If a certain old saying is true, I should never have to go to the doctor's in the fall. I eat a lot of apples. Not only do I eat a lot of apples, I eat a lot of varieties of apples. How many? Well I decided to keep track of that here on the blog this season. See how many varieties I actually eat, right here on the blog. Plus I needed some place to direct my Instagram traffic to. If you are coming from Instagram, welcome, leave a comment. Tell me what brought you here.
I am calling this post my personal apple journal. I am going to use it year to year to help me find and remember the best tasting apples and when they are tasting the best. If you are really into food, I recommend doing a food journal. Write down your thoughts on what you are eating, so in the future you have something to refer back to. Helps not to forget that really good recipe you found or in this case, that really great apple. I making my food journal, live for the world to see 🙂
How Do I Find All these Apples
You might be wondering how in the world I find all these apples to try. I do a lot of active search for apples. I visit different orchards throughout the season. Farmer's market are one of my number one sources. Grocery stores too. I am fortunate that my local Whole Foods Market gets apples in from an orchard that grows hundreds of varieties. They sell them for 99 cents a pound too, so it's a fantastic deal.
99 cents a pound for local apples (many heirlooms) at Whole Foods. Love it 🙂
What You Might Not Know About Apples
Something I think a lot of people do not know about apples is their flavor can change with age. For example, I tried a Swarr apple right when I first saw them. They were a bit too tart for my liking. After a week, they sweetened up more and had a good, almost pear like flavor. Or take a Paula Red apple. They are way too tart when first picked, but melllow out and get a lot sweeter after about a week or two. Unfortunately in their case, they get soft as that same point too - still make good applesauce though. Gala apples taste their best right off the tree. They are sweet and with good flavor. That flavor really mellows out the longer they are stored.
I like to say the name of this apple like a pirate. Swarrrrrrrrrrrrr.
Apples are not actually more similar to peaches than you think. Nearly all peaches you found in the grocery store are hard and need time to ripen to be good. Most people don't want to bite into a crunchy. Sometimes apples need time to mature after picking to be at their peak. The different apples have is people do like them crunchy and they are easier to eat immediately. Finding when an apple is at peak of flavor only comes with experience and honestly a lot of luck. What makes it harder is that you can even see differences in a variety from orchard to orchard, particularly when those orchards are in different states or regions.
The List of Apples I Have Eaten in 2017
Here is the list of apples I have taken a bite of this season. If you have any questions about any of these varieties let me know. As we go down the list I will provide a few bites of knowledge to go with these apples. As the season progress so will the list.
1) Gravenstein
Had the best Gravensteins ever from Johnston Fruit Farm in Swanton, Ohio. Full of flavor, perfect sweet/tart balance. These apples are hard to pick for the perfect flavor. Even the bag I got of them had some great ones and some just ok ones.
2) Mollie's Delicious
3) Ginger Gold
Choose these apples when they are fully yellow, with no green.
4) Swarr
A week after I bought these the flavor was outstanding.
5) Chestnut Crab
Best crab apple variety out there. Sweet with some tartness with a nutty flavor. Great small apple for kids.
6) Paula Red
Tart early in the season, then 2 weeks in, they become too soft, but great applesauce choice.
7) Initial
This apple won a taste test at my house with some friends.
8) Rave
Newest variety from Stemilt Fruit growers. Crisp and juicy. Slightly more tart than sweet. Not bad, but nothing to really rave about.
9) Gala
Fresh off the tree when perfectly ripe is the best.
10) Cortland
11) Elstar
12) SweeTango
13) Holiday
14) Maidenblush
A very dense apple, Not very juicy.
15) St. Edmund's Pippin
A sweet russett type apple that went soft pretty quickly.
16) Blondee
17) Macoun
Had one too early in the season, had not developed enough flavor. Better picked later in September or early on in October.
Apple Reading Material
If you are into apples as much as I am, or just getting into them here is some recommended reading material (note these are affiliate links)
Apples of Uncommon Character
This book is a fantastic introduction to the world of heirloom apples. Tons of great photos. The kind of book you put on your coffee table with pride.
The Apple Cookbook
Need some ideas on how to use up all those apples you picked at the u-pick? This book has got plenty of inspiration for ya.
Cleo @ Journey to the Garden
Hi Eric, I found your blog through the FoodBlogger Pro forum. I just ate a Fameuse apple (I think it's also called a Snow Apple) from a friend's very old tree. She says they're normally not harvested until mid-October and when we looked them up, they used to be very popular but something wiped many of the trees out, and they were replaced by the McIntosh apple. Very interesting post and right up my alley. I'm looking forward to reading more of your blog!
~ Cleo ~
Eric Samuelson
Hi Cleo.
Thanks for coming to check out my blog. Yes, you are correct Fameuse is called the Snow apple for it's snow white flesh. I have had this apple this year myself recently, got them at Whole Foods Market.
I will check out your blog as well 🙂
Luke
Where did you find the swarr apples? Wholefoods? I'm trying to contact someone who grows them to see about their pollinator group. Not much info out there about this variety.