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.
Are you East coast based or West coast? IMO it makes a difference if you’re buying from an apple from an orchard or cold storaged for how long ? Supermarket crap! I’ve been a real Fuji fan and we were on the Central Valley in n California where the first Fuji orchards from Japanese American farmers were primo sweet and a slight tart great for eating and baking in pies were so good that they’ve won me many a pie contest! Btw these more red fakers aren’t the real Fuji they were yellow and green with some red not the best looking but awesome!
But now live in back in Hawaii and the typical supermarket or Costco Fuji the color and texture and taste border on styrofoam on good day! Chain fruits can be in cold storage for months so if your reviewing fruit bought at a store instead of an orchard? There is your first mistake and I’d have to take you reviewsxwith a grain a salt and of a moderate use ! Funny comments but I’d think others would disagree with your ranking also Arkansas blacks used to win my mom apple recipes all the time too! But not available here! I think envy gala are overrated and Tend to be mushier or mealy more than any Fuji ever!
I live in the central valley and I depise fuji apples.
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.
I agree that it is closer to Honeycrisp. At our online store we sell way more Fuji than Red Delicious. People most times consider it to be more flavorful.
You’re a fucking moron and proved it by claiming Fuji is closer to Honeycrisp than Red Delicious. It’s consistent mushy texture and absolutely no flavor are one of its major flaws. You maybe should stfu and never give your opinion on anything as you’re an absolute retard that should be castrated as to never pass on your shitty genes.
Damn bro you’re really going all out on the apple review comment section, huh? Pulling out retard and everything over someone’s fruit preferences. Is it anger issues or do you just have nothing else going on in your life? They make medicine for the former, it just might save you. If it’s the latter, though, you may just have to kill yourself; there’s no point in trying to live if the peak of your day is calling for someone to be castrated because they like fuji apples.
I agree. Who is this idiot rating the apples? Is it because it’s origin is from Japan?
How about you kill yourself fucking weeb. Too many stupid retards like you making this world a bigger shit hole than it is.
Personally, I like to ingest my Fuji apple slices by craming them as far as I can into my anus and vagina. If I’m feeling zesty, I also put a whole apple into my rectum to act as if it were a plug.
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 completely agree! I do admit I am biased towards firm(verging on hard) sweet apples, and fuji is one of my favorites. They keep so well. I also think it might be because a lot of Fuji apples we get in the US are mealier and less flavorful, especially if you buy them from big box stores like Target. I’ve had Fuji apples in Korea and Japan and they were some of the most delicious food items (across all food, not just apples) I’ve ever put in my mouth.
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.
Fuji’s in Ontario are utterly brilliant and are the sweetest apples with the best mouthfeel available in our excellent local selection.
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
Fuji’s are my childhood apples and I just have to say they are at least consistent. More for the eaters that like a nice sweet treat with a lovely crunchy bite. Imo wayy better than a pink lady.
Did you scrape the wax off the apple though. Did you cut it into slices and enjoy it that way? It’s not one of those apples you can just bite into because of its crunchiness.
I don’t like complexity in my food so that could be it, and I’ve mainly eaten Chinese ones my entire life and they always deliver.
Id take a watery crisp apple to a mealy flavourful one and ESPECIALLY a granny smith.
Best wishes.
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.
west coast resident here (specifically the willamette valley in oregon, which is apparently considered a very good place for apple orchards to thrive and fujis in particular are one of the most commonly grown varieties) and fujis are one of my favorites so you may be onto something here. the appleist lives in new york so i wonder how that affects the apples he receives, if at all.
actually wait i was wrong, he grew up in new york but lives in california, which is a west coast state. maybe the recent droughts have something to do with it?
it’s also possible he just plain doesn’t like them. *shrug* but it’s still interesting to think about.
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!
Fujis are low in protein (lower than many other apples) so they are less likely to cause symptoms in apple allergy sufferers. No idea if that applies to you.
I like fuji apples – tastewise they’re a bit bland but the texture is maybe the best i’ve had, super crispy with pleasant juiciness. I’ve read that they are prized in east asia bc the texture is similar to nashi pears.
Gala is my favourite but don’t mind the western Fuji, it’s generally the most reliable supermarket apple. But there is a certain Fuji apple in Japan that is quite different. A Japanese Fuji apple is all about presentation for their gifting culture. A monstrosity larger than your palm, perfectly round, beautifully blending stripes on thin skin and the juiciest, crispiest apple you have ever cut into. Taste is completely unmemorable because an apple that large and expensive is meant to be shared and rarely eaten. A decade later and I still remember the experience of that apple! (Ate a whole one, took a while.)
as much as i like fujis i very much enjoy your hilarious description of them as serviceable weaponry.
