One of my favorite fall activities is apple picking. There's like a 0.01% chance that it's NOT my favorite. And each year, I go a little overboard. I mean, last year we spent about $120 on the trip...but that's not overkill. Right? I mean, I have applesauce and apple pie filling ready to go for months afterwards. That cannot be a bad thing.
This year, Ryan put his foot down. We would go in, pick just enough, and we get out. He didn't say it out loud, but there was a "before you get crazy and spend $100 on apples again" in there.
The orchard by us grows about thirty different types of apples. Our plan? Macintosh. Jonamac. Greening. They were all in season and our top three favorites. They also happen to be the perfect combo together. The macintosh provide that iconic apple flavor. The jonamacs are the same apple-in-your-face flavor but harder than your traditionally soft macs. Then there's the greening, which are tart and add the kick to any apple filling.
Look at how picture perfect this was. It's basically impossible not to go overboard picking and eating them right off the tree.
After we found our favorites (and picked conservatively) we thought we should get a couple 20oz apples. What are 20oz apples you may ask? They're gigantic two pound apples that have little to no apple flavor. It makes my heart sad. But they make good filler. Unfortunately, I couldn't justify getting some after trying one and it being less than stellar. I couldn't. I just couldn't.
Thankfully though, there was another crop of apples ripe for picking. Blondees. These apples are winners. They're like a ginger apple-pear flavor cross. And they're going to be decadent in my apple filling.
Overall, we picked 29 jonamacs, 17 blondees, 16 macs, and 13 greening for a total of 35.10 lbs of apples. Roughly $48.79 at $1.39 a pound. A definite decline from last year's haul. However, in no way does this dampen my excitement for this autumn apple season and all the recipes I can't wait to try!
Happy apple picking!
What recipes are you cooking with this year? Are you sticking to tried and true or trying something new?
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