The best apples I have ever eaten were heritage breeds from orchards long gone feral.

The first was believed to be a Duchess apple, from an abandoned turn-of-the-century farm in California in the mountains above Ojai that had been turned into a Boy Scout camp. There were about 4 trees remaining from an orchard that had once numbered at least a dozen. While the trees were gnarled and rank, the apples were marvelous. Medium sized round fruit with striated green and red skins with a fine flesh, juicy and tart, with enough sugar to not make it puckery.

The second was a completely unknown apple on an abandoned farm in the hills to the East of Roanoke, Virginia. The trees were part of an orchard surrounding a log cabin that could not have been built later than the 1780s (distinct early frontier features)...although it had been occupied until as late as the 1920s. The trees were in sad shape, knotted and broken down but still producing a limited crop of apples. The apples were medium sized but slightly flattened and a bit lumpy and had a roughened skin w/ distinctive green and yellow zebra striping. The apple's flesh was crisp, sweet/tart with a distinctive berry smell to the juice.

Frankly, having tasted old breed apples, most modern "store bought" apples can hardly compare on flavor.