Currently in Japan at the moment and I just bought a Fuji Apple in minato-ku, and I agree with this review. I can hardly taste anything, just a very slight sweet taste to them.
My Mom doesn’t like apples– now I understand why! This is the most popular, and often (but not always, sometimes there’s Granny Smiths and Washingtons in more upscale groceries) the ONLY available apple on Philippine supermarkets. She thinks every apple is made out of sand, but I’ve got to at least give her a Honeycrisp when I can.
I don’t care but think the creator of this site is Hilarious. Just saw him in St Louis (10/6/23) and had to comment on here for support.
Thank you so much!!
So, bro, have you had a chance to taste a Fuji apple directly in Japan yet ?
Ok this is bozo jumping the . Dude Fuji’s are amazing. Furthermore a lot of us eat multiple apples a day. Fuji makes a great choice for that. Finally barely worth it for apple Smith is total Bambini babble. And for the record I often just eat one by biting into it because I don’t have an infants palette that wants everything to be sweet .
I have tried a LOT of apples (and I visit Apple Hill regularly) and Fujis are my favorite eating apple. However, I’ve found that some grocery stores will often sell Fujis that are picked underripe, and those are utterly disgusting. But a properly ripened California-grown Fuji has a flavor that beats out Honeycrisp in my opinion. (Though Honeycrisp is still a superior baking and cider apple.)
Chinese Fuji is awful. it’s hard and tasteless, kinda remind me of an unripe red delicious, and it’s everywhere!! I had the real Fuji in Japan, still not impressive, but better than what we usually have.
ps. love your apple reviews, i had a good laugh
The fact that Fuji is this low on your ranking simply means that your site is worthless for real apple lovers and only has information regarding inferior American so-called ‘apples’. Fujis are the perfect combination of tart and sweet for a snacking apple, they are juicy and delicious. Maybe you should eat some proper apples for once, and stop masquerading as an apple fan if you haven’t even tasted proper Japanese Fuji before. The fact that Fuji is seen as a cheap apple on your ranking breakdown shows that you have only been buying cheap and inferior products and can not be a source of reliable information for apples. Shame on you.
fuji apples are dreadfully bland. a consolation prize of an apple. based on a supermarket-only experience, this ranking is pretty accurate. i am also struggling to understand the fuji apple hype.
Fuji’s are my childhood apple(I am not from Japan) and I probably have only eaten one apple that wasn’t Fuji in my life so maybe it’s my standards that are low but you should give them another shot. To be honest I do get a lot of either hits or misses with them but when they are good they are amazing! Maybe you haven’t had the right one yet?
I’ve had some really good Fuji apples, and not ever have I had a mealy one — my experience is they are crisp, sweet and a little tangy (but not as much as Honeycrisp tangy). My rating of this apple would be higher. I do buy organic apples whenever possible, so I wonder if that makes the difference (not sprayed with chemicals, etc.). I’m sure freshness is a factor as well.
You gotta check and make sure you’re picking up a Fuji apple that has brown crunchy stuff around the stem! That’s the key. It’s as if the flavor caramelizes and makes it much more palatable.
whoa — fuji apples, /mushy?!/ the united states must be an even more fearsome hellscape than i previously thought. i’m based in the land down under, and i specifically like fuji apples because they are basically always crunchy, sweet but not overly so, and never have that awful floury texture that pink lady apples do.
Pink Lady’s should never be floury! Sweet with a tad of sour and a good snap.
Look, where I live when it comes to red apples your choices are either Fuji or Red Delicious, so I think it’s clear why I became a Fuji fan. On that note, I think you should re-review Red Delicious so you can put it in the Vomitous Filth category where it belongs.
Fuji apples are good as hell.
I’m from South Africa, and the Fuji’s we get here are not too far away from a Pink Lady. Maybe not 100% the same, but very close. I think you maybe ate the wrong Fuji’s
Thanks for the in-depth review! I’m a huge Fuji apple fan and it’s great to see it ranked so highly. I’ve always loved the perfect balance of sweetness and tartness, and your ranking system is super helpful. Can’t wait to try some of the other apples on the list!
I’ve had mixed results. Fujis are overall inconsistent bastards but ones from X brand will convince me it’s dog water and ones from Y will be a joyous experience. Funny enough, the bagged ones from Sam’s Club have served me excellently.
Fuji is likable coz it’s cheap
….WaaaaAAAAHHH??? You do the world a disservice! By speaking ill, you are spreading falsehoods, with calamitous effects on the apple-loving population. Fujis are the finest to be had. I think you just need to move to central Washington state perhaps, to eat of its bounty straight from the tree. Pure delight.