Autumn is a fun time of the year. Temperatures are cooler, trees are turning beautiful colors and everybody’s favorite fruit is coming into its own (and to a grocery store or farm stand near you). Nothing beats the effect of biting into a perfect, crisp apple and having the tangy, sweet juices run down your hand. It’s nature’s parting kiss on your lips.

Have you ever noticed the increasing varieties of apples available? Although all varieties of apples look similar, they don’t all act the same when cooked. Some apples are raised solely for eating, others only for cooking and most do a good job at both tasks. We went to the grocery store in our area to see just how many apples we could find. We came back with 11 varieties. Although apples can vary by regions of the country, most of the apples on our list you can find at your own store.

HERE’S A DESCRIPTION OF WHAT WE FOUND AND POSSIBLE USES FOR THEM. AT THE END IS A QUICK HEALTHY RECIPE FOR BAKING APPLES.

Pictured are the Golden Delicious (left) and the Red Delicious (right) apples.

• THE DELICIOUS FAMILY – This group includes Golden Delicious and Red Delicious apples. A Red Delicious apple can be good eaten out-of-hand, but don’t try cooking it. You’ll just end up with a mess of mealy-tasting mush. Some people cook with Golden Delicious apples, but with so many great-tasting cooking apples, why not just eat Goldens for their sweet, tangy flavor?

Pictured are the Jonagold (top, left), McIntosh (top, right), Granny Smith (bottom, left) and Fuji (bottom, right) apples.

• JONAGOLD - This cross between a Jonathan and a Golden Delicious apple is a superb eating and cooking apple. They can grow to be quite large and they make great apple pies, because they keep their shape (they don’t turn into applesauce pies). This green-yellow, brindled colored apple gives you an aromatic, sweet-sour taste when eaten out-of-hand. In an apple pie, it’s simply delectable. This is one of the best apples for baking.
• McINTOSH - This is a squat apple that kind of feels like a baseball in your hand. It bruises easily, so choose carefully when you pick your McIntosh apples off the displays in the grocery store. It makes a good apple pie, but it makes even better apple sauce, because the flesh is fine-grained and it cooks down beautifully. Bite into a “Mac,” and you’ll notice a tart flavor from the tender white flesh. This makes a great baked apple.
• GRANNY SMITH - A Granny Smith is the green monster at the grocery store. It comes with a big, bold flavor. It kind of tastes like a sweet tart candy. The Granny is an excellent pie apple. This green apple has a crisp texture and it doesn’t bruise easily. We’ve kept Grannies in the fridge for over a month and they were just as good the day we baked them as the day we bought them. Our daughter (who likes to suck lemons) loves the taste of Granny Smith apples because of their tartness. This is the very best apple for baking.
• FUJI - The Fuji apple was first marketed in the U.S. in the 1980s. Growers and produce managers love this apple, because it’s a very long keeper. We love it because it tastes good. It’s an apple we reach for when we want to eat an apple out-of-hand. Its firm, juicy and slightly tart flesh also makes it a good pie and applesauce apple. Plus, its blushing green skin looks pretty in a fruit bowl on your table in the fall or winter.

Pictured are the Cortland (top, left), Honeycrisp (top, middle), Braeburn (top right), Gala (bottom, left) and Haralson (bottom, right) apples.

• CORTLAND - The Cortland resembles the McIntosh apple in form and fineness of flesh. Its taste is sweeter. The white flesh against the red skin is so startling, it makes a great dessert apple, something you can serve your guests all by itself. The Cortland also makes good apple sauce. It doesn’t hold its form quite as well in a pie. But, it sure makes a creamy, rich baked apple.
• HONEYCRISP - Like its name implies, Honeycrisp is a firm, tart/sweet apple. It’s a perfect out-of-hand eater. The firm flesh also makes it a great pie apple. However, they’re a more expensive apple and they taste so good, why would you want to hide that flavor behind cinnamon and spices in a pie? By the way, the Honeycrisp is a great long-keeper in a cool, dry situation.
• BRAEBURN – A Braeburn apple is a wonderful thing. It has firm flesh with a burst of sweet tartness when you bite into it. A Braeburn doesn’t bruise easily and it makes great apple pies and applesauce. This is truly a beautiful apple.
• GALA - The Gala is a lot like the Braeburn as far as texture is concerned. It makes a great eating apple. It contains a sweetness not found in other varieties. Gala apples also make a very good apple pie and applesauce. This thin-skinned apple contains a grainy flesh. It’s also not prone to bruising. We like Gala apples.
• HARALSON - This cool-climate apple is a good eater and an excellent cooking apple. It contains a crisp, juicy, tart flavor. Make an apple pie out of Haralson apples and you can’t go wrong.

QUICK HEALTHY HOT APPLE RECIPE

To help you enjoy the wonderful flavor of a cooking apple, here’s a fast recipe for hot apples made in the microwave. When we come in after a hard day of working outside, such as cutting our winter supply of firewood, and we yearn for a sweet autumn pick-me-up, we often whip this recipe out in no time.

INGREDIENTS:

4 cooking apples
4 teaspoons margarine or butter
4 teaspoons sugar
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Wash the apples.

Remove the core and seeds from the center of the apples, but leave the flesh and skins intact. Place the apples in an 8″x8″ glass baking dish.

Place a teaspoon of margarine/butter in the hollow center of each apple, followed by a teaspoon of sugar and a teaspoon of cinnamon.

Cook the apples in the microwave at 80% for 12-15 minutes, or until apples are softened and you can push a fork through the skin with little resistance.

