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Fall Celebration
Sep. 24th, 2006 07:41 pmI have proved to myself, after semi-extensive experimentation, that picking apples in the wet and chill is still impressively fun, if not quite as much fun as picking apples in sunny days of fall delight. The chilly damp also has the added benefit of making the cider-and-doughnuts part of the expedition feel much more virtuous, since it can be justified as necessary to warm and comfort your poor clammy body.
Berlin Orchards is still my favorite of the orchards that I've been to - their store, admittedly, is in the process of being revamped, but they still have the necessary cider, doughnuts, coffee, and tea. And they have more varieties of apples than I've seen anywhere else, including my utter favorites, Jonagolds and Cortlands. Most of the orchards here have Cortlands, but I haven't found many other places that have Jonagolds. They're just a touch sweeter than Cortlands, which makes a nice balance in applesauce and pies, but not so sweet that I feel like I'm sucking on rock candy, and their texture is incredibly crisp and strong.
I'll admit that at least half the fun of apple-picking for me is tasting different varieties of apples. I had never tried Golden Supremes or Ginger Golds before, and while neither is going to make my list of favorites in the near future (Ginger Golds are too mushy, and Golden Supremes are too sweet), I'm glad I had the chance to try them both. It's easy to forget sometimes just how wide a range of flavors and textures is available in apples today - during the rest of the year, they somehow seem to blend into one generic "apple" taste in my memory.
Right now, though, I am in apple heaven. I've got honey and cheddar cheese for just-plain-eating apples, there's a chunky apple cake in the fridge that I baked last night, and a pot of applesauce is simmering on the stove as I type this. If I'm feeling particularly industrious tonight, I'll bake apple cornbread for breakfast during the week. And later on in the week or next weekend, there will be apple pie and turnovers and cobbler and apple-cheddar scones, and anything else I can think of until I work my way through the almost-bushel in our refrigerator.
Life could be much worse.
Berlin Orchards is still my favorite of the orchards that I've been to - their store, admittedly, is in the process of being revamped, but they still have the necessary cider, doughnuts, coffee, and tea. And they have more varieties of apples than I've seen anywhere else, including my utter favorites, Jonagolds and Cortlands. Most of the orchards here have Cortlands, but I haven't found many other places that have Jonagolds. They're just a touch sweeter than Cortlands, which makes a nice balance in applesauce and pies, but not so sweet that I feel like I'm sucking on rock candy, and their texture is incredibly crisp and strong.
I'll admit that at least half the fun of apple-picking for me is tasting different varieties of apples. I had never tried Golden Supremes or Ginger Golds before, and while neither is going to make my list of favorites in the near future (Ginger Golds are too mushy, and Golden Supremes are too sweet), I'm glad I had the chance to try them both. It's easy to forget sometimes just how wide a range of flavors and textures is available in apples today - during the rest of the year, they somehow seem to blend into one generic "apple" taste in my memory.
Right now, though, I am in apple heaven. I've got honey and cheddar cheese for just-plain-eating apples, there's a chunky apple cake in the fridge that I baked last night, and a pot of applesauce is simmering on the stove as I type this. If I'm feeling particularly industrious tonight, I'll bake apple cornbread for breakfast during the week. And later on in the week or next weekend, there will be apple pie and turnovers and cobbler and apple-cheddar scones, and anything else I can think of until I work my way through the almost-bushel in our refrigerator.
Life could be much worse.
