The Comfort of Apples

And shelter from a Wyoming storm

The little green apples made a delicious applesauce.

Last week after picking up Kirk from Jump Start Learners day care, John, Iris, and I went to Ferry Peak Park for a little outdoor time before dinner. As we entered the park ( red flag—no one else was there) the wind whipped up and the clouds rolled in with gusto. No sooner had Kirk climbed to the top of the sliding board than we saw bolts of lightning in the sky so we made a hasty exit. Or tried to.

The apple tree on a calm day, with most of the apples gone.

As we approached the park's entrance, a little apple tree was buffeted by the fierce wind and started dropping its fruit on the ground. One apple hit me in the head. We scrambled for the little green apples, gathering them up and stuffing them into the diaper bag. Iris wasn’t sure what was going on, but it seemed like a fun game to her, so we continued until the raindrops started. We quickly buckled them into their car seats and headed home.

No outdoor play. We will have a cooking lesson instead.

Iris and Kirk enjoy washing and sorting the apples as John cuts them up.

We made applesauce. We washed the apples and set up an assembly line, quartering and peeling the fruit. Both kids enjoyed the sorting and sampled as we went along. Since I had some Martinelli’s apple juice on hand, I poured some juice into the bottom of a big pot, and they put all the pieces in. In about 20 minutes, we had created our dish, a gift from a little apple tree that found its way into our nice warm kitchen while the rain continued outside. They loved the applesauce!

John helps Iris and Kirk take turns smashing the applesauce with a potato masher.

We are very familiar with making applesauce. We used to have an apple tree in the front yard in PA that produced massive amounts of fruit, which we often took to the local apple press to make cider. We also made applesauce and apple pies, served with a wedge of cheddar or vanilla ice cream.

Apples can be categorized as “best for cooking” and “best for eating out of hand.”  Apples to eat fresh, like the Red Delicious, tend to have five distinctive bumps on the bottom, are more elongated in shape, and are very sweet.  Apples considered better for cooking are smooth on the bottom, rounder in shape, and tart or sweet-tart in taste.

While any fresh apple is good for eating out of hand, its cooking characteristics separate it into a category. The Red Delicious apple is a very poor cooking apple because it is high in cellulose, and the fruit remains whole but pulpy when cooked. Golden Delicious is a better choice if a sweet apple is desired for cooking. 

Apples that are good for making applesauce include MacIntosh, Empire, Gala, Fuji, Granny Smith, Idared, Liberty, Jonathan,  Stayman, and Winesap.  Their cell walls tend to rupture when cooked, making a saucier product.  The best baking apples include Braeburn, Fuji, Cortland, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Idared, Liberty, Jonagold, and Rome.  

When making apple pie or apple crisp, it is best to use a variety of apples—some that maintain their shape and others that cook down to a sauce. This will make the finished product more interesting in texture and flavor. 

The adage, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away,” has scientific support from studies examining the role of phytonutrients in apples.  Antioxidants in apples can reduce LDL cholesterol and help prevent cardiovascular disease.  Phytonutrients in apples can help protect against colon cancer, thrombotic stroke, and lung cancer cells.  Apples contain a flavonoid, quercetin, that boosts the immune system and fights viruses.  High in fiber, especially if you eat the skin, apples are also a good source of vitamins A, B1, B2, C, and niacin, as well as phosphorus, magnesium, iron, and potassium. 

What kind of apples were those little green ones we used for our applesauce? I have no idea. But they made a delicious sauce and a fun cooking lesson on a stormy day.

As American as….

Sweet Liberty Apple Pie

Makes one 9-inch pie

This is a pie that I made shortly after the 9/11 disaster when comfort food was on the menu. Tait Farm grows an apple variety named Liberty, which was bred from a MacIntosh. It has a firmer texture when cooked, but any variety of tart cooking apple could be substituted. Those little green apples would have been perfect.

Two-crust pie dough, homemade (see recipe below) or purchased

5 cups apple slices (about 2 pounds of apples, peeled, cored and sliced)

1 cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon grated nutmeg

2 tablespoons flour

½ teaspoon grated lemon peel (zest)

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon butter, cut into small bits

Preheat the oven to 375º F.  Prepare the apples.  In a large bowl, mix the sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, flour, and lemon zest.  Add the apple slices and mix well until the slices are well coated.  Arrange the apple slices in the pastry-lined pie pan, starting at the outer edge and working toward the middle.  Continue layering until the pan is filled.  Sprinkle the apple slices with the lemon juice and dot the top with butter.  Moisten the edge of the pastry with water and top with the remaining rolled-out pastry.  Trim the edge of both top and bottom pastries to one-half inch and roll the lower crust over the top crust to help keep the filling in during baking; crimp to seal.  Flute the edge if desired.  Slash vents in the top crust with a sharp knife to allow steam to escape.  Bake in a preheated 375º F oven for 45 to 60 minutes or until the apples are tender and the crust is golden brown.

Short-crust Pie Dough

Makes one pound of dough, enough for a two-crust pie

2 cups flour

½ teaspoon salt

10 tablespoons cold unsalted butter

4 to 5 tablespoons ice water

Combine the flour and salt in a bowl and cut in the butter, using two knives or a pastry blender, until the mixture is coarse and mealy.  A food processor can be used for this, with excellent results.  Add only enough water for the mixture to come together into a ball.  Divide the dough into approximately two-thirds and one-third pieces, wrap it in plastic wrap, and let it rest in the refrigerator for about an hour.  Roll the larger portion of dough out on a lightly floured surface until it is large enough to cover a 9-inch pie pan, leaving a margin of about an inch hanging over it.  Keep the remaining dough refrigerated until the filling is in the pie, then roll it out, fold it into quarters, and drape the apples with the top crust.