If you smile at the thought of the first day of school, pencils, brisk windy days, and leaves falling, then this is the fruit for you!
APPEARANCE Rating: 
Striped rusty red and gold, pale yellow flesh. Rustic looking, like it just fell right off the tree.
AROMA Rating:
Slightly sweet herbal smell
TEXTURE Rating:
Crunchy, great snap, good juice – ideal apple texture
TASTE Rating:
Sweet with a slightly spicy taste
OVERALL Overall Rating:
This is what a red delicious apple should be, but isn’t — perfect, spicy sweetness, snappy bite with ideal juiciness. This is what Fall is all about.
FRUIT
Apple
VARIETY
Chieftain
PEAK
September
ORIGIN
GROWN
Gopher Glen
San Luis Obispo, CA
PURCHASED
Grocery Store
NOTES
The Chieftain is a cross between a Jonathan apple and a Red Delicious. .
Never heard of that, but it sure is purdy!
I grew up on an apple orchard and my family is still running the orchard to this day. I’m really, really picky about apples. Chieftan is, hands-down, my favorite apple. Not sure why your Chieftan looked the way it did, though. It is usually a strikingly beautiful apple. Normally a deep red color with almost no yellow at all. I would describe the flesh as white rather than yellow. I wonder if the California climate changes some of the characteristics of this apple?
We had a Chieftan Apple Tree when we lived in Waterloo, Iowa. It was the best apple tree. Every fall I would bring bushels of apples to my mother-in-law’s home and we would would freeze dozens and dozens of apple pies. Chieftan was and is the best apple for eating and baking. I wish I had another Chieftan Apple Tree.
@Cindy – not sure. i bought them at Whole Foods and to be honest, I don’t always trust that they don’t have their varieties mixed up. Sometimes they are all lumped together. So who knows. It was delicious though!
@Jody – I would love to have a friend with an Apple Tree who bring me bushels and leave me with frozen pies. YUM.