In case you somehow hadn’t noticed, it’s pumpkin spice season — all the more reason to feature apple pie this week.

We picked up four packaged pies at grocery stores, mostly because it was an efficient way to go about it and, unlike crème brûlée or some type of death-by-chocolate cake, applie pie is not a common item on restaurant menus. I called four bakeries, none of which carried my chosen dessert. We brought our goodies back to the FFF Lab + Photo Studio™ for examination.

Our contestants are Winn-Dixie, The Fresh Market, Publix and Whole Foods Market. I’ll rank them at the end. We sampled (okay, I inhaled) two on Wednesday night and two on Thursday afternoon.

Consider this column a resource when you have every intention of baking that apple pie during the Holidays but end up getting too busy and saying “aw forget it, I’ll run out to the store.”

 THE FRESH MARKET

This was the prettiest of our pies (far left on the top photo), with an imperfect, straight-from-the-oven appearance. It was also the biggest. I could plainly see pieces of apple that looked bright and crisp, a slight concern. (Too crisp puts me off.)

True to its looks, this Fresh Market pie ($13.99) had a homemade flavor, with more than a hint of tartness. I’m not a big fan of al dente apple pieces in my pies, but these came up short of that and added a modicum of crunch. The filling was on the thick side, a plus. And the crust was layered and denser than most.

WINN-DIXIE

This pie ($7.69, far right on top photo) was the most generic-looking of the lot, which is not necessarily a bad thing. The apple chunks within looked well cooked.

It came off as comfort food, and there’s nothing at all wrong with being comforted. It was sweet, but not overly so, and devoid of tartness or crunch, with a filling that added a familiar gooey texture. The crust, especially on the bottom, was thin and surrendered easily to the fork.

WHOLE FOODS MARKET

It’s not often that I have a mid-afternoon snack consisting of two pieces of apple pie. I know, I know — I could’ve just had a few bites, but apple pie tastes so good, man.

We elected to buy a half-pie ($7.49) at Whole Foods — because, really, how much leftover pie does a two-person household need? Everything about this Whole Foods offering was soft, most notably the crust. The apple pieces were difficult to discern from the filling. All the elements blended together. I noticed a hint of tang, and overall the pie had a good sweetness level.

PUBLIX

We bought the Small Dutch Apple Pie ($4.99). It was the least attractive of our competitors, not because it was small but because the streusel topping looked borderline burnt in spots. However, as we know, appearances can be deceiving.

As it turned out, the crumbly stuff up top didn’t taste the least bit burnt, and it added a different sort of pastry-style sweetness and messy crunch to the pie. Call it the X factor. The apple chunks retained their firm texture even as they integrated with the filling. This pie had a spot-on measure of sweetness.

Okay, now we rank our grocery-store pies …

1 — Fresh Market

2 — Publix

3 — Winn-Dixie

4 — Whole Foods Market

(Bonnie had the same ranking, which is inconsequential because I am a jury of one.)

A Final Note: Unless I wasn’t clear enough in the lead, there will be no pumpkin-spice FFF this year — maybe ever. The reasons: (1) there is no pumpkin in pumpkin spice; (2) the incessant marketing of pumpkin-spice products is annoying; 3: I don’t like pumpkin spice.