quiltingcandy, how interesting....I'm going to look from now on!
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My basic rule for cooking with apples is the shape. If it's round, it's a cooking apple. If it's pointed (more like a tooth) it's an eating apple. Red Delicious is more tooth shaped, Granny Smith are more rounded.
Of course, there are exceptions to every rule but this is a pretty good one for judging varieties you don't know well. Gravensteins make great applesauce because they just break down like that with very little effort :) Honeycrisp are delicious and not very pointed but have a high moisture content which is one of the reasons they don't store well and should be eaten around harvest time. I understand that they also grow quite large if left on their own, bigger than consumers really want. Opal is one of the newer eating varieties I rather like. |
Originally Posted by elnan
(Post 8166572)
I have never cared for Delicious apples, Honeycrisp is very good.
The Golden Delicious and really delicious and juicy for eating and are very good for cooking, too. But the best apple for a juicy pie is Wolf River. They were really prolific this year. Almost everyone who has a tree around here had difficultly find enough people to give apples to. I am very sad to see several bushels of the apples still hanging on the tree. I got at least 6 bushels myself. These apples are huge. One can weigh a pound and more. And they are late apples. They get sweeter only after a frost. This year it was 21º on a Sunday in October and we picked these apples the next Tuesday. I still have a few in the basement. Very few seed companies sell these but these are what I grew up with, so I try to get some in an apple year. They only have apples every other year. |
I've always used Granny Smith. My MIL always used Jonathons. I tried the Jonathons finally and they held their shape nicely, but I didn't use quite enough sugar and my pie was a little tart.
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Here in Washington we get a lot of Honeycrisp. Very juicy and they hold their shape well.
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For eating I buy Gala.
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I always used Jonathan, Gala or Granny Smith apples. I can’t find Jonathan apples anymore and they were my favorites.
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Originally Posted by Doggramma
(Post 8167082)
I didn't use quite enough sugar and my pie was a little tart.
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Originally Posted by quiltingcandy
(Post 8166665)
I was told by an apple farmer - when choosing an apple, look at the flower end. If it is closed it still has all it's juice, if it is open then it is drying out. It made sense, at first I thought he was pulling my leg but since I use that method I haven't bought a bad apple since.
~ C |
I'm a McIntosh fan. That's my "secret" ingredient for apple pies.
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