It’s apple season… and coming from the tropics, the only apples I am familiar with are the traditional Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Granny Smiths and if you want to get exotic, some Galas once in a while.
From my local experience, I prefer to use Granny Smiths or Golden Delicious in most of my cooking applications – to make an apple crisp, to eat with Brie en Croute or Camembert Chaud and to enjoy in a picnic with the Laughing Cow’s cheese wedges… I like their flavor and look much better than the Red Delicious. To me, the typical red-skinned apple tends to be too mealy and not very appetizing, although it tends to be ubiquitous in any local potato salad recipe.
Given I was going to be in apple country during apple season, why not expand my horizons to trying other types of apples, which I have certainly heard of but never ever tried before???
So during our 2 visits to Union Square Street Market, we visited a few stalls who concentrated in selling apples and apple cider and juices. There were sooooo many to choose from so we concentrated our efforts on a few types only:
Fuji Apples
Macoun Apples
Macintosh Apples
Sonata Apples
Cameo Apples
The results of our research derived the following conclusions:
- The ones my mom and I kept trying over and over again were Fuji and Macoun. They were both sweet and crisp tasting. They were both good!!!
- I think my tastebuds are not as developed in apple knowledge to detect much difference in most of the apples. Sonata, Macintosh and Cameos all blended in the mix. Maybe I needed to cleanse my palate in between tastings???
- After tasting so many pieces of apples, they all kinda tasted very similar to me. An apple is an apple is an apple…
- I was told that Macoun apples were particularly juicy, even much so that the juice would drip down my arm, but that was not the case with the apples we had. Maybe it was the 50F degree weather that kept all that juice trapped inside the fruit, but I’ve only had that “juice down the arm” experience with mangos, peaches and nectarines. Sorry apples…
- I do love apple cider and I do not particularly care from what apple it’s made of.
So, after much deliberation I am glad to say that I can add Fuji and Macoun apples to the list of preferred apples in my domain. If I ever see them on sale here in Puerto Rico, most probably in Costco, I will gladly add them to my shopping cart.
Do you have a favorite apple??? Do you have a favorite apple recipe you would like to share???
KarmaFree Cooking 