When children are learning the alphabet, the letter A is often featured with an apple. Did you ever wonder why a word that actually makes the sound of A (long A as I was taught) wasn't picked like ape? Oh, well. I guess it all works out because most kids eventually learn how to read.
But I digress. We're here today for me to ramble on about apples. Apples may be my favorite fruit. There's nothing better than a slightly tart, sweet, juicy apple. If given a choice, I prefer my apples raw as opposed to cooked--unless, of course, they are cooked in a pie.
In my apple world, life used to be simple. When I went to the grocery store to buy apples, my choices were red delicious, yellow delicious, and granny smith. Now it seems that there is a new kind every time I turn around. However, it's just not my imagination. There are over 7500 varieties of apples grown around the world and about 2500 of those are grown in the US. For many, many years, the red delicious apple was the most popular kind in the US. I never quite understood that because I thought they were tasteless. However, Uncle Billy grew red delicious apples for a while and I got to sample one right off the tree. It had a subtle sweet taste. Quite nice. Recently, the gala apple has overtaken the red delicious as the most popular variety in the US. The top five varieties are gala, red delicious, granny smith, fuji, and honey crisp.
When I was growing up, my apple world was simpler still. My father would pick up dropped apples that people would give him from their trees. He would bring home bushels of them that we would make into applesauce. Early harvest were his favorite variety with their tart taste. During the fall, we went through periods when my sister and I would have to make a canner load of applesauce every day after school until they were gone.
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| Apples waiting to be made into apple butter at the Apple Harvest Festival in the eastern panhandle of WV. |
If we got apples from the store, we paid particular attention to golden delicious because they were discovered in West Virginia, not that far from where we lived. The golden delicious apple was found on the Mullins farm in Clay County and Mr. Mullin sold it to Stark Brothers who started marketing it in 1914. They called it golden delicious to market it with their red delicious variety. The golden delicious variety may have been derived from the golden grimes apple which was discovered in another part of West Virginia in 1832. West Virginia continues its apple tradition today with the eastern panhandle of the state being a large apple grower.
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| One of our old apple trees. |
I think I'm about done with my apple ramblings. I will leave you with this one bit of apple trivia.
What was Johnny Appleseed's real name?
(John Chapman)
I'm not sure why I knew Johnny Appleseed's real name, but I picked it up somewhere. You are so right about all the new varieties of apples these days. Michigan is a big producer of apples and we are fortunate to have several orchards in easy driving distance. My husband has a favorite one--the farmer is super nice and will cut up any apple you are interested in to give you a taste. Their pricing is reasonable and they offer seconds, which thrills hubby's frugal soul. Like you, I like slightly tart apples--red delicious is too bland for me (you are right, though, they are ok if you get them straight off the tree, but the ones in the supermarket? Bleah.). My mom loved Ida Reds for pies, and as the quintessential pie maker, she was correct--tart, firm apples are best. Cortlands are great if you want to cut up apples and don't want the browning that occurs with them. It's fascinating to hear about the different varieties grown in various geographical regions. I didn't realize that yellow delicious originated in West Virginia (I do like that variety!). My husband and I think that honey crisp are way overpriced--good, yes, but they easily are twice as expensive as any other variety.
ReplyDeleteI guess I have a lot of apple opinions! Haha!
Sounds like you have several kinds of apples you go to for different occasions. I am more of a hit or miss apple user. I really like honey crisp apples, but agree that they are pricey. I don't know how true this is but supposedly honey crisp apples take an extra step in shipping which drives up their price. Their stems have to be clipped, so they won't puncture other apples.
DeleteOh, interesting about the shipping for honey crisps. Around here, even at the orchards where they are grown, they cost a lot more, which I think is due to demand.
DeleteMaybe take a breed of apple you’ve never tried and make a pie, might be good.
ReplyDeleteNo matter what kind of apple used, I can't imagine an apple pie that would be bad. We did try making an "apple" pie with pears last year and that was tasty. We wouldn't have known it was made with pears if we hadn't made it ourselves. When apple season, rolls around again, I think it would be fun to try some different kinds.
DeleteApples were an imported treat I knew as a child until I was about 5, when imported fruits were banned. I think my next taste of apples was when I was around 13 when the American medical ship "Hope" visited the country and we made friends with some of the ship's crew; they would give us "treats" like apples and we'd give them mangoes, etc. (That was also when I had my first taste of peanut butter; didn't much like it!) It wasn't until after I left the country that apples became something I can have every day if I so please. :)
ReplyDeleteYou have an interesting history with apples. What one person takes for granted, is special to another. I vaguely remember project Hope and the hospital ship. A quick google shows that it visited Sri Lanka in February 1968 – March 1969. That's a year. Did you visit the ship often?
DeleteI did visit the ship a few times as a visitor/guest. My step-father was registered with the Port as a Dental Surgeon and several crew members came to him for treatments and we made friends with some of the officers. At least two of them had their wives join them in Sri Lanka for the year that they were stationed there and we gave part of our home over to one couple to stay and rented a nearby apartment for the other couple.
DeleteI'm a golden delicious fan through and through. I didn't know they were first found in West Virginia.
ReplyDeleteI like golden delicious, too. I learned a lot of things about our state when we studied WV history in grades 4-8 and golden delicious apples was one of them.
DeleteI love autumn and the great supply of apples, and we are lucky to, be given a supply of Bramley cooking apples from neighbour’s trees. We have them stewed on muesli for breakfast, in an Oat Crumble , or in an Eve’s Pudding or baked- ideal winter desserts.
ReplyDeleteApples go with almost everything, don't they? How nice that you get apples from you neighbors. Some day I hope we have enough apples to share with our neighbors.
DeleteI hail from the Honey crisp camp. I love tart hard yet juicy apples.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to beat the taste of a honey crisp. Hopefully, with their popularity and more people start growing them, they will come down in price.
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