New apples

[Jenise]

One of the few foods that tastes good to me right now is apples, so I was so excited to stop at the Food Coop today and discover a whole array of fresh-crop apples that I've never seen on the west coast before. Some I know of but have never tasted, like Cortlands and Orange Pippins, and many are new to me, like Nickajack, Black Arkansas and Red Ida. One was an apple I remember from my California childhood, Spartan, that I never see anymore and have no recollection about other than the name. There were about ten varieties in all and I bought two of each.

Use the Cortlands for cooking.

Cortlands are my favorite eating apple. They grow a lot of them in NY State. One nice thing about them - they don't turn brown when you cut them open. Great pies too.

[Jenise]

Howie, interesting factoid. Didn't know that about Cortlands. Actually, didn't realize until yesterday when I bought these apples that *any* apple was less prone to oxidation than any other, at least based on variety vs. age. I've found generally that fresher apples don't miscolor as much as the same apple would after three or four months in cold storage. But the signs on the baskets yesterday that told a little about each apple's background and traits mentioned the not-coloring thing about one of the other apples I bought too. I don't recall which one it was except that it was one of the last apples I chose/bagged, where the Cortland was the first.

[Jenise]

Use the Cortlands for cooking.

You mean you don't care for them as an eating apple? If they're crispy I'll probably like them just fine--I find a lot of apples too sweet. Don't care for Honeycrisp, for instance, which my friend Chris adores. And the other day I went for a walk with a Gala in hand, and stopped to pick an apple off a neighbor's tree. It was denser, starchier and not very sweet, and I preferred it! Which is why a new variety the Coop also had, named Tsugaru (t+sugar+u) to stress it's super-sweetness, didn't end up in my basket.

My favorite eating apple is a Mutsu (Crispin). They are tart to my taste, although I've seen some describe them as sweet. Extremely crisp and the best past is they are LARGE. I've never seen then in grocery outlets, so have to rely upon local orchards for my annual "fix".
FWIW, I don't "get" all the hype about honey crisps. Not bad apples, but nothing special to me.
Redwinger

Use the Cortlands for cooking.

You mean you don't care for them as an eating apple? If they're crispy I'll probably like them just fine--I find a lot of apples too sweet. Don't care for Honeycrisp, for instance, which my friend Chris adores. And the other day I went for a walk with a Gala in hand, and stopped to pick an apple off a neighbor's tree. It was denser, starchier and not very sweet, and I preferred it! Which is why a new variety the Coop also had, named Tsugaru (t+sugar+u) to stress it's super-sweetness, didn't end up in my basket.

We find them in many ways (taste, texture, etc) similar to Granny Smiths. Sure you can just eat them, but they're not sweet enough for us. If you can find them ( in late August or September), look for Early Cortlands. It is a completely different apple from Cortland. It is pear shaped, stripped, and lighter red versus round, smooth deep red. We think that Early Cortlands are the best cooking apple we've ever used.

Use the Cortlands for cooking.

You mean you don't care for them as an eating apple? If they're crispy I'll probably like them just fine--I find a lot of apples too sweet. Don't care for Honeycrisp, for instance, which my friend Chris adores. And the other day I went for a walk with a Gala in hand, and stopped to pick an apple off a neighbor's tree. It was denser, starchier and not very sweet, and I preferred it! Which is why a new variety the Coop also had, named Tsugaru (t+sugar+u) to stress it's super-sweetness, didn't end up in my basket.

We find them in many ways (taste, texture, etc) similar to Granny Smiths. Sure you can just eat them, but they're not sweet enough for us. If you can find them ( in late August or September), look for Early Cortlands. It is a completely different apple from Cortland. It is pear shaped, stripped, and lighter red versus round, smooth deep red. We think that Early Cortlands are the best cooking apple we've ever used.

