LavenderBlue

quiltingcandy, how interesting....I'm going to look from now on!

Iceblossom

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.

maviskw

Red Delicious and Golden Delicious are two very different kettles of fish. I have yet to meet the Red Delicious that I liked. They are really quite horrible. After about two chews you end up with a mouth full of straw. The only way I can eat them is with fruit dip.

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.

Doggramma

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.

tesspug

Here in Washington we get a lot of Honeycrisp. Very juicy and they hold their shape well.

Jingle

For eating I buy Gala.

luvstoquilt

I always used Jonathan, Gala or Granny Smith apples. I can’t find Jonathan apples anymore and they were my favorites.

maviskw

Extra sugar will not reduce tart. That's why there is always way too much sugar in a lemon pie. Tart is a taste you like or you don't like. If you don't really like it, I suppose the solution would be to use different apples.

tropit

Great tip! It really makes sense.

~ C

betthequilter

I'm a McIntosh fan. That's my "secret" ingredient for apple pies.