Serve these apples by themselves, or with a dollop of vanilla ice cream and the juices from the bottom of the baking dish drizzled on top. Makes 4 servings.

CHECK OUT FRESH APPLES

So, grab some apples at your local grocery store. Or better yet, head for your local orchard or farmer’s market. The apples out of a local orchard are a tremendous experience for your taste buds. The fresh flavor and juiciness can’t be beat.

Halloween wouldn’t be the same without that famous carved pumpkin grinning at you in the dark.

We like to raise our own for that purpose. But, the scariest part of the holiday is what happens to these large orange or white gourds on November 1. Millions of jack-o’-lanterns are thrown in the trash, dumped in the compost pile or left to rot on everyone’s doorsteps and porches.

Why not get some extra fun and flavor out of the Halloween pumpkin after the holiday is over? By cooking and freezing the leftover pumpkin, you get enough filling for fresh Thanksgiving pies, plus extra for muffins, bread, or any other recipe where you would normally use canned pumpkin.

HERE’S “HALLOWEEN HOW-TO” INFORMATION ON TURNING YOUR PUMPKIN INTO YUMMY FILLING:

1. In order to use your pumpkin for cooking, you need to take care of it once the pumpkin is carved. Try to keep the jack-o’-lantern in a cool, dry place. Also, carve your jack-o’-lantern as close to Halloween as possible, such as the afternoon of October 31^st.
2. On Halloween night after the porch lights are turned off and the last little goblin has left the premises, blow out the jack-o’-lantern candles and retrieve your pumpkins from your porch. Place them in a large bag and store them overnight in a cool place, perhaps your garage or refrigerator.
3. On November 1^st, preheat your oven to 350° F. Remove the plastic bag and place your pumpkin on a large cutting board. Discard the lid of the pumpkin along with the stem. You only want to work the main parts of the pumpkin. Smaller portions, such as the lid, cook too fast and will result in little chunks of charcoal on your cookie sheet…not good!
4. Using a large kitchen knife, cut a wedge from the top to the bottom of the pumpkin that includes the face of your jack-o’-lantern. Discard this piece, because the pumpkin parts already cut for the face have been exposed to the air and therefore, can harbor bacteria that you don’t want to eat.
5. Cut the remaining part of the pumpkin in half. Using a paring knife, thinly trim about an eighth of an inch off the inside flesh which was exposed to air and candle smoke.
6. Prepare two cookie sheets, by covering them with aluminum foil and then spraying the foil with non-stick cooking spray.
7. Place each prepared section of the pumpkin on the cookie sheets. Slide the sheets into the preheated oven.
8. Bake the pumpkin for 1-1½ hours. After the first hour, check for doneness by spearing the outer shell with a fork. If the pumpkin is done, the fork will slide easily through the outer skin and the inner flesh. If your fork meets any resistance in the flesh, cook a little longer. Recheck every 15 minutes until the fork moves smoothly through the pumpkin.
9. When done, remove the cookie sheets from the oven. Allow the pumpkin to cool for ½ hour. Using a fork, carefully flip the pumpkin over so the flesh is showing. Allow to cool at least another 15 minutes, or until the flesh is cool enough to work with.
10. If your pumpkin has a burnt edge when you turn it over on the cookie sheet, use your paring knife to slice away the blackened edges where the pumpkin was in contact with the cookie sheet. Discard the blackened parts.
11. Use a teaspoon to scoop the cooked flesh away from the outer shell. This should be easy to do.
12. Measure two cups of pumpkin flesh for each quart-size freezer bag. One quart bag of pumpkin will make one pumpkin pie. YUM!
13. Once filled, leave the bags open for 15 minutes to finish cooling. While open, redistribute the pumpkin in the bags by laying each bag flat on the counter and pressing gently on the contents to flatten them out. Wipe around the top of the bag with a damp paper towel to make sure the bag seals well. Seal the bag, check the seal and place in the freezer. This pumpkin filling should remain good in the freezer for 10-12 months.
14. Clean up immediately. Pumpkin residue is like orange concrete after it dries.

If you don’t carve jack-o’-lanterns, or you just don’t have time on November 1, buy a couple extra 12-18 pound pumpkins at the grocery store. They keep quite awhile (about 30 days) if left untouched. When you have time, carefully cut the top from the pumpkins and remove the seeds. Cut the pumpkins in half and remove as much of the pumpkin “guts” as you can. Each half should fit on a cookie sheet, prepared using the above directions.

WE PREFER THIS “HALLOWEEN HOW-TO” METHOD TO COOKING FRESH PUMPKIN FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS:

1. Another method is to cut up the pumpkin flesh and boil it in a heavy pan with a little water. The problem is you always have to stir the pot to keep the pumpkin from sticking to the bottom of the pot. With baked pumpkin, you put it in the oven and go do other things for awhile: make supper, bathe the kids, pay bills. Total hands-on time for each pumpkin is about 25 minutes, including filling and freezing the bags.
2. Anytime we have boiled pumpkins, there always seems to be a lot of extra liquid, no matter what we do to reduce the amount of liquid in the pumpkin filling. We prefer to work with a drier pumpkin filling when making pie pies.
3. Baking the pumpkin intensifies the flavor, making it richer and deeper. When you begin with great-tasting pumpkin, how can your pies possibly go wrong?

HOW TO PUREE YOUR PUMPKIN FILLING:

Pie filling made this way isn’t smooth. The pumpkin is chunky, so your finished product will seem chunky, not picture perfect smooth like a magazine photo. But the flavor is wonderful.

If you want perfectly smooth filling for your pumpkin pie recipes, puree the pumpkin filling through a food processor before placing it into the plastic bags.