Ask people to name their favorite season and you’ll get as many responses as there are times of year.
I used to like Indian Summer and January Thaw the best (yes, those ARE official seasons…). I liked them because they were unexpected flickers of warmth in the middle of times that are supposed to be chillier. But now I have a new favorite:
Apple season.
Of course you can’t grow up in this Valley without apple memories. You can’t hurl a fallen Winesap without hitting an orchard and a “pick your own” sign. The love affair begins early – fresh cider from the farmer’s market, the yearly expedition to the nearest orchard to climb trees and eat McIntoshes until your belly gets sore, the smell of Mom’s apple cake fresh from the oven, calling everyone to the table for dinner.
But apples were such a fact of life, a fact of Fall, that I always took them for granted.
This sea change occurred on a sparkly warm afternoon a couple weeks back when I was driving home from an appointment in Stone Ridge (an area with an especially high concentration of orchards). I was feeling especially in need of comfort.
And I looked to the side of the road and on one of these “pick your own” signs were the magic words.
“The Honeycrisps are in!”
I popped on my turn signal.
They were heavy, and smelled sweet, and after I filled my bag and paid, I asked the proprietress for a napkin because one of these beauties wasn’t going to survive the trip home.
The rest of them didn’t hang around too long, either.
Apparently, whatever weather conditions are supposed exist in order to make a fine crop existed. I’ve tried several varieties and haven’t had a bad one yet.
And don’t even get me started on the Macouns.
As some of you know, this is my favorite apple. Beyond the thin skin and their crispy sweet-tartness is the shortness of the season, which makes them all the sweeter. Ditto clementines and Vidalia onions. In this age of trucking produce all over the country and flying it across the planet via cold storage and pesticides and wax coatings, it’s hard to find any produce that has a limited availability and this is one of them.
Excuse me. I’m off to buy some more.
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5 comments:
Fuji's and winesaps are my favorites...usually.
Had never heard of 'honeycrisps' before...and then...when I stopped in to our local produce mart to pick up some tomatoes (::sniff:: the end of that season is upon me, so sad to say), the sign out front said they had 'honeycrisps'. I picked up about a half dozen of them and wanted to let you know that I appreciated your recommendation. YUMMY!! Thanks for sharing. The tip was most timely!
Mmmm, apples.
That is all.
T-glad you found some, glad you like them! A friend turned me on to them because they were the only kind her 7-year-old would eat.
I was so bitter the other day. Stopped by the orchard and...only 3 Macouns left!
"Is that all there is?" I asked with a pout. "I mean, you're growing more, right?"
She reassured me that there indeed were more out there. Believe me, if I were more fit, I would have fetched them myself!
Ok, so, I was in the store Tuesday night (or Wednesday morning, whatever). And there were like, a shload of apples out front. And I thought, 'Hmm, wonder if there are any Honeycrisps?'
So I looked. And there were. So I bought about nine of the ginormous beauties. And after putting all the groceries away when I got home, I sank my teeth into one.
Mmmm, apples.
That is all.
I mustered all of my discipline yesterday, after stopping at a farm stand, not to stop my car at the side of the road and grab a Macoun out of the grocery bag in the trunk...
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