It’s apple season!
We live right next door to an orchard (a large one), and they’ve been harvesting for weeks now, large crates full of apples stacked everywhere. So in honor of apple season, here are some random things I’ve learned about apples.
1. According to Grandpa Hogue (who passed away in March), Ginger Gold is the very best applesauce apple.
2. According to me, a mix of tart and sweet apples makes the best applesauce. (Grandpa preferred his very, very sweet!)
3. They have amazing machines at an orchard for sorting out apples. One machine looks like a vertical conveyer belt with ledges; it can be set it to sort out just the Grade A apples. Or just the cider apples. It’s really cool. The apples can ride up and drop out onto a horizontal belt or be carried right back into storage for another sort later.
4. Honeycrisp apples are a northern apple. They grow best in cooler places (like Wisconsin). Our orchard grows them, but they can’t really sell them to their distributers because they won’t turn the bright red that the stores want to see. Our orchard’s apples stay a yellow-red mix because it gets just a bit too warm for them here in Ohio. Oh, and they take A LOT of extra work and money to grow (more spraying -on a non-organic farm, more tending, more harvesting, more manpower), so that’s why they’re so expensive. In case you ever wondered.
5. Apple trees have to be pruned starting right after harvest in order to produce well again the following year. But it has to be done very carefully. You have to know exactly what to do or you’ll cut off the places where your apples would have grown. Not a good scenario for an orchard!
6. Every year or two, they will pull out a bunch of trees. As in a dozen or more at once. There will just be a long row of uprooted trees lying on the ground. It looks wrong somehow, but an old tree won’t produce as much fruit, I guess. So they make sure to plant new and remove the old to keep a good rotation.
7. Deer are permitted to be shot on an orchard year round. So even though I live out in the boondocks surrounded by trees, I never see deer because we’re so close to the orchard.
8. And finally, here is the very best applesauce you will ever taste, courtesy of Grandma Hogue.
Grandma Hogue’s Applesauce
Wash, peel, core & slice apples into large pot (thicker slices make chunkier applesauce, thinner slices make smoother).
Add water (1 c. for every qt. of apple slices – I get good results doing 4 qt. of apples at a time) and simmer until tender, but still chunky.
Add (for every qt. of apples) 1/2 c. sugar or more to taste, a dash of salt (1/8 tsp.), 1 tsp. lemon juice, and 1/8 tsp. cinnamon or nutmeg
Stir well and taste, adding more sugar if needed. Cook 1 minute more and remove from heat. Can be canned or frozen easily. Or just eat it right then! Yummy!
