Luke and Hannah Are Having A....

Luke and Hannah are having a GIRL!!!! They found out this afternoon! I think Luke will be a wonderful girl's Dad and Hannah will be a wonderful little girl's Mom! Congratulations!

Apple Varieties

Braeburn: Fruit is medium to large, red striped with an orange red blush on a yellow background. The flesh is pale, cream colored, crisp and juicy with a pleasant subacid tart flavor. The overall flavour is sharp and refreshing but with a good balance of sweetness - and never sugary. There is occasionally a hint of pear-drops to the flavour of a new-season Braeburn. Fruits store for four months. An ideal dessert apple fresh or baked, add Braeburn's spicy-sweet flavor to cobblers, tarts, cakes & pies.






Granny Smith: It originated in Australia in 1868 from a chance seedling propagated by Maria Smith, where the name "Granny Smith" comes from. Granny Smith apples are a light speckled green in color, though some may have a pink blush. They are crisp, juicy, tart apples which are excellent for both cooking and eating out of the hand. They also are favored for salads because the slices do not brown as quickly as other varieties. A Granny Smith Apple usually has a slightly more sour, sharp flavor than other apples.





Jonagold: An apple that is both tart and sweet. It’s firm texture makes it one of the world’s most preferred eating apples. It's a cultivar apple that is a cross between a Golden Delicious and a Jonathon.
















Golden Delicious: A cultivar apple that is NOT related to the Red Delicious. Very sweet flavor - eating, salads and apple sauce. Tends toward bruising and shriveling.















Cortland: A cultivar apple that came from the McIntosh and the Ben Davis (a Southern apple). It has a very white flesh and is a good dessert apple. Tangy Taste - snacking, salads, and baking.












Empire: Firm, juicy, crunchy, sweet. They come in September through October and will keep until January. They were developed in 1945 from Red Delicious and McIntosh. Eating and salads








Ginger Gold: Starts out a very pale green, though, if left on the tree, will ripen to a soft yellow with a slightly waxy appearance. The first yellow apple to ripen in the Fall. Doesn't discolor when sliced. Sweet but mildly tart - eating, baking and salads.










Honey Crisp: Tremendously crispy with a real snap. Big, juicy and sweet/tart - great eating apple. But good in the kitchen too.















Ida Red: A cross between an Wagnerapfel and the Jonathan. The idared has a white flesh with a firm body, and generally considered to be tart and juicy, highly flavored-eating and baking for cakes, sauces and pies. Harvested from Sept to mid-October and can be kept til the end of January.







Jonamac: The Jonamac apple is a cross between a Jonathan and McIntosh. The eating quality combines the rich flavor of McIntosh with some of the spiciness of Jonathan. Excellent for cooking, sauce or eating out of hand. When baking, the slices tend to be melting and juicy.








McIntosh: Firm and crisp, distinct aroma, red/green skin. Cooks soft and smooth, also a popular eating apple and great for cider. Every McIntosh apple has a direct lineage to a single tree discovered in 1811 by John McIntosh on his farm in Dundela, a hamlet located in Dundas County in the Canadian province of Ontario, near Morrisburg.











Macoun: A cross between the MacIntosh and the Arkansas black varieties. The skin is a dark red with a purplish flush. Its very firm flesh is juicy and snow white, tasting sweet with a hint of berry. A superior eating apple.
Northern Spy: Its skin has green and red stripes when ripe and produces fairly late in the season (mid to late October). The white flesh is juicy, crisp and mildly sweet with a rich, aromatic subacid flavor. Its characteristic flavor is more tart than most popular varieties, and its flesh is harder/crunchier than most. It is a good dessert apple and pie apple, that is also used for cider. Further, the Northern Spy is also an excellent apple for storage, as it tends to last longer due to late maturation and lower sugar content.
Red Delicious: The most widely grown apple in the world. It was overgrown in the 1990's and became degraded. Due to the better storage and transportation techniques we have now, other varieties are more available and the Red Delicious has lost it's popularity. Sweet, simple flavor. Juicy and sweet taste - eating and salads















Rome: Firm mildly tart flavor - Good-quality Rome apples will be firm with smooth and clean skin. The coloring is a brilliant and almost solid shade of red with white lenticels - natural tiny white dots that allow the apple to "breathe". The best apple for baking, but also good eaten fresh & in salads.














Fuji - A Japanese cultivar that was developed in 1932 and brought to the market in 1969 and came to the US in the 1980's. It has a dense flesh that is sweeter and crispier than many other apple varieties. Although Fujis perform well when baked or frozen, they are perhaps best suited for eating fresh or in salads. These apples are extremely flavorful and super sweet. Fujis are very juicy and crisp and are not in the least bit mealy.






















Gala - Excellent for fresh eating. Has a mild, sweet flavor. A very pretty, medium size, conical to round fruit with yellow skin patterned with bright orange-red. Firm, juicy, fine textured, yellow white flesh. are fairly resistant to bruising and are sweet, grainy, with a mild flavour and a thinner skin than most apples. They are also considered to be a very soft eating apple due to their lack of crispiness, well-suited for denture wearers.



All about apple varieties:

http://www.allaboutapples.com/varieties/index.htm


Apple Tips:

• Rub cut apples with lemon juice to keep slices and wedges creamy white for hours.
  Store apples in a plastic bag in the refrigerator away from strong-odored foods such as cabbage or onions to prevent flavor transfer.



• Apples are the second most important of all fruits sold in the supermarket, ranking next to bananas.



• Tens of thousands of varieties of apples are grown worldwide.



• The history of apple consumption dates from Stone Age cultivation in areas we now know as Austria and Switzerland.



• In ancient Greece, tossing an apple to a girl was a traditional proposal of marriage; catching it was acceptance.



• Folk hero Johnny Appleseed (John Chapman) did indeed spread the cultivation of apples in the United States. He knew enough about apples, however, so that he did not distribute seeds, because apples do not grow true from seeds. Instead, he established nurseries in Pennsylvania and Ohio.



• Three medium-sized apples weigh approximately one pound.



• One pound of apples, cored and sliced, measures about 4 1/2 cups.



• Purchase about 2 pounds of whole apples for a 9-inch pie.



• One large apple, cored and processed through a food grinder or processor, makes about 1 cup of ground apple.