The Only Apples Worth Eating

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times, "I love my local farmer." 

I'd been seeing Honeycrisps at the farmer's market, but felt this must be some sort of a joke.  It was the third week of August, and suddenly the only apples worth eating were showing up.  Were these really ready for eating? I mean the tomatoes are in full blossoms, so I'm a little confused here. Thankfully, my farmer put my fears to rest.

I hope you enjoy the detail and his knowledge about the variety/where it came from.  It makes me smile that the university that hybridized it gets to reap royalties like they're a '70s pop band.  Maybe like that band that wrote the song "Brandi, You're a Find Girl"--it'll always be a classic.

Here's what my farmer said in his email today.  

"We had just started to “spot” pick - HONEYCRISP! 

"Quite the oversight, don’t you think?

"Our guys go out and pick the nicest Honeycrisp straight into the crates you see at market. Generally the fruit exposed to the most sunlight on the outermost edge of the trees are taken off first, similar to how any given peach variety is picked over the span of a week to two weeks, depending on weather and time of year.

“The Honeycrisp almost didn’t make it as a commercially available tree, as the University of Minnesota Agricultural Experimental Station, which developed it in the early 60s, almost abandoned it. The University is now reaping great rewards in the form of royalties for every tree sold.

Thankfully they went ahead and patented the variety, a cross of Honeygold and Macoun, and soon found that they had a real winner.

"Its' sweet-tart, distinctive flavor is backed up by one of the nicest and most unique textures of any apple out there; pay attention when you next bite down on a Honeycrisp and note the extremely juicy and crunchy mouthfeel; it is actually pretty unique in this respect and beside the great flavor is why the apple has become so popular.

"Some commercial growers pick Honeycrisp all in one or two goes; but we go out a couple more times spot picking to achieve the highest quality, a more expensive process, but worth the trouble. The last picking of a variety like Honeycrisp is called the “cleanup” picking and goes into a 25 bushel bin to subsequently be sorted for the higher quality apples, leaving the rest, small, bruised or undercolored, to go into our cider, which will be available in a week or two, once we have enough to make a good blend with a few other varieties, to achieve a pleasant balance.

"Honeycrisp is one of the most problematic varieties we grow as they bruise if you look at them too hard, and tend to form splits and other blemishes which look rough when on display; meaning there are a lot of seconds, to either be sold cheap as seconds, or put in the cider bin. A crate that has been on display at a market and then returns to be sorted for the next load is often too rough looking to make the next trip, as just being jostled by both customers and us is often more than they can stand up to, only Bartlett pears are more delicate. 

<a href="http://www.alunchboxblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Parade-of-Apples.bmp"><img src="http://www.alunchboxblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Parade-of-Apples.bmp" alt="" title="Parade of Apples" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-3906" /></a>

"In addition to the Honeycrisp we have Twin Springs’ own patented variety, Daybreak Fuji, an early crisp and sweet eating apple, Red Cortland and Jonamac, both MacIntosh types, as noted last week, as well as Royal Gala and Elstar. I recommend trying samples at market to figure out your favorites.

"The Cortland and Jonamac are our favorite cooking apples at this time, with the Cortland being Twin Springs’ sauce apple. Our jars of sauce should be back at market in a couple of weeks as we must accumulate enough “2nds” to make a couple of batches. Try frying thick slices of Cortland or Jonamac in butter, until browned and caramelized, as a side dish, especially good at breakfast or with almost any pork recipe."

Comment from reader of alunchboxblog.com:

There’s also a big market for old lunch boxes. Here is a value guide with images and descriptions and values to each one http://www.greatestcollectibles.com/lunchbox-price-guide/. Hope its helpful.

thanks