A Is for Apple : More Than 200 Recipes for Eating, Munching and Cooking with America's Favorite Fruit

by PATENT, GREGPATENT, DOROTHY HINSHAW

• ISBN13: 9780767902038
• ISBN10: 0767902033
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 1999-07-01
• Publisher: Broadway

Summary

A tart-sweet, sun-crisped apple plucked from a hundred-year-old tree and eaten out of hand. A mug of hot curried apple soup enjoyed as an autumn lunch. Cider-braised duck legs with onions and cabbage. Warm deep-dish apple pie topped with a melting scoop of apple-cinnamon ice cream. Everyone has tasted Golden Delicious and Granny Smith apples, but how about Esopus Spitzenbergs or Sweet Sixteens? With more apple varieties available than ever before, how do you choose the right apple for eating, cooking, and baking? InA Is for Appleyou'll discover the many pleasures of America's favorite fruit. Filled with helpful hints on how to grow, select, and cook a wide variety of apples, this bountiful collection presents more than 200 recipes for everything from soups, salads, and salsas to crisps, cobblers, and cheesecakes.

Author Biography

Greg Patent and Dorothy Hinshaw Patent met and married while in graduate school at the University of California, Berkeley. Greg is a chef, author of several books, and a contributing editor to <i>Cooking Light</i> magazine. Dorothy is the author of more than 100 children's books, including two about apples, and she is the coauthor of <i>Backyard Fruits and Berries.</i> They live in Montana and every year enjoy the harvest from their backyard apple trees.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Preface	p. xi
Our Favorite Fruit	p. 1
Apple Basics	p. 5
Ingredients	p. 25
Pies and Tarts	p. 29
Desserts	p. 62
Cakes	p. 94
Cookies	p. 114
Breads	p. 122
Soups and Salads	p. 145
Seafood and Game	p. 163
Poultry	p. 173
Beef, Pork, and Lamb	p. 198
Side Dishes	p. 215
Apple Thises 'n' Thats	p. 231
Growing Your Own Apples	p. 249
Mail-Order Sources	p. 261
Bibliography	p. 265
Index	p. 267
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

Apple Basics

I tell you folks, all politics is applesauce.
--Will Rogers, The Illiterate Digest

Today, all over the United States, apples occupy the largest fruit segment in supermarket produce sections. From Florida to California, it is not unusual to find a dozen apple varieties in any one store. This is very encouraging, because it indicates not only the desire on the part of the public to try new types of apples, but the store owners' willingness to take chances in making these different varieties available.

The varieties change during the fall and winter to reflect what's available at any given time. Moreover, even though the United States is one of the world's largest growers and shippers of apples, we import apples from New Zealand and Chile during their growing seasons, giving us the luxury of purchasing freshly picked Granny Smiths, Braeburns, and Galas during our spring months.

Supermarkets will carry apples that look good, ship well, and store well, which limits the range of what they're able to offer. The very best places to discover and taste different varieties of apples are farmers' markets. Our friends Art and Nancy Callan grow dozens of apple varieties on twelve hundred trees occupying only two and a half acres in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana. The earliest apples they bring to market are Lodis, at the beginning of August. Their season ends in late October after the last Honeycrisps are picked. In between, the selection changes weekly, depending on what's ripe.

If everything goes well, in a good year their annual crop may yield Vista Bella, Discovery, Jersey Mac, State Fair, Summer Red, William's Pride, Lyman's Large, Jonamac, McIntosh, Royal Gala, Liberty, Kidd Orange, Sweet Sixteen, Goldrush, and Wolf River, plus some others. Jonamac is their most dependable variety. It is a delicious all-purpose cooking and eating apple that can be harvested from early September to mid-October. Many of these varieties do not store well, so they must be used soon after picking. Some types of apples bruise easily, for example, and have to be handled with care. For these reasons, they would not succeed in the commercial marketplace. But they do make mighty good eating and/or cooking.

When faced with an unfamiliar variety, ask to try a sample. Most growers are delighted to provide a taste. If you're not sure how good a particular kind of apple is for baking, there's a simple way to test many kinds at the same time. Follow the recipe for Spicy Apple Dumplings (page 82), using one or two pieces from each kind of apple. In half an hour, you'll have the answer.

What Apples Should I Use?

Although there are no hard-and-fast rules, here is a general guide to apple eating and cooking, based on our own experiences and information from Elizabeth Ryan, proprietor of Breezy Hill Farm and Hudson Valley Draft Cider Company in New York State.

