Finally, the autumn harvest of apples is underway.  Soon, the markets will be overflowing with a wonderful variety of new crop apples.  While trying to find fresh apples close to home, I often reminisce about visiting apple orchards while on vacation in Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee.  I remember being absolutely amazed at the varieties of apples available; each apple with its own unique flavor, texture and purpose.  It was wonderful walking through the fresh air barns, bursting at the seams with the fall crop and being able to grab any variety of apple we wanted and try it.  I never imagined that a “fresh off the tree” apple would taste so different than the ones which had traveled hundreds or thousands of miles to get to our local market.  We had a grand time that year picking out our favorite apples and then trying to figure out how we were ever going to get all of them home.  We gorged ourselves on apples and still had bags and bags of apples stashed in every nook and cranny of the van for our trip home.  Every year I wish we could go back and go “appleing”.  There is nothing like cool weather, fresh apple cider and the beautiful fall colors to get me in the mood for cooking up some tasty apple dishes. 

With the advent of global markets and state-of-the-art refrigeration, “fresh” apples are available all year with a peak season from September to November.  With over 7000 varieties of apples, it can be a rather daunting task to figure out just which ones to select.  Unfortunately, most of us only find fewer than 5 varieties to choose from. In our local markets, however,  I normally only run across Gala, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Fuji and Granny Smith varieties of apples.  At this time of the year though, I will sometimes find Cameos, Rome, Jonathan, Braeburn, Macintosh and Pink Lady varieties.  We use Granny Smith apples for stewed apples; Fuji or Pink Lady apples for eating; McIntosh apples for homemade applesauce; and Red Delicious for our smoothies since they have the highest anti-oxidant level of all apples.  Of course, these are just our family favorites.  In general, I have found the guide below very useful for guiding our produce market customers to the right variety.

 Click here for a womderful Apple Cake Recipe.

Apple Guide:

Applesauce or Canning: Macintosh, Golden Delicious, Paula Red, Rhode Island Greening and Spartan.

Baked: Braeburn, Gala, Gravenstein, Rome, Beauty and York Imperial.

Pies: Granny Smith, Jonagold, Macintosh, Northern Spy, Romes and Winesap.

Raw: Baldwin, Braeburn, Cameos, Cortland, Criterion, Fuji, Gala, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Gravenstein, Jonagold, Jonathan, Lady Apple, Macoun, Macintosh, Newton Pippin, Northern Spy, Pink Lady, Red Delicious, Rhode Island Greening, Stayman, Winesap, and York Imperial.

Little known apple facts:

1. Apples are the 2^nd most valuable fruit crop in the United States (oranges are the number one crop)
2. The Pacific Northwest provides over 50% of the US apple crop.
3. Over 75% of the apples consumed in the United States are eaten fresh. 
4. Because of its high fiber content, apples help relieve constipation, but applesauce helps relieve diarrhea!
5. Apples also help remove plaque from our teeth.
6. Johnny Appleseed was born John Chapman on September 26th, 1774 and he was responsible for spreading apple seeds all over Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois.
7. Apples are a member of the rose family.