Apples apples apples

That time of year again. The apple trees have been heavy with fruit this year and we have done our annual apple pressing party. due to the most recent issues here it was scaled down a bit.. Only about 25 gallons. most of which is going to neighbors and family and friends. But now I get to make applesauce and pie filling and some apple chips and some leather and some other goodies to keep us in apple goodies until next year.

What does this have to do with van living? Not much, but I always take some of these goodies with us when we travel. I freeze the applesauce and the dried apple chips and leathers are great driving snacks. I like to make small apple crisps with the frozen pie filling, and I will make one batch of apple butter for our toasts while out and about. Hubby like applesauce cake so I usually make some and freeze it and take some with us too.
What is your favorite apple dish?

Have you every made fried pies? A southern favorite. You Tube has many videos but here's a very short one to show what they are. I've had them made from dried apple peelings. Very good!

Gr8ful said:

Have you every made fried pies? A southern favorite. You Tube has many videos but here's a very short one to show what they are. I've had them made from dried apple peelings. Very good!

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I have not yet tried that ... sounds yummy

Try them you'll love them & they're quick & simple.

I buy a fresh apple, cut it up, put some lime juice on the slices and put them in a zip lock bag in my small 12v refrigerator. They are tasty in the fall when newly harvested, fresh crop apples, served as a chilled snack. No cooking required!

yea fresh is so good! I don't leave the front door or sit down to a good movie or book or workstation without my bowl of apple slices. But I can't eat 150+ LBS of apples before they go bad. So, cider and apple sauce and pie filling and fruit leather and chips and whatever else I can do with those yummy things.

Son talked me into really thin slices in my grilled cheese sandwich it was very yummy also tried it with a small slice of ham and apple it was yummy. We had that with good cheap tomato soup and very good dinner. Along with a bowl of applesauce.

When my Grandfolks were alive I had a small orchard of about 30 trees on their property . Not all of them apples but I found that by growing fruit I didn't have as much time and effort in growing vegetables in the garden. I could load up some fruit and go to the tail gate markets & farmers markets and trade fruit for vegetables with no problem. I was always well met by eager traders.

One of the things I learned in that time was that most people didn't know what varieties of fruit were "good" and for what applications. For apples, some are good for cooking & baking, some are good for eating out of hand, and some are more universal. Stores mainly stock around 10 varieties but in the USA 2700 varieties of apples are grown and 7000 varieties world wide.

The most common apples you're likely to find in the big stores are: Galia, Granny Smith, Red Delicious, Macintosh, Honey Crisp, Golden Delicious, Rome, Pink Lady, and Cortland. And you may find some other varieties from time to time.

But there are so many good apples to enjoy that stores just don't stock. If you are in a large market where there are fruit stands in the inner city you may find some treats. My favorites when I can find them are the Winesap (a crisp tart apple) the York Imperial (lopsided little things but good) Cox's Orange Pippin, Spitzenberg, Maiden's Blush, Northern Spy, and Roxbury Russet (thought to be the first truly American apple)

If you are on the road in your rig, you may want to google to find Orchards holding events in your area to showcase what they grow. It is a great way to learn of other apples than the same old same old stores offer.

I used to belong to the Home Orchard Society but they went out of business in 2020 as I understand. Their Forum is still up however:

Home Orchard Society Forum

American Orchard video with 4500 varieties:

American Apple Varieties

So if you are sitting in Camp wondering what to do the next day, consider visiting an Orchard.

I have about 6 varieties of apples most are just good eating apples but one is my favorite applesauce apple. It is a nice pink sauce and always a bit sweeter than what you get in the store. I also freeze all my apple sauce as it changes the texture just a tiny bit. Smoother creamier and in my humble opinion just a bit better. The rest of my apples sauced are yellow or tan colored. We have one tree that is ripe by the beginning of September. But the rest are ripe mid-October. We had one that wasn't ripe until mid-November, but it got killed. It made the best pies. I have a bad/good habit of wanting to go where I can find the best of whatever at the time they are ripe. Made peach jam and Spiced plum jam and made Strawberry jam from the tiny bright red berries that are soooooo good for jam.
If you are ever in the Willamette Vally around this time of year, try some fresh picked hazel nuts. There are eating fresh types and baking types both yummy. The Columbia River Gorge this time of year has so many apples! also some very nice wineries.

What's the name of your apple? Personally, the best apple I've EVER tasted--or dried or made pastry with or sauce--is the favorite apple of America in the 19th century...the Northern Spy. (Spitzenbergs are a semi-close second). Problem with it is that it bruises easily so it doesn't ship well, and over the decades orchardists have gone more and more to apples that'll ship well...to the point that the apples that are common in stores are near-tasteless cannonballs. To bite into a Spy is a revelation...juice running down your cheeks...and the Pies or Baked Apples! To die for.
Makes me sick that the orchardists around me have actually pulled the trees out in favor of Braeburns and other inferior apples that the public demands out of lack of knowledge. Here in this section of the Willamette Valley I've watched the number of growers drop from twenty or so two decades ago down to...two? Maybe? Rare as hen's teeth now. If you're in the Hudson Valley or New England you're probably able to still get them. I hope. If so I envy you.

vanbrat said:

I have about 6 varieties of apples most are just good eating apples but one is my favorite applesauce apple. It is a nice pink sauce and always a bit sweeter than what you get in the store. I also freeze all my apple sauce as it changes the texture just a tiny bit. Smoother creamier and in my humble opinion just a bit better. The rest of my apples sauced are yellow or tan colored. We have one tree that is ripe by the beginning of September. But the rest are ripe mid-October. We had one that wasn't ripe until mid-November, but it got killed. It made the best pies. I have a bad/good habit of wanting to go where I can find the best of whatever at the time they are ripe. Made peach jam and Spiced plum jam and made Strawberry jam from the tiny bright red berries that are soooooo good for jam.
If you are ever in the Willamette Vally around this time of year, try some fresh picked hazel nuts. There are eating fresh types and baking types both yummy. The Columbia River Gorge this time of year has so many apples! also some very nice wineries.