Eating-This is clearly a matter of individual preference. But crisp and juicy varieties with a good balance of sweetness and tartness are what to aim for.

The following apples make excellent eating: Baldwin, Braeburn, Empire, Esopus Spitzenberg, Fuji, Gala, Golden Delicious, Golden Russet, Gravenstein, Honeycrisp, Jonagold, Jonamac, Macoun, McIntosh, Melrose, Mutsu, Northern Spy, Spigold, and Winesap.

Juice-For apple juice or apple cider, choose varieties that have lots of flavor. Sweeter apples such as Red and Golden Delicious tend to be used in juice, and tarter varieties such as Granny Smith, Rome, Jonathan, and Winesap in cider. Sometimes so-called neutral apple varieties, those equally tart and sweet, are used in combination with sweeter apples (for juice) or tarter ones (for cider). The McIntosh family (Cortland, Empire, Macoun, Milton, and Spartan) is an example of a neutral variety.

Sauce, Purees, and Butters-Use hearty, full-flavored apples here. Early-season apples are poor keepers and tend to have soft, mushy textures when cooked, but they make sensationally smooth, tangy applesauce. Lodi and Transparent are examples. Late-season apples, with heartier tastes and textures, make excellent sauce, purees, and apple butters. Any Jonathan variety, especially Jonamac, is excellent, as are Gravenstein, McIntosh, Northern Spy, and Winesap.

Pies and Tarts-The most important characteristic of a pie apple, besides taste, is texture. Braeburn, Cox's Orange Pippin, Empire, Jonathan, Northern Spy, and Rhode Island Greening, alone or in combination, are excellent. The old warhorses Granny Smith and Golden Delicious will also work, but why bother when you can have a far superior taste with other varieties? Avoid McIntosh and its relatives in pies and tarts unless you have access to early-season fruit; but even then, use them in combination with a sturdier apple, or the filling is apt to be too mushy. The key is to use apples in their prime.

Baked Apples-Here it's important that the apple hold its shape and not fall apart. Rome apples are perfect, but Gala, Gravenstein, Oren, Braeburn, and other firm-textured apples will also work. Avoid Fuji, which is too sweet and perfumey, and McIntosh.

Apple Crisps and Cakes-In general, use the same kinds of apples recommended for pies, but you have a bit more leeway here. If softer-textured apples are more to your liking in crisps, mix some McIntosh with a firmer apple. If your cake recipe calls for applesauce, it's important to know if the applesauce is thin or thick. Thick applesauce should be made with late-season apples, such as Jonathan. The recipe should specify the type of sauce and the apple recommended for it. Cakes with chopped or diced apple require varieties suitable for pies.

Apple Stuffings-Full-flavored, dense-textured apples are called for here. Any russet variety, such as Roxbury Russet or Ashmead's Kernel, will work very well, as will any member of the Winesap family (Arkansas Black, Stayman Winesap). Less satisfactory, but still quite good, are Granny Smith, Jonathan, Northern Spy, and Spigold. Don't mix varieties. Let each one stand on its own.

Chutneys and Salsas-The tartest, firmest apples work best. Use any member of the Baldwin family (Baldwin, Esopus Spitzenberg), Granny Smith, or Rhode Island Greening.

The bottom line-and this is our best advice-is to use the best of what's available. During the fall and early winter, when apples are in their prime, search out local varieties. Since apples are grown in so many parts of the United States, most readers will be able to heed this advice. We cannot be more emphatic on this point. Any recommendations in our recipes are just that. Don't try finding a Cox's Orange Pippin to make an apple pie in July. Go to your market and buy Braeburns instead. Chances are they'll be from New Zealand, since July is early winter down there.

Buying and Storing

Apples are alive and breathing, and that means they need to be stored properly for maximum flavor and texture. Since we find apples displayed in produce counters all year long, we tend to assume they'll keep forever. Not so. When buying apples, check each one to be sure the skin is intact and there are no soft spots or bruises. Apples should feel firm when you squeeze them gently in your palm. When you get home, refrigerate them. Don't put them in a bowl on your counter and expect them to stay forever young and firm. Apples deteriorate rapidly at room temperature. For the best eating and cooking, buy only what you plan to use within a few days, and keep them chilled until that time.

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Excerpted from A Is for Apple: More Than 200 Recipes for Eating, Munching and Cooking with America's Favorite Fruit by Greg Patent
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.