Looking for the Holy Grail of Apples

For a number of years now I have been on a low key quest for what I term the "Holy Grail" of apples. When I was a kid, the apples simply tasted better. At that time a Red Delicious was actually delicious. There are several key qualities to an apple: the look and coloring on the outside; the texture, moisture and crispness of the inside; and of course the fullness and sweetness of taste. For the record, I don't really care what an apple looks like on the outside but that seems to be the one and only concern of grocers today. The problem is so bad that apples are very much like politicians - especially presidential candidates. All polish and shine on the outside, but dry and mealy on the inside; and completely tasteless.

I have never tasted a delicious apple that did not have the right texture on the inside. So it is not similar to the old saying "Fast, Good, Cheap pick any two". I have tasted a sweet apple that was ugly on the outside. So an apple can be ugly but it must be moist and crisp to even hope to taste good. An apple should be moist enough to drip on your chin when you bite into it. An apple must be firm enough to make a denture wearer nervous.

The taste of an apple must be sweet. I am not talking about a little sweet - a lot sweet. It must be so sweet that any temptation to eat a piece of candy instead is driven from your mind. In the requirement of an apple to "taste sweet", most apples today do not get past the first word - taste. Most apples today do not have any taste at all. Take a glass of water, a bottle of the new Fruit H2O drinks (that are water with a few drops of flavor in them) and a glass of Kool-Aid. 80% of the apples today would be closer to the glass of water and the rest of them at best like the Fruit H2O.

In my quest, I have actually bought some of the individual apples at the grocers that end up costing almost $3 each. A little better than the tasteless mush in the bags, but still no prize winners. At this point in my failed quest I truly do not care how much it costs. I would pay $5 or more each for a truly delicious apple. I would buy it online if I had to. I would drive or make vacation plans around the location of a great apple if it were a sure bet. I am hoping that somebody reading this will be able to help me end this quest. Any help would be appreciated. The apples today are so poor in quality that they have sunk down to the level of a simple staple food like potatoes or rice. We have so many exotic fruits and I love many of them. However, nothing is quite as good as a great apple.