To a first and second approximation, no one in America has ever eaten an Antonovka. But strangely, it's also one of the more common apples planted in America! The explanation for this apparent contradiction is that Antonovka is one of the most common "standard" (ie, full size) apple rootstocks. So they are planted, but almost never allowed to fruit. Instead, the tops are chopped off and a different apple is grafted on top as a replacement.

They are used as rootstock because they are deep rooted, drought tolerant, and very cold hardy. Conveniently, Antonovka are also one of the few apple varieties that tends to grow true from seed. This makes propagating them as rootstock much easier, since it's very fast and easy to plant seeds rather than making clones. Here's an article that talks up the use of Antonovka as a rootstock: http://www.kuffelcreekapplenursery.com/rootstocks.htm.

I've got 20 Antonovka ordered for next spring that I'm planning to graft to. Perhaps I should leave one whole and see what it produces --- like most Americans, I've never eaten one.

you could leave one branch Antonovka, and graft multiple different varieties to the same rootstock

> I dislike most of the red apples, especially the ones you can find in malls

My dad likes Starkrimson. I did not but he gave me a big bag of them mixed with Florina so I find them eatable now, after eating all the Florinas. The juice is great though. Not that acidic. My favourite for eating is Fuji but I also like Gala and Florina. It seems like most of apples we eat in Eastern Europe are in fact intended for cooking? Normaly I'll get them from my family's orchards or the farmer market. Jonatan and Jonagod is really common here, but too acidic for eating raw, great for apple pie.

I don't remember trying Antonovka but we sometimes do get a fair share of Polish apples in the supermarket. I'll look for it. But if it is anything like Granny Smith I'll probably dislike it.

Yeah Jonagold is very popular here as well. If that's too acidic for you then you won't like Antonówka :)

Never tried Starkrimson I think? But it looks similar to the ones in malls from the photos.

Both my grandpas had like a dozen different kinds of apples (one tree of each) - I think they planted them more to have apples through the year than for their taste. The early summer ones (papierówki?) were awful. Small, totally white, very squishy and tasteless (not acidic and not sweet).

Starkrimson looks a bit like Red Delicious whoch you see in the supermarket but it's smaller and harder at first. Like Granny Smith hard. Not acidic and it tastes a bit banana flavoued. It's also too hard when picked off the tree, I think you need to keep in in the cellar for at least two weeks. It's best used for juice, but rather sweet. Might be very useful in a blend to balance acidity of other apples. I think my dad accidentally combined it with Florina and got good juice out of them.

Yes, I know the summer apples. Horse and donkey food. Some people like them though.

Poland has very good apples and possibly the best apple cider I had. Dorbonski, I think, not sure though.

The closest kind of apple to Antonówka that I found in England is Bramley apple, or more generally, various kinds of cooking apple.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bramley_apple

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooking_apple