About Apples

Yesterday I bought some apples.  I decided to have an apple-fest Saturday morning, and I did.

I would have been more or less done by 11am or so this morning, if I hadn’t had a pie-crust-crisis.  It was an experimental crust.  Seriously, the considering how often I make pies (not very often), I should have stuck with the recipe I know and like.

As it was, I ended up using the recipe I know and like anyway, after throwing out the experimental dough.

But let’s talk about apples.

Apples are a somewhat exotic fruit here in Mexico.  They do grow some apples in the country, but until recently most of the variety of apples that you in the USA or Canada are familiar with were rare and expensive.

Which means, of course, they were (and are, actually) very cool.

So it’s not unusual to see a house with a painting of an apple on the wall.  Or apple air fresheners.  And so on.

Apples are still by no means the cheapest fruit, but they have come down in price, and once in a while we can even find some variety – more than just two kinds.

So after today I’ll have some dried apples, some apple sauce, and two different kinds of apple pie.

So I like apples.  I like cooking with apples.

Apples are usually pretty good for people with migraine, by the way.  They’re not likely to trigger an attack in most people.  As long as they don’t eat a whole flat of apples.

Interestingly enough, apple juice may trigger a migraine attack, but apples probably not.

Now, If you want to do almost anything with apples, and you’re not sure what kind to buy, go with Golden Delicious.  They’re smaller apples with a yellowish kind of colour.  A fantastic all-purpose hybrid apple from West Virginia.

Golden Delicious apples are easy to peel, yummy to eat, great in applesauce and pretty good dried or in fruit leather too.  And they’re FANTASTIC for pies.  Really.

They also don’t brown as fast as other apples when you cut them.

If you want to get more sophisticated, try Galas for applesauce, and then mix in a few other types, like Red Delicious (a few – applesauce with Red Delicious as the main apple isn’t the way to go) or Golden Delicious.  (Actually, one of Gala’s parents was a Golden Delicious)

For fruit leather or dried apples, Braeburn (an apple from New Zealand) and Cameo are also winners.  Sprinkle some cinnamon on them before you put them in the oven/dehydrator to dry.

There wasn’t a lot of variety in the store today, so my creations were primarily Gala and Golden Delicious, with the occasional Red Delicious and Granny Smith.

Anyway, aside from eating apples I’m trying to get ready for the baptism service tomorrow.  Exciting times!  I’ll try to get some photos/video for you.

In the meantime, eat an apple.