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Holmberg Orchards

They have absolutely wonderful cider.

Wingards farm Market

In Shippenville on Route 322 between Clarion and Route 66. It's really in the middle of nowhere. Just a little stand that had Ida Reds, Pippins, Russets, Jonathans, Jonagolds, Melrose, Northern Spy, Molly Delicious, Mutsu, and Cortlands, alongside the standard fare. I bought several pounds intending to share. Truly The best Pippins and Russets I've ever had.

I got out the old hybrid book and looked up a few of the above.

Molly Delicious was first bred in New Jersey in 1966. Back in the sixties the Red Delicious was not avilable year round as an import, and this early ripening hybrid was fiscally appealing.

Ida Reds are from the Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station, first debuted in 1942. It's a cross between a Jonathan and a Wagener.

Melrose is a cross between a Red Delicious and a Jonathan. They originate in 1944 at a breeder in Wooster, OH.

"Pippin" is just a colloquilization of the French word "pépin" meaning seed. A pippin is any apple grown from a "pip" or seed. By the 1700s the term had come to denote a hard, late-ripening, acidic apple. There are many kinds of pippins this could have been. Newtowns were an early american apple but true Pippins reipen in midwinter. It's too early for that. It could have been a Cox's Orange Pippin, Blemheim Orange Pippin, or even a Allington Pippin. the season is early for The Allington, the Blemheim is a tad obscure. Cox's have a russeted area around the stem as this did so I am fairly sure it was that one.

I want one

Old News

Calendar insert, Hartford Courant October 2006. I like that apple stamp design there.

Dried Apple Rings

One of the most effective ways to keep apples for the winter. also one of the oldest. Understandably they lost their inherent juciness, but oddly they lose all their tartness and most of the sweetness. A dash of sugar and cinnamon balances it out. The texture no longer lightly grainy and crunchy now is chewy like a firm marshmallow.

Oddly, though the rings begin of even thickness, they dry to an uneven thickness making for interesting mouth-feel. An interesting related apple moment below.
http://piclib.nhm.ac.uk/antarctica/?p=70

Giant Apple Gourd

Originally called African Squares, these oddand very large apple-shaped gourds are popular at farm markets and roadside stands. IN your garden you'll notice that their vine growth provides excellent foliage coverage for the fruit. The four-pound fruit are medium green with darker green specks. They look kind of like giant green apples.

Inedible of course, but when dried they are popular with theh patchouli home crafting bunch and also used to be made into bodies for home-made hurdy gurdys.

For sale here: http://www.gourdguy.com/store/
among other places.

Apple of our ire

Pleasant wordplay in the Houston Chronicle
February fourth in the Outlook section

Apple Pancakes

http://www.harpswellanchor.com/index.shtml

The best thing about apples is that everywhere they grow, there is local lore and local fare.


This was from a series of "Costal Cook Stove recipes." My great grandmothers house had a cook stove in it, or at least that's what I remember.

Turkish Apple Tea

It is not at all like the tea we drink in America or that in Asia or Europe. It may infact have no tea in it, perhaps not even caffiene. Traditional Turkish Apple Tea is more herbal and will contain apples possibly safflower petals and ginger.

Brewed tea is recognized as the national drink of Turkey and is consumed in far greater quantities than coffee or any other beverages excepting water. The country grows nearly all of what it drinks from the large tea plantations located on the Black Sea coast. Among Turkey’s traditional brews is Turkish Apple tea – referred to as Elma Çay.

Many homes in Turkey keep a pot of tea constantly on the fire, adding fresh, hot water to the leaves before serving. Nearly all Turkish tea is brewed samovar-style, A small pot of intensely strong tea sits on a larger vessel of boiling water. The tea is poured into glass cups and diluted with hot water to the desired strength.

The apple tea may be dried and rendered into a granulated powder which can be mixed with hot or cold water. Normal preparation is Two Teaspoons Of granules into cup, add hot water. Stir and sugar to taste. Supposedly it is very similar to cider.

This backpacker speaks highly of it: http://www.solotravel.org/istanbul-travel-guide.htm

Apple Postcard

Apple Postcard, from "Still Life with Apples and a Pomegranate" by Jean Desire Gustave Courbet. Card printed by Nouvelle Images, in Lombreuil France.

Æbleflæsk

what?

Yes, Æbleflæsk is usually served during fall and winter. There are lots of local variations in the way of how to prepare this dish just right. Dark beer is the right beverage to accompany it.

Æbleflæsk is the traditional Danish meal of Boiled apples with bacon

Peel the apples, remove the core and cut them into clices. Cut the bacon in fairly thick pieces. Put the apple pieces in a cooking pot together with a little bit of water (prevents the apples from burning). The apples are cooked until they reach a porridge consistency Add a couple of spoonfuls of the liquid bacon fat, and depending on the sweetness of the apples add sugar. While cooking the apples fry the bacon in a pan or in the oven. The bacon is fried until it reach the state crispiness you prefere. Serve the apples and bacon with a strong rye bread. more here:
http://www.pcl-eu.de/project/index.php

Similar is the more German dish Aepfelradln (beer paste baked apple rings).

Apple Dye

Yes those disgusting heathens at the FDA approve of dying apples. Ick. But they also identified ketchup as a vegetable in 1982 so that's about as far as you can trust those vested morons.

So there are 2 parts to this.

1. Dyes they put in apples
2. dyes you can make FROM apples.

1. oh how depressing...
While its really difficult to dye a whole apple because of the varying permizbility of the fruit, dried apples in instand oatmeal and the like are frequently dyed for color consistency.

2. What fun.
Many fruits, vegetables and flowers make great natural dyes for foods as well as fabrics. With the holidays upon us, let's take a look at the typical American holiday dinner and find as many items as possible to make dyes. Save the peels from some yellow apples. They can be made into a golden yellow dye, or greenish-yellow if they were green apples.

Lenticel Breakdown of Apples

This is far too technical to even summarize.
http://postharvest.tfrec.wsu.edu/aniline-blue.pdf

Drying apples