What kind of apples do you like to eat?

[drl]

Hi.

Up here, just south of Frostbite Falls, we cherish anything we can grow. In the summer, it's tomatoes, but in the autumn, in the autumn! At and after the state fair, people go after apples. They buy them in stores, they pick them from the orchards -- even orchards are not too far away from the core (pun intended) of the Twin Cities. Apple pies, apple oatmeal crisp, apple ice cream with cinnamon (the latter good for lowering bad cholesterol, it is said), cider.

Luckily, the University of Minnesota has developed some interesting and hardy varieties: Haralson, and a few whose names are trademarks of the UofM: SnowSweetTM, Zestar!TM, and HoneycrispTM -- you can see some of the properties of these at: http://www.apples.umn.edu/orchards/index.html

It can take 30-40 years to get from research to the orchards, so it fits with the labor of our ancestors around here -- many of them cultivated. The wait for new varieties cultivates patience.

What varieties do you favor in your neck of the woods? ... cheers, drl

( edit 1: typo )

[harner]

That's an off the wall question. I thought this was going to be MAC-related! We have a many orchards in Northeast PA. Any kind of apple variation is accepted. I don't really know the "technical" terms for what they grow here. Red/green, it doesn't matter. I'm not too picky when it comes to apples.

[techieMoe]

I'm fond of Fuji and Red Delicious (and occasionally Gala).

[devils casper]

I don't really know the "technical" terms for what they grow here. Red/green, it doesn't matter. I'm not too picky when it comes to apples.

same here... dont know technical terms........ it should be tasty. thats all....



.... casper ....

[fingal]

I like the Cox's Orange Pippin. Small but very tasty. The best cooking apples for me are Bramleys. Cox's and Bramleys cross pollinate very well, and they're what I grew up eating.

[drl]

Hi, fingal.

I like the Cox's Orange Pippin. Small but very tasty. The best cooking apples for me are Bramleys. Cox's and Bramleys cross pollinate very well, and they're what I grew up eating.

The web page said the taste was Aromatic, which seems like an odd way to describe a taste. For example, the Haralsons here are tart, so to choose among the four standard tastes we usually talk about: a sour taste; the Honeycrisps are (predictably) sweet, and the texture is crisp (good economy of words there for the name).

I smoked pipes for a few years, and I recall how the tobacco tastes were described, which was not straight-forward (e.g. sweet, for French-influenced Louisiana Perique), so perhaps it's just a difficult task ... cheers, drl

[fingal]

Hi, fingal.

The web page said the taste was Aromatic, which seems like an odd way to describe a taste.

Yes true ... it's a very strange way to describe a Cox's apple! In fact they're just sweet and crisp, but with a well rounded taste that sets them aside from a lot of other varieties. Not that you can actually buy many different varieties of apple now.

[celticgeek]

Granny Smith for just plain eating - Granny Smith or Macintosh (Apple pun intended) for cooking.

[daacosta]

Is it OK if I say that apples can't be compared to oranges? <-- Lame post

[fitzso]

cold green ones. I love green apples when they've been in the fridge.