It's apple time

[Vannie]

Jay has lovely plums. Ooo that sounded dirty

 

[NotHardUp1]

No, prunes sounds dirty.

 

[Vannie]

I'm sick of this thread about apples.

I might have to make a thread all about Kumquats. So there!

 

[Peloso]

For something so noble, pure and delicious, apples sure are boring.

How have the watermelons been where you are Vannie? Up here they've been very bland. As have blueberries.

 

[Vannie]

How have the watermelons been where you are Vannie? Up here they've been very bland.

If you fill em with Vodka who cares?

Only purchased a half of watermelon this summer and it was not as sweet as it could have been. Had some really ripe and sweet strawberries today from a local Shoprite.

I do get mild allergic reactions from watermelon,cantaloupe and more serious reactions from apples. I mostly stick with pineapple,strawberries,mango and I'm a pear aholic.

 

[Peloso]

If you fill em with Vodka who cares?

I fill 'em with something else.

 

[Vannie]

I fill 'em with something else.

I hope you keep drilling new holes so you don't have to keep buying new watermelons

 

[72-Jay]

They both look very appealing. It makes you want to cook apples. And the plum looks such a beautiful color. Do you make jelly?

I can't cook. .lol. my mother took most of the apples & was going to make applesauce, I kept a few just to eat.. They will get a slight red-ish color when ripe if the sun shines directly on them.

Those plums do have a nice color & are interesting little things just over an inch across. The tree makes lots, but quite a few are lost to worms & tree-rats. (a good number of apples meet the same fate)

Jay has lovely plums. Ooo that sounded dirty

LOL yep it did




-----------------------------
At one time I had a peach tree too, but it ended up in the firewood pile after it was killed by beetles..

 

[ShadowCat]

OMG YES APPLES! I LOVE APPLE CIDER DONUTS! One (or 2) with a pumpkin spice iced coffee and I'm a happy bitch! I do love taking a drive to see halloween displays drinking a nice hot apple cider from speedway! Love apple pie, And a lot of different apples Fuji are my favorites I Do make a wonderful salad with spinach leaves, red delicious apples, on occasion walnuts, and chicken breast with Poppy Seed Dressing *chefs kiss*

 

[NotHardUp1]

I agree with apples being a great addition to a salad, especially if a vinaigrette is the dressing, or poppy seed.

 

[NotHardUp1]

For something so noble, pure and delicious, apples sure are boring.

That raises a couple of interesting points.

First, apples have endured because they are more or less the chicken of the fruit world in the U.S. They are bland enough that they are the vehicle for MANY diverse applications and enjoy popularity because they are not a strong or offensive flavor.

In addition to being a fairly neutral flavor, they bring a few other successful attributes to the party. Relative to other soft fruits, they have an incredibly long shelf life, and an inhuman ability to be kept in warehouses for years in an altered atmosphere, which is used by the apple industry to control price and manage overproduction. And they bring a crunch texture, an important addition to many preparations. Finally, they are extremely popular in juice form, which most fruits have failed to equal, aside from grapes and oranges.

The popularity of apple deserts also seems like it is really the popularity of cinnamon today. Honestly, you could chop and sweeten potato slices have almost the same thing. Almost, less acidity.

Also, the "pure" image of apples is strictly a commercial image and product, as apples grown at home are anything but, the fruits often stung, damaged, and marred by the plethora of insects, rusts, blights, and critters that attack them as a source of sugar. For those of us who had an apple tree, the idea of eating one right off the tree isn't something we necessarily relished without a pocket knife to peel it.

I can't cook.

That's funny. I've never thought of canning as cooking, even though it is. It always seemed more a product of husbandry, like drying apple rings or peaches or jerky. It was food preservation. But, you're right. It's possibly to ruin jelly very easily, if ruin means a loose texture, or cloudy. That said, who cares in a buttered biscuit?

At one time I had a peach tree too, but it ended up in the firewood pile after it was killed by beetles..

They are notoriously difficulty trees to keep. Blackspot, and a dozen other diseases make them high maintenance trees and fruits. If you don't spray, spray, and spray more chemicals, you don't get fruit worth a damn in almost any locale that gets rain. This reveals their "bad genes" as vulnerable members of the rose family, and explains why deserts are chosen by commercial nurseries to grow roses.

 

[Peloso]

That raises a couple of interesting points.

First, apples have endured because they are more or less the chicken of the fruit world in the U.S. They are bland enough that they are the vehicle for MANY diverse applications and enjoy popularity because they are not a strong or offensive flavor.

In addition to being a fairly neutral flavor, they bring a few other successful attributes to the party. Relative to other soft fruits, they have an incredibly long shelf life, and an inhuman ability to be kept in warehouses for years in an altered atmosphere, which is used by the apple industry to control price and manage overproduction. And they bring a crunch texture, an important addition to many preparations. Finally, they are extremely popular in juice form, which most fruits have failed to equal, aside from grapes and oranges.

The popularity of apple deserts also seems like it is really the popularity of cinnamon today. Honestly, you could chop and sweeten potato slices have almost the same thing. Almost, less acidity.