On the "other side" of my children's family there is the 4th generation orchard my son now owns. Three generations has won the sweepstakes for amateur fruit growning at the MN State Fair. There are some basic generalities on apples for cooking. When you talk about a "cooking" apple it depends on what you are making. The best apple for apple sauce for example IMHO has always been the early apple Duchess. It is a very old variety and makes a smooth fine grained apple sauce. For an early eating apple I preferred the Wealthy. Again this is an old variety. For pies etc the later apples are much better. The later apples have a firmness that the early apples lack. They also store much better. As to which late apple variety it depends on ones own personal preference. Some prefer a sweet apple others a very tart apple like the Patent or Northwestern Greening. Greenings are old varieties who place in the market as the "green" apple has been taken by Granny Smith.

Honey Crisp came about as a cross and improvement of the Honey Golds. The Honey Gold trees seemed to be a bit fragile and short lived. The Honey Gold apples to my palate had a honey like flavor and yet were crisp. They held pretty well. The Honey Golds and the Greeningsy gave a striking contrast to holiday gift baskets.

[Jenise]

My favorite eating apple is a Mutsu (Crispin). They are tart to my taste, although I've seen some describe them as sweet. Extremely crisp and the best past is they are LARGE.

Bill, I'd never had a mutsu until last year when I was in Georgia and we made a trip to the country and got to taste apples at a farm stand. The mutsu was my favorite--I've never seen them here--sweet enough but plenty tart and most of all crisp. They were great cooked in a pie too.

[Jenise]

We find them in many ways (taste, texture, etc) similar to Granny Smiths. Sure you can just eat them, but they're not sweet enough for us. If you can find them ( in late August or September), look for Early Cortlands. It is a completely different apple from Cortland. It is pear shaped, stripped, and lighter red versus round, smooth deep red. We think that Early Cortlands are the best cooking apple we've ever used.

Then I'll like them. Thanks for the tip on the early Cortlands too--doesn't sound like any apple I've ever seen.

If you see Pink Lady(tm) apples for sale, I believe they are crispins. (Yes, trade-marked name... isn't that sad?)

[Robin Garr]

Red Idas or Ida Reds? That's an older variety, I believe. They're common in the Ohio River valley orchards around Louisville and Cincinnati, but may be regional.

When we lived in the Catskills we had a Northern Spy tree in the back yard. It's an heirloom variety, and I thought it was pretty good. The tree was too old and creaky to fool around with, but the windfalls alone kept us in apples and applesauce for the winter.

Two modern varieties that are hot around here this year are HoneyCrisps and SweeTangoes. I'm not an apple fancier, but Mary says she really likes them both, and she's a tough judge who can't stand Red Delicious or a lot of the modern varieties made to maximize sweetness at the expense of complexity. (Parkerized apples? ) She says the HoneyCrisps and SweeTangoes remind her of good white wines. No alcohol, though.

[Jenise]

Red Idas or Ida Reds?

Yes. And these did come from Ohio.

Two modern varieties that are hot around here this year are HoneyCrisps and SweeTangoes. I'm not an apple fancier, but Mary says she really likes them both, and she's a tough judge who can't stand Red Delicious or a lot of the modern varieties made to maximize sweetness at the expense of complexity. (Parkerized apples? ) She says the HoneyCrisps and SweeTangoes remind her of good white wines. No alcohol, though.

Honeycrisps are bigtime here, and there are whole orchards already in production. I find them too sweet and a bit flabby in texture. Never heard of the other.

But I must take issue with Mary re Red Delicious. Don't blame the apple for what bad PR has done to this variety. They're absolutely wonderful when picked at their peak which is actually when they're streaky and about half green. Unfortunately, however, the old red-apple-for-the-teacher cliche led clueless mothers who buy apples for school lunches to expect a solid red apple, and red delicious are now left on the tree until soft and overripe but oh so perfect looking.

[Jenise]

Oh, mean to add a tasting report on the first apple I've eaten from my little haul, the Cox Orange Pippin. A bit mealy in texture and nothing like the chalky density hoped for and remembered about green Pippins. Tangy enough tasting to eat it all instead of waste it, but the second one will end up in a pie.

If you see Pink Lady(tm) apples for sale, I believe they are crispins. (Yes, trade-marked name... isn't that sad?)

Jeff-
Pink Lady apples are Cripps Pink apples. Different from Mutsu/Crispins.

