The following interview was originally published as episode 37 of the Enough-ism Podcast: What Makes an Apple Taste Perfect?
In our frenetic modern world of mass food production and shrink-wrapped to-go-heavy, convenience-laden culture, the art of truly savoring food often gets lost. But for apple expert and founder of AppleRankings.com, Brian Frange, the quest to experience peak apple perfection has become nothing short of a spiritual pursuit.
As the founder of AppleRankings.com and self-proclaimed “world’s number one Apple influencer,” Frange meticulously evaluates and rank-orders the planet’s apple varieties. His discerning palate can detect the subtlest nuances that separate transcendent ambrosia from flavorless pulp.
Yet it’s about far more than just taste. Frangie’s approach echoes the contemplative practices of ancient Buddhist monks — a studied attempt to experience each fleeting moment, aroma and delicate texture. By slowing down and connecting with the essence of the fruit, he believes we can unlock new depths of satisfaction from our sustenance.
Brian’s Favorite Apple Facts
🌏 The very first apples originated in Kazakhstan.
🌱 A surprising genetic twist: planting a seed from your favorite Honeycrisp apple won’t produce a Honeycrisp tree. Each seed spawns a unique variety.
🌼 Bees play a key role in creating diverse apple characteristics with each pollination event.
🌳 The traditional technique of grafting ensures popular apple varieties like Granny Smith and Honeycrisp remain consistent across generations.
Biting into Perfection
“When I try an apple, I take tiny, mouse-like nibbles off the edge,” Frangie explains in his signature passionate cadence. “I’ll spend time just holding it, smelling it, looking at it, before that first bite. You’d be amazed how such a small sample can deliver an explosion of flavor when you’re fully present.”
His zeal for apple appreciation borders on the fanatical. Frange once made a single vegan cookie last an entire hourlong Game of Thrones episode, bite by bite, to extend the savoring of each crumb and nutty note. This hyper-focused mindfulness allows him to peel back layers of nuance that most consumers simply devour.
What makes one apple transcendent and another simply forgettable? According to the Frange Method, successful varieties must clear scoring hurdles across 9 categories like sweetness, acidity, crispness and aroma — a comprehensive rubric he’s finessed into the “Frange 100” point scale. The all-important “taste” factor is weighted double at 20 points.
“I’ll systematically try six or seven apples of the same variety but from different growers and different seasons,” he describes of his process. “That way I can determine the Platonic ideal for how it should taste at its absolute peak freshness.”
Freshness Foundational
And freshness, Frange cannot overstate, is everything.
“Getting an apple straight from the orchard at harvest is optimum. But even buying from a grocer, you have to be aware of seasonality and storage practices,” he cautions. “Trying to eat an out-of-season apple that’s been trapped in refrigerated purgatory for 6 to 8 months…that’s a soul-crushing experience no one should have to endure.”
The misguided commodification of produce has severed our connection to the natural rhythms of Earth’s bounty. A springtime shopper is as likely to encounter shriveled, oxidized apples harvested in autumn as anything at its zenith.
“I don’t care how much money they spend trying to perfectly preserve it — after few months, any stored apple turns into an anemic husk of its former self,” Frange laments. “It’s an insult to the growers’ craft and desecration of one of nature’s supreme pleasures.”
For those looking to recapture that blissful apple nirvana, he counsels consulting his comprehensive seasonality guides at AppleRankings.com. Right now in mid-spring, your best bets are late-keeping varieties like Evercrisp, Goldrush or the rare Belgian Conzie — all bred to hold their majestic form well into the vernal equinox.
A Flavorful Family Tree
Of course, even the finest fruit doesn’t emerge from a vacuum. Woven into Frange’s philosophy is a deep reverence for the ancestral traditions behind iconic modern varieties.
“Most people don’t realize that if you take a seed from a Honeycrisp apple and plant it, you won’t get a Honeycrisp tree,” he illuminates. “In fact, every single seed produces a wholly distinct, new variety unlike its parent.”
The pomological family tree, it seems, is an unruly, incestuous affair. Unknowing bees careen from blossom to blossom, their pollen payloads scrambling the genetic mix into an infinitely morphing kaleidoscope with each pollination. That’s why orchardists must employ an ancient grafting technique to replicate and proliferate elite cultivars like Honeycrisp or Gala.
“They’ll take a branch from the desired tree and quite literally graft it onto a rootstock from another tree,” Frange describes with a sense of wonder. “So the apples you buy are genetically identical clones stretching back to those very first ancestors from hundreds of years ago.”
A Sacred Connection
This direct throughline to horticultural history fosters a spiritual connection and gratitude — something Frangie fears modern consumers have lost touch with.
“Every Honeycrisp or Gala you eat can actually be traced back to a single seminal tree from centuries past,” he marvels. “The same tree that Thomas Jefferson enjoyed his beloved ‘Newtown Pippins’ from in the late 1700s.”
By approaching each bite with intentionality, he believes we tap into those hallowed roots and honor the human ingenuity that birthed such deliciousness against considerable odds. More satisfying than any sugar rush, it’s a soul-replenishing experience.
For the secular sect of apple acolytes, Frangie’s philosophies offer a ritualistic path toward food-based enlightenment — a chance to break from mindless consumption and reconnect with sustenance as sacrament. What appears a modest snack contains multitudes when explored with care.
“Most people say ‘it’s good’ or ‘it’s bad’ and leave it at that,” he laments. “But if you stay present throughout the entire sensory experience — the aromas, the intricacies of flavor and texture as they evolve — an entirely new dimension is unlocked.”
A dimension where perfection, however fleeting, becomes not just possible, but transcendent. Where something as simple as an apple can induce reams of rapture from those attuned to its perennial mysteries. For the uninitiated, such depth of feeling toward produce may seem unmoored — but those who fruitfully meditate on its flesh may glimpse nirvana.
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Hear Brian’s full interview:
Connect with Brian: AppleRankings.com | https://brianfrange.com/
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