fruit at picking, the better it survives months at 0-4 °C. The storage times themselves are laid out at /storing-apples, and the firmness tests at /apple-ripeness-test.
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