An Apple A Day

At the local farm market I found such an array of apples I had a hard time choosing so I went for a variety and decided to do an apple tasting. What a wonderful place in the country (and world I might add) to live where one can pick from 7 or 8 varieties of apples all grown in the field right next to the market. Thank you Johnny Appleseed and Mother Earth!

I chose 5 different apples for my apple tasting today. These included in the picture below from top left clockwise: Golden Delicious, Johnagold, Melrose, Honeycrisp and in the middle, Gala.

The Golden Delicious was large and firm, very juicy and on the sweet side.

The Johnagold was very sweet and juicy and also quite firm. A very nice eating apple.

The Melrose was an apple I had never tasted before. It was the most interesting tasting with a almost lemony perfumy taste to it. Quite unlike all the rest.

The Honeycrisp was my favorite. It was the least sweet of them all, very crisp (thus the name) and very juicy. Loved this one.

The Gala was the smallest apple and my least favorite. Though it was crisp, the flavor was bland.

With this wonderful mix of apples around me I decided to combine them all in a big pot and make some homemade applesauce. I peeled and cored the apples, cut them into bite size chunks, tossed them in the pan with a couple tablespoons of water and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon over medium low heat, covered them with a lid and let them stew away for 45 minutes. The house filled with that wonderful homey aroma of cinnamon and apples. I like my applesauce to have some detectable chunks so I don't cook mine down to total mush. The applesauce was on the tart side when finished so I added 2 tablespoons of honey at the end to complete this heartwarming fruit dish.