Brian Frange, who calls apples the “greatest fruit to grace the earth,” has made it his calling to rank and re-rank at least 100 varieties of the fruit, based on 10 criteria, including density, skin, flesh, crispness, beauty and, of course, taste.

Currently at the top is the Swee-Tango, which he calls the “Holy Grail.” At the very bottom of the list, the Arkansas Black Apple is described as a tooth-shattering oddity and “thick-skinned carbuncle that tastes and feels like an uncooked russet potato.”

Frange joins host Robin Young to talk about his rankings, the unlikely origins of the apple, and the fact that planting the seeds from any variety of apple will produce a new species, making grafting the only way to produce known apple types.

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This segment aired on October 6, 2026.