Cookaholics Bulletin Board

My favorite are Arkansas Blacks. Looking forward to it ...

I like the honey crips too, but have trouble finding good ones here. I have a fruit market close by and last year the HC's were not that great. Hopefully this year will b different.

I have 3 apple trees that have a ton of apples this year. We picked a bussell last week. The deer are having a field day!

Laurie

Laurie,
The Cherry Street Market in Kalkaska is where I had my first Honeycrisp.

Just picked up some (a half peck, maybe) Honeycrisp at the local orchard today, and a half gallon of cider. Around here it's very difficult to get cider that doesn't have preservatives and isn't pasteurized (e.coli from manure). This orchard uses UV sterilization, which results in cider that can still harden in the fridge, although that might depend on how new the UV source is and/or exposure time.

Bought just one yestereday, wonderful. Now I need to go back to the market for more honey crisps. After the ones I had last year I was unimpressed. Probably the source of purchase was the problem. $1.69 a pound, one was $1.08 so they better be good!

Laurie

I love Pink Lady apples and Ambrosia (short season). I live withing minutes of several orchards...nedd to go picking soon with the kids, we try to do that each year....with varying degrees of success.

Pink Ladies are my favorite for fresh apple compote. I make it to go on our oatmeal.

How do you make apple compote?

Honeycrisp was bred right here in Minnesota specifically for this climate, so naturally they grow well here. They are very tasty and I don't even like apples. Another recent locally developed variety we've discovered is Sweet Tango - they are great for eating out of hand.

My brother has an apple tree of unknown variety. We picked a bunch of apples from his tree and made a huge apple cobbler. The apples were good but I have no idea what kind they were - very tart, perfect for baking. They were small, yellow to red, and super crisp.

Jean,

This is the basic recipe --

Fresh Apple Compote

2-3 apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch chunks*
1/3 cup dried fruit (more or less)**
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
large pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
small pinch of nutmeg

Chuck it all into a sauce pan***, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes or so****, stirring every so often.

*Bulk apples usually take 2 and bagged apples take 3.
**I might use more, actually. I really like dried fruit. My favorite for this recipe is Trader Joe's Golden Berry Blend - golden raisins, dried cranberries, dried cherries, and dried blueberries.
***I usually put it in my smallest saucepan, then curse because I just remembered that the lid broke 8 years ago.
****I don't really time it. If I start it as soon as the steel-cut oats are simmering, the compote comes out at just about the same time.