Fuji Apple Review
"The Japanese Pop Star"
Yet another demon spawn of the Red Delicious (crossed with a Ralls Janet) this gravelly choking hazard named after Fujisaki City, Japan is a J-Pop Star of an apple fit with a ravenous fanbase that many Americans will find difficult to understand. Personally, it is beyond comprehension how this super-hard medieval weapon masquerading as a fruit could become the most popular apple in Japan (and a top 5 apple worldwide). Aside from a semi-sweet initial bite, this mushy, rough-skinned, experiment gone awry is a baffling oddity with a sword-like stem so sharp it will – quite literally – stab other apples in transit. Despite this, the Fuji fandom is real, uncompromising, and dedicated. A Fuji is not for everyone but, if it’s for you, it just may be your favorite apple.
UPDATE 2023: Still truly baffled how many feel this is their favorite apple. However, I have not had the chance to try a Fuji straight from Japan where I hear they may be better. That being said, I have had better Fujis in my re-testing. +3 Taste, -1 Juiciness, +2 Cost/Availability. TOTAL SCORE: 48 -> 56 (Horse Food -> Barely Worth It).
- FLAVOR PROFILE -
SWEETNESS
2/5
TARTNESS
0/5
INTENSITY
1/5
I feel like you should give Fujis another shot. They’re the most consistently good apple for me, especially because I eat them in slices.
I’ll try to get some straight from the orchard to give them the fairest shake possible
Don’t bother. Fujis are the most overhyped apple I can think of. I call them “bland sugar bombs” because they have sweetness and nothing else to offer. Literally nothing else. No flavor, no tang, nothing special by way of texture or appearance. I think they appeal to people for whom white peaches, white nectarines, and Dole sugar-pineapples are favorites. If you care only about how much sugar is in each piece of fruit you eat, and nothing else, then it’s the perfect apple for you.
Fujis suck unless you find one with a lemony yellow background. anything looking remotely greenish will be bland.
I quite agree. The Fuji is much closer to honey crisp than it is to red delicious. Texture and flavor consistency is one of its many strong suits.
Totally. I eat Honeycrisps, Fujis, or Cosmic Crisps these days because I like the texture. Fujis are definitely the most consistent. Honeycrisps and CCs sometimes have that bitter storage flavor, but fujis never seem to. They’re also never overly sour like some of the others can be. They don’t have the complexity, but that’s OK because I’ll always enjoy it and they’re cheap. The others are expensive and are only really good 85% of the time.
Fujis are my favorite. I like sweet apples and Fuji delivers. The description on this ranking is funny but wrong. Fujis are crisp and firm and stay that way all winter. Not many others keep as well. I live in MD orchard country and I try not to eat only local apples. By April all the other apples from storage are mealy. The orchards around here have probably 20 different apples available over the season but I keep picking Fuji.
I’ve had two drastically different experiences with Fuji apples. I’m in Ontario, and generally year-round there are gigantic Chinese Fuji apples available. These are watery, flavourless monsters, and not worth the slightest consideration. In autumn, though, there’s domestically grown ones that are slightly on the small side of your typical supermarket apple. Still not my favourite – I find they have an aftertaste I’m not keen on – but they come out like a superior Gala.
We love Fuji apples. They’re sweet, flavorful and crunchy. Apparently many other people do too because the store is often sold out. One day, I grabbed a bag of Pink Lady apples by mistake (I’d already tried them). They were not good and I was glad when they were gone. I’ve tried most all of them and for me, Fuji apples are the best.
4/10 tastes like teeth plaque
Fuji apples used to be much better
In the defense of fuji apples, the ones available in Japan and in other parts of Asia tend to be WAY nicer than the ones that are available in North America. I used to live in Hong Kong when I was younger, and the quality of fuji apples there is much higher than those available in Canada
I get that the sweetness of a Fuji isn’t meant for everybody but how could you rank it lower than a Granny Smith 🙁
Yeah, Granny Smiths are inedibly sour and I used to eat lemons as a small child.
for real though the fuji apples you eat and source in asia are MUCH nicer than the ones you get over in the west. highly recommend rating these after eating them sourced from where they’re the most popular
I tried a Fuji apple on my trip to Turkey and found it to be the same flavor of the literal sand under my feet. Genuinely felt like I bit into a chunk of sand as dry as the people I met there. I’ve never want to commit a crime but when that Ice cream guy started fucking with me I was about to go straight into committing war crime that would make Ataturk look like a stand up guy. I tell you though, whatever these liberals keep putting in these apples I can’t get enough of it. It’s like I can feel the adrenochrome coursing through my body with the vigor and youth of a young gay kid in 2008 at a lady gaga concert. Remember when she wore a costume of steak? That was some all American beef right there. All around 2/10 only cool for meat suit.
Hey
I found a loop in your reviews
Fuji is better than Red Delicious which is better than Autumn Glory which is better than Fuji
I’ve been thrown off in my quest to find the worst
Ohh good eye! I’ll see if I can fix it
I love me some Fuji apples but will concede there’s a window where they are great that it much narrower than their tree->store shelf-> compost life cycle.
Fuji apples are my favorite, way ahead of galas, although I will concede that honeycrisp are sweeter. Buying apples in chain supermarkets in New York and California, I can say that Fujis definitely have an off-season in the States when you’re better off getting almost anything else, but at their peak, they are beautifully crisp and sweet with a distinct, tart, appley flavor. When trying a new apple, I am also looking for a platonic apple flavor that I remember from the Macintosh apples of my youth—the flavor you expect from a great pie or (nonalcoholic) cider. But that is a highly subjective quality to chase. Thanks for the resource!
I wonder how much of a role location plays. The Fuji I’ve had on the west coast have certainly been crisper than the ones I’ve had in the midwest, for instance. That said, while I do love the Fuji, it has been a highly inconsistent apple for me and I’ve as yet been unable to determine exactly why. Certainly they seemed more consistently better in the past, though I wonder if that’s a development of my palate.
The good Fuji are certainly still mild compared to, say, a Pink Lady, and they’ve got a solid skin, but the bad are just as you’ve described. Having said that, a good Fuji is still an investment in terms of size, because first and foremost they are large. If you don’t want to eat what could be two smaller apples at once, well, it’s never going to be the number one pick. I think this is also what makes the bad ones quite so bad, they’d probably be less offensive if you knew the pain might be over soon.
Gotta come to Japan to get the good ones, imho. Gunma Meigetsu is the superior Japanese apple tho.
Hard disagree with this review. Fuji apples are my favorite. They’re a nice compromise between soft and firm texture wise, and I find the taste to be mild but delightful. Like we’re all entitled to our opinions, I guess. Except with how wrong you are on this one. sorry not sorry
A good “all-around” apple.
This website is ridiculous.
You gave kanzi’s a 90. So I know this website is trash
Kanzi apples are awesome.
What a racist comment along with poor reviews of excellent apples.
Because I said the word “Japan”?
After perusing this website for a while, I’ve come to the conclusion that The Appleist simply loves Honeycrisps. The closer an apple is to a Honeycrisp in terms of genetics/taste, the better ranking it’ll get. If you love tart apples, this website will probably make a lot of sense to you. But if you’re like me, and you prefer apples that are sweet, not tart, this is not the apple ranking website for you. To me, a good Fuji is the most delicious apple there is. Fujis also feel better in my digestive system than Honeycrisps, if that makes sense. Maybe it’s the lower acid content. Fujis are basically always available, but they’re not always good. That’s why you gotta give them a try during a good time of year. Thanks!