Also, the "pure" image of apples is strictly a commercial image and product, as apples grown at home are anything but, the fruits often stung, damaged, and marred by the plethora of insects, rusts, blights, and critters that attack them as a source of sugar. For those of us who had an apple tree, the idea of eating one right off the tree isn't something we necessarily relished without a pocket knife to peel it.



That's funny. I've never thought of canning as cooking, even though it is. It always seemed more a product of husbandry, like drying apple rings or peaches or jerky. It was food preservation. But, you're right. It's possibly to ruin jelly very easily, if ruin means a loose texture, or cloudy. That said, who cares in a buttered biscuit?



They are notoriously difficulty trees to keep. Blackspot, and a dozen other diseases make them high maintenance trees and fruits. If you don't spray, spray, and spray more chemicals, you don't get fruit worth a damn in almost any locale that gets rain. This reveals their "bad genes" as vulnerable members of the rose family, and explains why deserts are chosen by commercial nurseries to grow roses.

Yes but can you fuck them?

 

[NotHardUp1]

Did you mean that to go in the micropenis thread?

Or is this some sort of implied joke about crabapples?

 

[72-Jay]

apples grown at home are anything but, the fruits often stung, damaged, and marred by the plethora of insects, rusts, blights, and critters that attack them as a source of sugar. For those of us who had an apple tree, the idea of eating one right off the tree isn't something we necessarily relished without a pocket knife to peel it. .

Yep lots are lost to those various pests.
And yep, always cut up an apple from the tree before eating.....

They are notoriously difficulty trees to keep. Blackspot, and a dozen other diseases make them high maintenance trees and fruits. If you don't spray, spray, and spray more chemicals, you don't get fruit worth a damn in almost any locale that gets rain. This reveals their "bad genes" as vulnerable members of the rose family, and explains why deserts are chosen by commercial nurseries to grow roses.

I really prefer to not do a whole lot of spraying in general (sometimes you gotta do it, but I try to limit as much as I can). Biggest problem here is some type of bark-beetle/borer that ends up getting into the trees & killing them.

Sad because that one I mentioned gave really good peaches too. It did last a fair number of years(considering it was a peachtree). Never had any issues with insects or diseases affecting the fruits or leaves (maybe because its semi-desert here -- low humidity & we don't get much rain in the summer)?

 

[EddMarkStarr]

A La Mode Pies in Seattle uses locally grown apples for their pies.
They often use mixed varieties for flavor and texture.

 

[NotHardUp1]

^Zoiks!

$38-$45 per pie!

They look super fine, but that really REALLY does reflect the West Coast cost of living and urban market.

In the center of America, I think most, at boutique bakeries like that one, would struggle at anywhere over $25, barring big and stupid cities here.

On the other hand, their pies look top quality, so folks who don't want to do the work at home are getting the best, but at Rolex pricing.

 

[PrinceCory]

Did you pick apples yourself at any age?

Do you have a favorite variety?

Did you grow up with baked apples, cider, cobbler, strudel, Waldorf Salads, or just one in you lunch sack at school?

I just discovered Honeycrisp apples about 3 years ago...maybe less. Those are my fav. It also seems to be the most expensive apple to buy around here.

I've only picked an apple or two from a neighbors tree when I was a teen...or younger. We called them crab apples.

BTW

Does anyone else get a serious allergic reaction from eating raw apples? Had one very bad a few years back that scared me.

I don't get an allergic reaction. But I have found that eating an apple for breakfast and then having something fatty/greasy for lunch will give me the runs! It took me a year or two to figure out what was causing my "runs" to the bathroom.

 

[NotHardUp1]

I do get mild allergic reactions from watermelon,cantaloupe and more serious reactions from apples. I mostly stick with pineapple,strawberries,mango and I'm a pear aholic.

Vannie, is the reaction only with whole fruit or with any form of apple?

Wondering if it is the apple or the skin, and if the peel, then to the wax they are bathed in, or pesticides.

 

[me203]

It is not apple time! Apple time is fall--and I'm clutching to the last days of summer with a death grip!

I remember a fruit stand operator (who had access to better apples than grocery stores) commenting she put off eating apples as long as possible since the apples were one of the few fruit options for so much of the year.

I have no memories of picking apples--but I'm sure I must have have done it.

We had a couple of apple trees (at least) behind my childhood home. My father as I recall was more enthusiastic than my mother. Although one year she got ambitious enough to try making apple butter for the first (and last) time. I don't remember apple pie much--but I do remember her sometimes baking apples alone with IIRC a brown sugar sauce.

Weird thing last year was that I never saw red delicious apples at my regular grocery store. It felt really strange, since they were always such a staple. But the days of two apple choices, take it or leave it, are over, I guess.

 

[me203]

I just discovered Honeycrisp apples about 3 years ago...maybe less. Those are my fav. It also seems to be the most expensive apple to buy around here.

The prices are so high they should have a finance office by the honey crisp apples so you can arrange financing...