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My favorite apple in recent years has become Honey Crisp.

rpmhart333 said:

What's the name of your apple? Personally, the best apple I've EVER tasted--or dried or made pastry with or sauce--is the favorite apple of America in the 19th century...the Northern Spy. (Spitzenbergs are a semi-close second). Problem with it is that it bruises easily so it doesn't ship well, and over the decades orchardists have gone more and more to apples that'll ship well...to the point that the apples that are common in stores are near-tasteless cannonballs. To bite into a Spy is a revelation...juice running down your cheeks...and the Pies or Baked Apples! To die for.
Makes me sick that the orchardists around me have actually pulled the trees out in favor of Braeburns and other inferior apples that the public demands out of lack of knowledge. Here in this section of the Willamette Valley I've watched the number of growers drop from twenty or so two decades ago down to...two? Maybe? Rare as hen's teeth now. If you're in the Hudson Valley or New England you're probably able to still get them. I hope. If so I envy you.

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The apple I am most in love with this year is our Bisbee apple it makes the best applesauce not to sweet or tart very juicy, we water them very well! The applesauce is a very pretty pink color. It dries well and makes the best apple chips. We also have a rome beauty that makes really good pies. All of them are good fresh eating apples. We have 2 early summer apple trees they kick off apple season with tart apples that make good leather and blueberry apple pies. They just get dumped together for cider. We planted them 33 yrs ago so not sure what all the others are.

I've listened to old timers around here in the Ohio Valley rave about the old "Ben Davis" apple. It was one of the first commercial shipping successes but today's orchardist are quick to explain that there are so many better apples available. (often referring to the Ben Davis as a hunk of styrofoam)

I like to mention the York Imperial apple to people who haven't heard of them. They are easy to identify because they are "lopsided" but they have a refreshing sweet tart quality that mellows as they age....and they keep well. Good for eating out of hand, making pies, baking, and even in cider. This variety is harvested during October & November so they should be available now.

You can find York Imperials canned as people fix these for breakfast apples to go with biscuits.



Food & Wine com list these 85 varieties from Heirlooms to Hybrids as varieties to try

https://www.foodandwine.com/types-of-apples-7976165

Worthy of mention in the discussion of apples is a pioneer orchardist named John Chapman. Born in 1774 in Leominster, Massachusetts, by the age of 18 he began to travel west with many others seeking a start in America. But his fortunes took a different direction and where he could have prospered he chose a simpler life that made him happy and welcomed by all who knew him.

Story of Johnny Appleseed




These are the areas he traveled and planted apple trees from seed and ministered. This took place over 50 years.




An interesting American Story but before Johnny Appleseed the Roman Soldiers who marched to areas as far as England planted apple trees along their trails so that this food source would be available. By around 300 BC apples had made their way into the hands of the Romans .........who were the first to deliberately start breeding apple varieties with a focus on taste & size. The apple quickly became a firm favorite fruit for the Empire.

Honey crisp are the best commonly available now, but the Braeburn was a just a bit tarter, and better.

It’s a shame they are no longer available. The also very good pink lady also seems to be disappearing.

What happened to the Braeburn? I've been meaning to mention that -- I loved it.

There are still a few growers in WA or at least they still sell them sometimes in the stores around here. Braebrns make good pies.

Arkansauce Blacks.
Crunch with a nice tang.
.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkansas_Black
.
I avoid any types of sugar.
Fatty liver and all that.
Zero grains, few root-vegetables, almost zero fruit, alcohol be danged.

As a follow up to Johnny Appleseed (aka John Chapman) you can see the map in red that showcases the extent of his propagation of apples across the eastern to mid west. Much of his travels in his early years were on foot as he was 18 in 1792 and there was little in the way of developed infrastructure. Native Americans had developed paths that they commonly traveled and early European explorers had come to use them and later western settlers had done similar. It wasn't until 1811 that the National Road (Rt 40) began to be built as both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson felt a western trades route would be necessary to pull the nation together and promote commerce. At this time John Chapman would have been 37 years old and had planted numerous apple trees and orchards. By 1825 the New York Erie Canal was opened and by 1827 Ohio's Erie Canal was opened. Chapman would have been 51 by the times of these transportation innovations and it isn't clear if he made use of them or not. What is known is that the Canals reduced the cost of shipping crops such as apples 90% from the cost of Ox Cart shipping across the early trails. Chapman produced many orchards for the benefit of people in general. If other farmers harvested apples from his sources and shipped them on the canals of the time it would have been within their reach to do so and develop apples as a vibrant trades crop in the east of the USA.

Johnny Appleseed died in 1845 at the age of 71 as a result of pneumonia. By the 1850's Railroads were beginning to be built.

When one wonders how one man on foot could have covered so much of America to plant trees along the roads and orchards it is worth taking into account the early infrastructure of the Native Americans, early settlers, and Government initiatives and support of Business involved with infrastructure.

Interesting to consider how apples got their start some 225 years ago when John Chapman first hit the road at 18.

This map illustrates the network of Canals that developed in his lifetime.

Canal boats were of three classes. Passenger, Mixed Passenger & Freight, and Freighters/Livery (freight & livestock)

I understand some of these are still being used by kayakers.