Of the hundreds of variaties of apples, only about ten varieties currently make up 80% of the apples you’ll find in the grocery store. Most consumers will recognize names such as Red Delicious, Gala, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Fuji, McIntosh, and Rome. How many of you have ever bitten into a juicy Northern Spy, a sugar-sweet Golden Russet, Thomas Jefferson’s favorite, the spicy Esopus Spitzenberg, or savored the pleasingly pink flesh of a Pink Pearl? These are delicious apples our great, great, grandparents knew and loved, and yet today you can rarely find them.






Some fall favorite apple recipes.

APPLE NUT COOKIES

½ cup shortening 1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg 1 cup applesauce
2 cups flour 1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt 1 tsp. cinnamon
2/3 cup chopped walnuts 1 cup peeled, cored and diced apples

Cream the shortening and brown sugar. Add egg and applesauce. Beat well. Add the sifted dry ingredients. Mix well. Add the apple and walnuts and mix again. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 min. until lightly browned. Place cookies on wire rack to cool.

TREE-MENDUS APPLESAUCE

About 4 lbs of apples (8-12 apples)
½ cup liquid
Sugar or honey (optional) ¼ cup to 4 medium apples
Cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves or apple pie spice to taste (optional)

Wash, core and slice apples. Peel if desired. Place apples in a saucepan with water, cover and simmer until tender. May put apples through a blender or mash with a potato masher. Add sugar or honey and spices to taste.

Serve warm or cold. This sauce can be canned by following the instructions in the Ball Canning book.

YUMMY APPLE PIE FILLING

Prepare piecrust of your choice for a two-crust pie
2/3 cup packed light or dark brown sugar
3 Tbls. flour
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
Dash of salt
1 ½ tsp. vanilla
3 lbs. of apples peeled, cored, and sliced into ½ inch slices to equal about 9 cups of sliced apples.

Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl, then add the apple slices and vanilla and stir gently to coat apples.

Spoon apple mixture into bottom crust and mound slightly. Add top crust and make a few slits to allow steam out. Sprinkle top with cinnamon/sugar mixture if desired. Place foil around pie edge to prevent from browning too quickly. Remove foil 15 min. before pie is done. Bake in preheated 425-degree oven for 30-40 min, or until the apple slices are tender.


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