What is the easiest way to tell if apples are ripe to eat?

[4wanderingeyes]

This is my first year of having fruit, I dont have a lot, but I have 4 trees with fruit. What is the best way to tell if the apples are ripe for eating? I know to cut them open and look if the seeds are brown, but since I dont have many apples on the trees, I dont want to keep cutting them open to check them.

I know the trees in general will say "late August, of mid October..." but is that zone specific?

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

Instead of cutting them open and looking at the seeds you might want to try taking a bite out of one and chewing it for a short while. That is the only way I've found that you can tell what something tastes like.


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[BC Buck]

I was wondering the same thing. Is the drop date when you should start picking?

 

[chickenlittle]

Flowering and ripening dates do vary with location and other factors. Published dates are reference on when to start taste testing.

Dropping depends on the variety and external factors like weather. Some varieties will start dropping before they are ripe. Others hang past ripe.

If you want to research a bit, you could call a local orchard and find out when their varieties ripen. If they can tell you when Red Delicious ripens, you can often find comparisons between your apple and Delicious. For instance, Pristine ripens 8.5 weeks before Delicious while Goldrush ripens 3.5 weeks after Delicious per this link (https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/pri/cultivars.html). That would get you closer to the date for you but taste is still the key.