Food Apples. Just Apples.

Seriously. Just apples. It's peak season for them, at least in my part of the world. So let's talk about them. What are your favourite varieties? What are some of your favourite recipes ans applications? What do you look for in the perfect apple?

I grew up thinking there's nothing better than a Granny Smith. I now know how limited my view was when I was young, but it still influences my preferences. I do still insist on a crisp apple. These days I prefer a certain balance of sweet ans tart. If it's mushy or mealy, keep it away from me. If it's just sweet with no depth or attitude, I want nothing to do with it. If I so much as think or hear the word Cortland, my face screws up in disgust. Red Delicious? Like hell it is.

If you put a Granny Smith in front of me, I'll still gladly eat it, or bake it into something. But for general snacking, nothing beats a Mutsu. I just finished one as I was typing, and boy am I happy. They have a perfect al dente bite; my teeth will sink in to a point, and then a big hunk will break off for me to munch. They offer an ideal honey sweetness with top notes of cool tartness. And some of them--like the one I just polished off--can grow bigger than my fist (and I have some pretty big hands, children) when they're at their peak. Pink Ladies are good snackers, too. A bit more on the tart side, they're cool, frisky, and satisfying. Ambrosia is sweet and juicy, and every bit as sexy as the name implies. Ginger Gold amazed me. Riding over the evenly balanced sweet/tart flavour is a citrucy spiciness, like ginger!

I've found that I like Turley Winesaps for crisps and cobblers. They're a bit more sweet and bland, so they're a good canvas for sweet spices, and therefore are good for baking. I think I'll try making some applesauce out of them, too. That should be good.

 

I'm not an apple connoisseur, so I won't be able to mention any specific varieties, types, species or mutations.

My absolute favorite type of apples is green and looks like this:



I really like them as sour as possible and with a hearty crunch as you bite into them.

Mmm... Germany is great for those apples and I'm starting to develop a bad craving.

 

woah, you really are into Apples.
I seek some advice, since I eat Apples often as lunch (usually I go for tuna salad, or apples and fruit) but almost casually... The fact is that I don't know where to find really good ones... maybe I should try the open-air weekly market near my university...

 

I'm in upsate NY, also a major apple production area.
Unfortunately we lost about 70% of our crop this year due to 80F temps in March, followed by late frost in May.
As a result we are seeing more of those inferior Washington staters showing up here.
Macoun is a favorite for eating. As is honeycrisp.
And don't disparage Cortland til you've tried them as baked apples or in a pie.

 

One of the things I miss about living in Ontario is the fresh produce, I feel it especially at berry season and apple season. In Canada, we had a wide selection of apple types while here, we only get around four or five different types of apples. That said, being where we are, we get two apple seasons. One from the Northern Hemisphere and one from the Southern... so we always have apples in season (more or less).

The main problem, as with all produce, it isn't local. That means what would be cheap and plentiful in Canada is expensive here. No cider making. No applesauce. No jams. I do make crisps and pies though.

 

Cheers for the info.

Also, any Streuselkuchen is the bomb. Bloody love those pies, especially blueberry/vanilla ones!

Got the exact same issue here. They do select quality fruits for sale, but it just isn't anywhere near the freshness and full flavor that you could get from local apples when in Germany or Australia.

 

I really enjoy Pink Lady and Honeycrisp. Sweet with the perfect amount of snap. I buy them in bulk, eat what I can, then take out the trusty food mill and a boiling pot of water and make delicious applesauce out of the rest!

 

I like Fujis and Braeburns, Galas, and occasionally Grannies if they're very crisp and very fresh; but my favorite by far is the Honeycrisp. God damn, I love me a good, fresh, organic Honeycrisp apple! Though I have never liked the ironically-named Red Delicious or Golden Delicious-- neither is, in fact, ever delicious. Anemic in flavor and all too often mealy and lacking in crispness, both of them. Why anyone buys them, I will never know. Especially when you can get a Honeycrisp, which has to be the most perfect apple ever bred by human kind!

When we moved from LA to Chicago, we really took it in the teeth on produce-- not only can you not find 1/3 of the stuff you can find in LA here, but what you can find, 90% of the time, is vastly, hugely, monstrously inferior to the quality of produce you can find in LA. Even at Farmer's Markets and Whole Foods and stuff.

But the amazing comfort, the one great silver lining, is that apples here kick ass. We go apple picking in Wisconsin and in Minnesota, and the apples we get are off the fucking hook redonkulous! Oh, man, those perfect red-and-green organic Honeycrisps, right off the tree, so crispy, so tangy, nice and cool from the autumn weather.... They are by far my favorite fruit. We buy them by the bucketload, and I will easily eat one or two every day, sometimes three. Perfect with a chunk of cheese, or with a few slices of sausage, as a snack. A gorgeous addition to all kinds of recipes-- everything from squash and apple soups to apple brisket to sweet and sour cabbage with apple to fried apples 'n' onions. Love it all.

 

I am so ashamed that I forgot all about Honeycrisp! My parents recently took an overnighter to Michigan. When they came home, they brought back half a peck or so of Michigan Honeycrisps. The only thing wrong with them was that there weren't enough of them. A week or so later, Whole Foods had them in season and in stock. It was a grand day.

 

We stay away from the shiny bs they put out at the regular supermarket, too. Some of the polishes they put on the apples have dairy in them, so to keep our dairy-allergic son safe, we get organic and unpolished. Besides, no matter what they use to shine an apple, I want to eat an apple, dammit, not a coat of wax.

Ambrosias are due to come in our produce bin next week. This is me, being stoked.

 

My basic philosophy for apples-- and for lots of other things also-- is that if you wouldn't want to eat/drink it as is, don't cook with it. I won't eat Golden (or Red) Delicious, and I won't cook with them. Same goes for a lot of other varietals that I find unacceptable, which is most of the usual supermarket varietals-- Jonathans and Jonogolds, Courtlands, Spartans, Prairie Spies, Arkansas Blacks, Idareds, Romes, Macintosh, etc.

Most recipes that involve the use of apples in essentially savory dishes, I use Honeycrisp or Braeburn (as a matter of fact, I just used a couple of Honeycrisps tonight in a dish of sweet and sour red cabbage). Most sweet things that involve apples as one facet of many ingredients, I use Fujis or Galas, but sometimes Pippins, if I can get good ones. Most sweet dishes that are built around apples (pie, baked apples, etc.) I usually use Granny Smiths or Braeburns, though sometimes I will use Honeycrisp. And there are a couple of local varietals that, if I get good ones, fresh from the orchard, I'll sometimes use in place of either Braeburns or Fujis---- Haralsons, Northern Spies, Spitzenburgs, etc.-- but I usually stick to the main varietals I know are consistently good.

The only exception is in making applesauce. Though one can make great applesauce from Honeycrisps or Fujis or Galas, and stunningly good tart sauce from Grannies and Braeburns, I will occasionally use Winesaps or Snowsweets, or even Courtlands for sauce.

Overall, though, there is nothing I will not use a Honeycrisp for. Good eating alone, good in salads, good in sweet and savory cooked dishes, good baked, good in pastries, good as juice or sauce. It's just a perfect apple.