My favorite eating apple is a Mutsu (Crispin). They are tart to my taste, although I've seen some describe them as sweet. Extremely crisp and the best past is they are LARGE. I've never seen then in grocery outlets, so have to rely upon local orchards for my annual "fix".
FWIW, I don't "get" all the hype about honey crisps. Not bad apples, but nothing special to me.
Redwinger

Winger, the Mutsu is my favorite as well, but I never see them in Oklahoma. Last October while visiting family, I made a visit to an apple house in Ellijay, Georgia, specifically to pick up a bushel of that variety, and another of Stayman Winesap, which I like almost as well, but also never see here.

My favorite eating apple is a Mutsu (Crispin). They are tart to my taste, although I've seen some describe them as sweet. Extremely crisp and the best past is they are LARGE.

Bill, I'd never had a mutsu until last year when I was in Georgia and we made a trip to the country and got to taste apples at a farm stand. The mutsu was my favorite--I've never seen them here--sweet enough but plenty tart and most of all crisp. They were great cooked in a pie too.

Jenise, where did you go to get the apples in Georgia? I might know the place, if it's up around Ellijay or Blue Ridge.

Gravenstein, Cox's Orange Pippin, Tollman Sweet and Winesap. Harvested a very few of these from my 3 year old trees. Magnificent, all of them. Don't know why but nearly perfect specimens with no sprays of any sort.
Now, how to thwart the two legged marauder that absolutely ruined my quince tree by ripping off the largest, ripest specimens under cover of night yesterday. AArrgh

If you see Pink Lady(tm) apples for sale, I believe they are crispins. (Yes, trade-marked name... isn't that sad?)

Jeff-
Pink Lady apples are Cripps Pink apples. Different from Mutsu/Crispins.

Thanks, Red. I got the sounds confused.

[Jenise]

My favorite eating apple is a Mutsu (Crispin). They are tart to my taste, although I've seen some describe them as sweet. Extremely crisp and the best past is they are LARGE.

Bill, I'd never had a mutsu until last year when I was in Georgia and we made a trip to the country and got to taste apples at a farm stand. The mutsu was my favorite--I've never seen them here--sweet enough but plenty tart and most of all crisp. They were great cooked in a pie too.

Jenise, where did you go to get the apples in Georgia? I might know the place, if it's up around Ellijay or Blue Ridge.

Yeah, it was in Ellijay. We talked about it when I got back--probably wasn't the farmstand you used to go to, we decided.

Yeah, it was in Ellijay. We talked about it when I got back--probably wasn't the farmstand you used to go to, we decided.

Ellijay is an interesting little town, jammed in between mountains and rivers, and hardly a straight street save in downtown. Farmers discovered many decades ago that the area around Ellijay was perfectly suited for growing apples, so that became the dominate crop. And like farm regions everywhere, farm stands went up to market the crop to passersby, becoming known as 'Apple Houses' around there. Ellijay doesn't produce the bright colors one sees in Washington apples, but the flavors are generally superb. A lot of the less-than-perfect apples used to be sold for juice, but I can't recall which brand was involved, could have been Mott's.

[Jenise]

A lot of the less-than-perfect apples used to be sold for juice, but I can't recall which brand was involved, could have been Mott's.

Something I enjoyed there was the natural imperfection of the apples. Someone mentioned how big the mutsus are, but the truth is that apparently those trees throw off apples of many different sizes. I recall the bag we bought had as many of the small-normal size as the grapefruit size. What a delightful relief from the sorted standardization of supermarket apple shopping.

Btw, tried two more apples this morning. The Spartan--winey tasting and pretty white flesh, but too soft. They'll go in the pie I make today. What I'm gnoshing on now I love--a King David. It's a perfect apple for my tastes: crisp, dense and very tangy. It's a variety I never heard of before that claims to have been propagated from a single tree found on a farm in Arkansas in 1893. Might be a blend of Jonathan and Winesap or Jonathan and Black Arkansas.

Cortlands are my favorite eating apple. They grow a lot of them in NY State. One nice thing about them - they don't turn brown when you cut them open. Great pies too.

With a sufficiently sharp knife, no fruit will brown when cut. With a freshly sharpened knife, I once cut a pear slice and left it out for 24 hours with no browning.

Reminds me, some of my knives very badly need sharpening.