![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
altivoNothing beats having a half day off (except, of course, having the whole day... duh.)
Thought we'd go pick a few more apples this afternoon, but weather wasn't cooperating. Gloomy, with cold drizzle falling that later turned into a fairly hard rain. So we agreed to go for lunch and some groceries. Needed flour (for apple pies and pancakes, used up all the pastry flour) and Gary wanted some things to throw into a late supper since I've elected to drive a friend to the Audubon meeting tonight. As usual, picked up more supplies than intended, but all stuff we will use. Gary's miscalculation of the number of cans of dog food in the pantry has resulted in an amusing overstock, but I'm sure Red will be happy to take care of that problem soon enough.
Home, unpack and put away the spoils, and then, apple pie. Today's pie is half Empire and half Winesap. Empire is a modern hybrid developed at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station I believe, hence the name from "Empire State." It is a successful cross of Red Delicious with Macintosh, I'm pretty sure. The apples are generally larger than Macs, but have most of the texture and flavor of that parent, with some of the size and firmness of the Red Delicious. Red Delicious has very little flavor to me, but Empire is sweet and rich-tasting. Unfortunately, it doesn't keep very well, and tends to turn mealy like both parents. Winesap, on the other paw, is an old heirloom variety with what some folks call "character" (by which they mean that a lot of people who don't favor old style apples will spit it out after biting it.) Hard fleshed, it combines juicy and tart with a surprising amount of sugar and can be used to make quite a good hard cider. It keeps really well, as do most hard fleshed apples, and develops additional sweetness for a while after picking. I like Winesap to eat plain, and think of it as a "real" apple, but like many of the old 19th century varieties, it is hard to find. Fortunately one nearby orchard has a single row of trees, and we got there in time to rescue a full peck. It was amusing to walk along the row and see the number of apples that had been "sampled" and discarded, with just one or maybe two bites out of them. No, people, this is not Gala or Red Delicious. There are lots of those two rows farther down. Leave these to the real apple lovers and both you and they will be the happier for it.
So, the pie is in the oven, and will come out just before I have to go pick Susan up for the meeting.
Oh, and Red was happy to eat peels from both the Empire and the Winesap. No picky eater he. XD
Thought we'd go pick a few more apples this afternoon, but weather wasn't cooperating. Gloomy, with cold drizzle falling that later turned into a fairly hard rain. So we agreed to go for lunch and some groceries. Needed flour (for apple pies and pancakes, used up all the pastry flour) and Gary wanted some things to throw into a late supper since I've elected to drive a friend to the Audubon meeting tonight. As usual, picked up more supplies than intended, but all stuff we will use. Gary's miscalculation of the number of cans of dog food in the pantry has resulted in an amusing overstock, but I'm sure Red will be happy to take care of that problem soon enough.
Home, unpack and put away the spoils, and then, apple pie. Today's pie is half Empire and half Winesap. Empire is a modern hybrid developed at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station I believe, hence the name from "Empire State." It is a successful cross of Red Delicious with Macintosh, I'm pretty sure. The apples are generally larger than Macs, but have most of the texture and flavor of that parent, with some of the size and firmness of the Red Delicious. Red Delicious has very little flavor to me, but Empire is sweet and rich-tasting. Unfortunately, it doesn't keep very well, and tends to turn mealy like both parents. Winesap, on the other paw, is an old heirloom variety with what some folks call "character" (by which they mean that a lot of people who don't favor old style apples will spit it out after biting it.) Hard fleshed, it combines juicy and tart with a surprising amount of sugar and can be used to make quite a good hard cider. It keeps really well, as do most hard fleshed apples, and develops additional sweetness for a while after picking. I like Winesap to eat plain, and think of it as a "real" apple, but like many of the old 19th century varieties, it is hard to find. Fortunately one nearby orchard has a single row of trees, and we got there in time to rescue a full peck. It was amusing to walk along the row and see the number of apples that had been "sampled" and discarded, with just one or maybe two bites out of them. No, people, this is not Gala or Red Delicious. There are lots of those two rows farther down. Leave these to the real apple lovers and both you and they will be the happier for it.
So, the pie is in the oven, and will come out just before I have to go pick Susan up for the meeting.
Oh, and Red was happy to eat peels from both the Empire and the Winesap. No picky eater he. XD
