There is only one word to describe the flavor of Granny Smith: acidic. It is an uncompromising crisp hard apple with a very sharp taste. However, served slightly chilled it can also be very refreshing, and works well in salads.  The flavor sweetens in storage. Nevertheless, its share of the international market is on the decline, with supermarkets preferring to sell bi-colored varieties with a sweeter flavor.

Granny Smith was one of the original staple supermarket varieties, and one of the first international varieties, a role for which it was well suited. The tough skin and amazing keeping qualities meant it could easily be shipped around the world. It requires a warm climate to ripen properly, and performs well in the main apple-growing regions of the southern hemisphere.  In the northern hemisphere it is grown in France and the warmer zones of North America.  The trademark apple-green skin requires warm days and nights - we have seen Granny Smiths grown at a relatively high altitude in central France which develop a blush because of the cold night temperatures towards the end of the growing season.