October 29 -- apples

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October 29 was a cloudy day. This view is west, from a second-floor conference room in my office building.





This tree is outside my office window.





I am a complete slug in the evening. Getting me back out of the house, once I've settled in and had dinner, generally requires a crowbar.

Apples enticed me out on the 29th.

Zingerman's Deli is *the* iconic Ann Arbor place to eat. In addition to selling everything you'd expect at a deli (and then some), they are seriously, devotedly, enthusiastically focused on turning everyone into foodies.

On the 29th, they had an apple tasting. I've been wanting to go to one of their tea tastings for a long time, and have never managed to make myself go. I was sure that they wouldn't be having another apple tasting right away, so I drug myself out and marched (well, drove) myself over to Zingerman's.

They began with a bit of talk about apple history. One hundred years ago in this country there were 15,000 varieties of apples. Now there are 1500. Apples, historically, were not eaten out-of-hand as often as they were cooked in one form or another, or turned into cider, vinegar, or hard cider. Different varieties are better for one thing or another, and "in olden times," how good an apple was, eaten fresh off the tree, was far less significant than how well it kept through the winter, how well it lent itself to the making of applesauce, or cider, or vinegar....

(the Apple Journal shows us a chart with a ton of apple variety info)

Two Zingerman's employees chose this selection of apples from Kilcherman's Christmas Cove Farm(which has hundreds of varieties of apples). I was pleased that (aside from the Red Delicious) I had never tried any of these before.

We tasted them from top to bottom in the pic below. After one or two, I began to put stars by the ones I would buy if I saw them available. The asterisks you see below represent my starred items.

The first apples we tasted were from the Ann Arbor farmers' market (which is essentially across the street from Zingerman's). They were Red Delicious, and were about as bland and sweet as RD always is, but less mealy. I would never buy them. At the tasting, they were there as apples that are currently common and readily available everywhere (and perhaps as examples of apples who are more about commerce -- can withstand shipping, keep well, look pretty -- rather than about taste!).

** Next, in sharp contrast, were Golden Russets, which are definitely not Stepford Wife apples. They have a skin that is a bit rough, a bit tan. No beauty queens they. They are crisp and tart and lovely. I liked them at least as well as any of the apples we tasted. Function over form, for sure. We were told these can be found at the farmers' market. I'll look for some. (the Apple Journal chart says they make the best cider)

Next were Macouns. A Macintosh descendant, it reminded me a lot of a Macintosh. I am not fond of the "tough peel, mushy interior" plan. I don't mind a tough peel, but vastly prefer a crisp interior, and I also prefer a tarter apple (as you will have guessed, if you've ever tasted a Golden Russet, which is nicely tart). (the Apple Journal says "an excellent dessert apple", but I'd rather have a Russet.....)

I took the pic after we had tasted the first three. You can see one lone RD at the top, a couple of Russets next, and the yellow one with the red sides is a Macoun.





* These are Lady apples. I had read about them, but had never tried one. They were so tiny we each got our own. (We each got a slice of each of the other kinds.)





Aren't they cute? (note shadows....)





Cute, and little.......

The taste of these was quite nice, I thought. The peeling was tough, and as you would guess, there was more peel + core for the amount of edible flesh than in a bigger apple. They would make a nice snack, but you'd never want to find yourself peeling and coring these.... These aren't any bigger than the apples we saw on Murray Ave. on the 23rd. (the Apple Journal says "wonderful flavor, highly aromatic; famous old apple dating back hundreds of years")




* Next we tried Spitzenburgs -- reputedly Thomas Jefferson's favorite apple. These had a very nice spicy taste. The flesh was softer than crisp, but not mushy. Nice. (the AJ says "aromatic flesh; excellent dessert apple" -- lists it as "Esopus Spitzenburg")

Then a Turkish or Russian variety -- Kandil Sinap (don't you love these names?). My notes say "a bit Macintoshy; not such a tough peel." (the AJ doesn't have it -- how shocking -- but Trees of Antiquity says it is good out of hand or as applesauce)

Then Sheepnose. My notes say "bland, mushy, elongated, green interior." A ringing endorsement. Not so much. (on Trees of Antiquity I learned this is also called Black Gilliflower, and that I could find in the AJ -- "aromatic and moderately juicy flesh")

We have to remember that a not-particularly-tasty apple may have been a poor example of its kind. Sometimes the weather in a given year will not result in the best apples from a certain tree, and I'm sure everything else (soil, wind, sunshine, etc) matters, too. I am sure that some apples are lovely in their favorite environment, and not so much so in other environments...... Which may, now that I think about it, be another commercial advantage of Red Delicious and its ilk -- maybe they taste pretty much the same no matter where you grow them...........

Ok, back to the tasting.

Blue Pearmain. My notes say "very pretty -- stripey; mushy/mealy." Oh dear. (the AJ says "Juicy, firm flesh. Will keep all winter." Clearly this one's advantages were not related to yummy eating....)

* Next we have Cox's Orange Pippin. We were told this was the UK's favorite apple, but that it is hard to grow in the USA. The seeds are loose enough inside that you can hear them rattle if you shake a whole apple. I gave it a star, but my notes unhelpfully say "yellow/red; 1777." (the AJ says "1825, spicy, honeyed, nutty, pear-like rich, full flavor; highly aromatic; highest quality fresh eating dessert apple; good keeper")

* Zabergau Renette. Looks quite a bit like the Russet, with a very similar peel. My notes say "a bit more crisp (alas we know not 'than what'), nice taste." We were told this is an extremely rare apple. I didn't find it in the AJ, even under the name Graue Renette Von Zabergau which google found for me. I found one page that says "dessert" but had no other info.

Green Pippin, which originated in Indiana. My notes say "a bit mealy, but nice taste." This one, we were told, is also known as the salt-shaker apple, and they gave us salt to eat with it, which was interesting and ok, but not an improvement over the basic apple, and who needs more salt in the diet, these days..... (the AJ says "white aromatic, tender and juicy flesh; good keeper")

* Ashmead's Kernal. My notes say "sweet" and then attempt to describe the texture of the peel, which wasn't tough, exactly, but definitely present. (the AJ says "high-quality dessert apple; yellowish-white flesh; crisp, firm and juicy")

* Last was the Winter Banana. I gave it a star, but no notes. I can see that my foodie-note-taking could use an infusion of stamina..... Clearly I need more practice. (the AJ says "crisp and tender; pleasant aroma")


After we tasted all the apples, we tried some other goodies. Wait, one more apple. They had Gravenstein apple cider vinegar for us, so they got Gravenstein apples for us to taste. My notes for the Gravenstein say "mild," and it was sort of a surprise that it made good vinegar. I wonder if the sweeter apples make better vinegar, because there is more sugar for the yeast to work on? (I didn't find it in the AJ, but it has its own wikipedia entry -- which says it's tart; not our experience on the 29th)

I couldn't tell that there was a connection between the Gravenstein apples and the vinegar, but I really liked the vinegar. Yum. We also tried another vinegar (can't remember the name) which is made from several (secret) different apples. I didn't like that vinegar as well. It was much sharper...... Went up your nose more.





We also tasted Zingerman's bakehouse apple pie, with Saba drizzled over it (Saba being "about a gallon of apple cider boiled down to about 3/4 of a cup" -- the little jar you can see). Wow. Yum.





We also got to taste this, with, and without, another apple slice. Yum.




It was fun and informative. Interesting to get to taste so many apples I only know from literature.......

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