Apples! Try the Ginger Golds...

[altivo]

One of the best times of the year is here. Nothing is better than an apple just picked from the tree, and now is when you can get them. The drought here in Northern Illinois has reduced the apple crop and prices are up, but it's still worthwhile. The spring was bad in our area too, we had hail and a hard freeze while the blossoms were on the trees.

However, our local orchards are open and picking. We stopped by the nearest one today and got a sack of Jonamac, a reasonably good variety that is tart rather than sweet and makes good pie. They tell us the Empires will be ready in two weeks, and Melrose in three. Those are my favorites of the locally grown varieties.

The supermarket had a surprise this morning too. They usually do stock the most common varieties: Red Delicious (ick), Jonathan, Gala, Fuji, Granny Smith. Once in while they get something else if it is in season and available. Last week they had Paula Red, a soft-fleshed but juicy apple with a good flavor. They don't keep long but they are a tasty treat early in the season, and they come from Michigan, my preferred source. This week they had a variety I've never seen before, Ginger Gold.

A quick check of my apple encyclopedia tells me that Ginger Gold comes from a random seedling found in a Virginia orchard about 20 years ago. It resembles the familiar Golden Delicious in shape and color, but ripens much earlier and is considerably juicier. I bought a bag for $1.50 just to see how they are, and they are really good. These won't last long, and probably there won't be any more around. The variety is on the increase, though. These also came from Michigan, and the apple book says that there were two sources for grafted trees in 1993 and five sources in 2000.

The apples are very sweet and very juicy. The skin is greener than a Golden Delicious, and some have a little russeting (brown sandpapery areas on the skin, said to be the sign of a good winter keeping variety.) The flavor is so good that I suspect they would make good cider, something Golden Delicious or Red Delicious do not succeed at. The flesh is tender but still crunchy and the skin is not tough. Altogether a great eating apple. I recommend it to apple fans.

Comments

[corelog.livejournal.com]

I'll make a note of that. :)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

If you like apples, it's worth watching for. I take my apples as seriously as some people take wines.

[bariki.livejournal.com]

*shivers* It's nearing the end of summer, so as always it's the time of year when we fish out rugs from last year, scrape the mud off them and patch them up ready for the horses over the coming winter. *shivers again* Local showjumping goes into hibernation, training always slows down to a trickle and the plethora of help that we have over the summer suddenly vanishes as the temperature drops. Wimps. :P From now until May is my least favourite time of year in this cursed country - the mud, the cold, the almost impenetrable greyness that drapes itself over the land and just won't ease away. And yes, I realise that is rather a lot of the year that I don't like! The reward at least is spring, which means green grass, gentle sunshine and a preponderance of foals. >:)

Autumn and winter - thin horses, sick people, cold feet, massive energy bills. x.x

Wow, that was so much more negative than I thought it would be. :P

[altivo.livejournal.com]

*stuffs an apple in your mouth*

Heh. I make no apology for loving fall and winter just as much as I love spring and summer. I'd be miserable in a place without seasons. In a month we may have glorious flaming colors all over the trees and baskets of apples for sale all over. Well, probably not baskets of apples, this has been a bad year. But I'm predicting really good autumn color.

Winter does mean gray skies, but not all the time here. And the mud will be frozen hard as iron until March most likely. I love snow too. It's beautiful falling and beautiful on the ground. We had our cord wood delivered for the wood stove this week, so we're all prepared for cooler nights. (Actually it's around 90F at the moment, so it's hard to imagine that yet.)

Cooler weather inspires me to cook too. Soups, fresh bread, cookies, pies. And the horses get all shaggy and fuzzy, and their legs are covered with flying feathers. I like that, they remind me of teddy bears.

The trick, I think, is looking for the good things that come with each season. I know it's a little different where you are, but there must be good things. Mulled ale? Cocoa? We are coming up on pumpkin pie season here, and apple cider, and fall festivals with locally brewed beers...

[bariki.livejournal.com]

*mumbles something unintelligible around the apple*

Just as well horses enjoy such things.. although not usually with quite so much emphasis on the stuffing. :P

I just hate being cold, it's that simple. Mud can be tolerated, and it's an excuse to break out the wellington boots. As for fuzzy horses, I'm less of a fan from a rider's perspective, because they always end up getting clipped out anyway. But from a more earthy perspective, some of them do look darn cute when hidden by two inches of fur. Shame about the mud fever, though - it can be a hell of a problem to fight it off a horse, and a lot of the horses always get so thin over the winter, despite our best efforts to keep their condition up.

Well, the coming of the cold means my birthday, which at my age is still something to look forward to. Most of my friends dread their birthdays, because they are older. *giggles* Also, it means the Horse of the Year Show in October and Olympia International Showjumping at the end of December, not to mention our venerable Christmas gymkhana on the last Wednesday of the winter season. Doing it this year on Heisei will be a riot... vaulting on and off a 17.3hh horse will be something special. ^)^

The worst part about it is the inevitable death of one old horse or another. It happens almost every winter - none last year, thankfully. It's a part of life, of course, and if you've lived as long a life as some of the equine OAPs at our place, there could be worse fates than dying peacefully in your sleep.

