Apples Gala-ore — Facts, Recipes, Ideas, and More!

If you’re anything like me, you can’t get enough apples. I’ve assembled an apple list that includes some links to previous apple posts by Storey and Amy Cotler — a convenient go-to resource for ideas. Also below are some apple facts and tips and a list of apple recipes (a teaser, if you will) from one of my favorite cookbooks.

Photograph © 2008 by Scott Dorrance.
Excerpted from Dishing Up® Vermont.

Apple Posts and Recipes

• Apple Pie Contest: Thursday, September 20, 2012
• Applesauce
• Apple Season Ideas
• Apple Tasting and Cooking Class: Saturday, October 27, 2012
• Meatless Monday: Apple Puff Omelette; Field Greens with Candied Apples, Roasted Walnuts, and Apple Vinaigrette; Baked Apples and Cheese; Heritage Apple Pie
• My Farmers’ Market Compulsion: featuring a pork tenderloin dinner with homemade applesauce
• Oysters on the Half Shell with Apple Mignonnette
• Talk at the Produce Auction: how weather affected the 2012 apple crop in Upstate New York

Oh, and for the record, apples really do keep the doctor away — so get chompin’!
___________________________________________

Want more apple recipes? One of my most cherished Storey cookbooks is Dishing Up® Vermont, and one of my all-time favorites from this cookbook is the savory apple tart. Check out the complete list of all the apple recipes from the book:

• Apple, Blue Cheese, and Walnut Pizza
• Apple, Pickle, and Sweet Pepper Tuna Salad
• Apple–Butternut Squash Soup
• Apple Crumb Pie with Crème Fraîche
• Apple-stuffed Chicken Breast with Calvados Jus
• Apple-topped Cheesecake
• Awesome Pear or Apple Pancake
• Broiled Apples with Maple and Pomme de Vie
• Butternut Squash Ravioli with Apples and Pears
• Caramelized Onion, Grafton Cheddar, and Apple Tart
• Celeriac and Green Apple Salad
• Cranberry Apple Crisp
• Fantastic Applesauce
• Field Greens with Candied Apples, Roasted Walnuts, and Apple Vinaigrette
• Flip-over Apple Cake
• Goat Cheese Cakes with Crab Apples and Cardamom Sauce
• Grandma’s Dutch Apple Torte
• Harvest Stuffed Squash with Apples and Cranberries
• Honey Apple Chutney
• Maple Apple Waffles with Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream
• Mixed Baby Greens with Maple Dressing, Cranberries, and Apples
• Normandy Chicken with Apples and Cream
• Roast Rack of Pork Stuffed with Sage, Apples, and Onion
• Sautéed Pork Medallions with Honey Rosemary Butter and Apple Salsa
• Smoked Salmon, Goat Cheese, Apple, and Watercress Salad with Honey Vinaigrette
• Vermont Mystic Apple Pie
• Village Inn Apple Cake

Dishing Up® Vermont also includes a few apple cider recipes:

• Gingerbread Ice Cream Sandwiches with Cider Maple Ice Cream
• Hemingway’s Late Summer Cyder Soup with Orange Sorbet

Tell me which one of these recipes you want to make, and I’ll post it next week!
___________________________________________

Apple Facts

Vermont’s fresh apple crop is a multimillion dollar business, with processed apple products such as cider, applesauce, and hard cider accounting for as much income as the fresh fruit. The state’s commercial apple crop is grown on almost 4,000 acres of farmland.

Vermont’s leading apple varieties are McIntosh, Cortland, Red Delicious, and Empire. McIntosh apples became the state’s leading variety after an extremely cold winter (1917–1918) devastated most other varieties.

In 1999 the Vermont legislature designated the apple as the state fruit and the apple pie as the state pie.

Autumn apple festivals attract thousands of tourists and locals every year. Among the most popular are:

• Vermont Apple Festival and Craft Show, held around Columbus Day every year in Springfield, Vermont
• Cabot Pie Festival, held in October in Cabot, Vermont
• Pie Fest and Cider House Run, held at Shelburne Orchards in Shelburne, Vermont

Information from the Vermont Apple Marketing Board.
Excerpted from Dishing Up® Vermont © 2008 Tracey Medeiros.
___________________________________________

Apple Tips

When cooking with apples, it’s handy to know that:

• 1 pound of apples yields 4 cups when chopped or sliced and 1¹⁄₂ cups of applesauce.
• 1 pound of apples may contain four small, three medium, or two large apples.
• Apple juice and apple cider can be used interchangeably in recipes.
• 2–2¹⁄₂ pounds of apples will suffice for a 9- or 10-inch pie. That means nine to ten small apples, seven to eight medium apples, or five large ones.
• Overripe apples, once the bruises have been removed, make good applesauce or cider.
• Underripe apples can be chopped, diced, sliced, and grated for sautéing with vegetables or for putting into cakes, muffins, pies, and other cooked dishes.
• Sliced or cut apples will stay white longer if dropped into a bowl of water containing 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. (Cortland and Golden Delicious do not discolor as quickly as other varieties.)
• When recipes call for unpeeled apples, the apples always should be washed first. That not only ensures the removal of dirt or contaminants accumulated during handling and transportation but eliminates the possibility of residual pesticide consumption.

Excerpted from Apple Cookbook by Olwen Woodier © 2001, 1984 by Storey Publishing, LLC

Apple Varieties and Their Best Uses: download the chart [pdf]
Excerpted from Apple Cookbook by Olwen Woodier © 2001, 1984 by Storey Publishing, LLC