farmers' market: apples!
I went to the big Saturday market this morning intending to get apples. Of course I came home with a lot of things that weren't apples: an exceptionally beautiful yellow pepper and a very nice red pepper, sturdy green beans (the kind that can handle being curried), a big head of garlic, a pint of little raspberries (perfect for raspberry muffins!), a big bag of mixed greens, and a pound of white mushrooms. I've eaten out several times in the past few days, for various reasons, and while I do like eating out in good restaurants, I always miss my own home cooking (which is usually a pile of vegetables and a mug of milk).
But the big news today was indeed the apples, of which I got about five pounds. About three pounds of that is a mix of snow and cortland apples for applesauce; the snow is a little sweeter (but still the tart end of the scale) and cooks down to a very smooth consistency, while the cortland is a little more tart and a bit chunkier. I've never tried combining apples in sauce before, so we'll see if I can get the cooking right. Fortunately they're all about the same size, so I should be okay. This is a trial batch; if it goes well, I'll get more apples next week and maybe make some of katwrites's apple butter.
I also got eating apples, including several of my old favorite wolf river, but also branching out to a bunch I haven't tried before (in order here from sweet to tart):
hoople's antique gold: from Otway, Ohio; the farmer didn't know the date of derivation, but apparently it's a bud mutation of golden delicious. Beautiful dark gold, as the name suggests, with a rough, thick, almost pebbly skin.
sweet sixteen: dates from 1978 at the Minnesota Horticulture Center (I love those people); a quick google reveals that it's a cross between northern spy (the variety I used for pie last year) and "MN 447," which I assume is another MHC product. The ones I got are small with a medium rosy blush.
holstein: large, round, dark red with yellow spots; dates from 1918 in Holstein, Germany.
harvey: dates from 1936 in New Berlin, Wisconsin, and apparently only available from a few orchards right around here.
calville blanc d'hiver: a very old (c. 1600) French variety, still regarded as a premiere gourmet apple; clear yellow-green, quite tart, with a distinctive (and very strong) flavor.
It really feels like autumn now.
But the big news today was indeed the apples, of which I got about five pounds. About three pounds of that is a mix of snow and cortland apples for applesauce; the snow is a little sweeter (but still the tart end of the scale) and cooks down to a very smooth consistency, while the cortland is a little more tart and a bit chunkier. I've never tried combining apples in sauce before, so we'll see if I can get the cooking right. Fortunately they're all about the same size, so I should be okay. This is a trial batch; if it goes well, I'll get more apples next week and maybe make some of katwrites's apple butter.
I also got eating apples, including several of my old favorite wolf river, but also branching out to a bunch I haven't tried before (in order here from sweet to tart):
hoople's antique gold: from Otway, Ohio; the farmer didn't know the date of derivation, but apparently it's a bud mutation of golden delicious. Beautiful dark gold, as the name suggests, with a rough, thick, almost pebbly skin.
sweet sixteen: dates from 1978 at the Minnesota Horticulture Center (I love those people); a quick google reveals that it's a cross between northern spy (the variety I used for pie last year) and "MN 447," which I assume is another MHC product. The ones I got are small with a medium rosy blush.
holstein: large, round, dark red with yellow spots; dates from 1918 in Holstein, Germany.
harvey: dates from 1936 in New Berlin, Wisconsin, and apparently only available from a few orchards right around here.
calville blanc d'hiver: a very old (c. 1600) French variety, still regarded as a premiere gourmet apple; clear yellow-green, quite tart, with a distinctive (and very strong) flavor.
It really feels like autumn now.