Hmm, perhaps it's better to look at the positive aspects of the end of the year, rather than bitch so much about the cold.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Hmm, perhaps it's better to look at the positive aspects of the end of the year, rather than bitch so much about the cold.

Absolutely. That was MY point. I find that cold is generally easier to deal with than excess heat. I can always put on an extra sweater (jumper to you folks I guess) or throw another log in the stove. I love hot soup or mulled cider. It's time to sit inside by the fire and read poetry or knit. Or sit by the window with a nice pot of tea and watch the snow or leaves falling.

We don't clip our horses, I just make sure to rub them down good if we do anything that sweats them. Tess gets the most amazing feathers, like she's half Shire or something. They seem to like the cold. Right now they're cranky about the heat and humidity. And since Haffies are such easy keepers, they stay fat all year. No weight loss in winter that I've ever observed. This year we may have to put them on a diet because the price of hay is going up, but it won't hurt them.

Losing old horses or old people is always hard, whenever it happens. But there's not much we can do about that except love them while they are still here and remember them when they are gone.

[bariki.livejournal.com]

Hey, you spoil my joke, I steal your point. ^)^

I prefer the heat, but I don't think that our Haffies do at all. They just look hot and bothered in the summer. And you're right, they look chunky all year round. ^)^

At least this summer we didn't lose any through injury. That happened last year and devestated one of my friends... but as you say, it's always hard. Now she has another horse and they get on very well. Never a replacement, of course, but life continues. I was gonna say life goes on but it's too cliched.

[bariki.livejournal.com]

Sorry for the totally non-apple related post. I think I went off half cox... er, cock. :P

[altivo.livejournal.com]

No, you do mean cox. Cox's Orange Pippin, one of the tastiest of apples, and one you can actually get there. No one grows them here, alas.

[bariki.livejournal.com]

Gah! That was the joke. Have you never heard the expression 'to go off half cocked'?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Sure. But most of my readers are Americans and have never heard of Cox's. So my remark was more for their benefit than anything else. :)

[bariki.livejournal.com]

But.. but.. you spoiled my joke. *bursts into tears*

I'm yet another victim of American ignorance. :P

[altivo.livejournal.com]

*feeds you oatmeal cookies with apple bits to make up for it?*

[bariki.livejournal.com]

And now a victim of American arrogance... I don't like oatmeal.

*nuzzles the pony* OK, OK. I take it back - all is forgiven. Roll on winter - all I have to do is find my huuuuge boots and my spare mediumweight rug for The Grey One.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Ack. What kind of horsey doesn't like oats? Must be a kind I've never ever met.

[bariki.livejournal.com]

The kind of horsey that relishes the heat.. perhaps deep down I'm an Arab? Remember you once wondered if I had an Islamic muse? ^)^

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Arabian blood explains the dislike for cold weather, but even Arabians like oats. Admittedly, the steel cut oats common in the UK aren't quite the same as our rolled oats here. I put rolled oats in cookies, and in some cases you probably wouldn't know they were there unless I told you. But I like the taste and texture myself.

When we have oatmeal for breakfast (frequently in winter) I save the leftovers and when they get cold I roll them into sticky balls the size of golf balls to give to the horses. Even if one is in a snit with me about something, they never refuse. Much drooling and nodding ensues, followed by sticky slobbery kisses.

[bariki.livejournal.com]

We don't have any Arab horses at my place.. the owners don't like them, since they can't jump for toffee (they claim), but from my limited exposure to them in Tunisia, I can safely say that oats didn't come up all that much in their diet there. *smiles* Although... no, no... I just won't say it. It'd lower the tone.

I like toast and marmite especially in the winter. That and a huge mug of hot tea. Mmm... tea and toast. OK, I've found another good thing about the colder months - it makes you appreciate hot drinks more, or any kind of warmth for that matter.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Marmite? Eew. I'll keep my oats, thanks.

[bariki.livejournal.com]

*laughs!* Almost every foreigner says that. ^)^

[jdel.livejournal.com]

Damn right!

Michigan apples are always very tasty. Most people that grow them make it a family-owned and operated orchard.

It's so nice to go to some of the orchards here and pick them yourself. You can always get a hold of the best ones at the orchards themselves instead of picking from a supermarket.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yep! I used to live in Michigan. Lotsa good fruit there. Peaches, plums, cherries, too. But the apples are special. I'll get bombarded for saying this, but they are better than Washington State hooves down.

Some of my ancestors came from Vermont back around 1805, and were orchardists there. They stopped in New York state for a while, working in the apple industry around Syracuse before going on to Michigan. You might say apples are in my blood or something.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

If you don't mind, I'm adding you to my friends list. Anyone who is a friend of sweet ceralor must be OK by me. And you like apples so you must be a good person. ;P

[drelonek.livejournal.com]

Mmm, apples.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Apple pie, applesauce, turnovers, fritters, cider, pancakes... Johnny Appleseed knew a good thing when he saw it. :)