The baked stuffed apple is a delicious, traditional, and easy-to-make winter and holiday treat. I bake these apples on the oven shelf right under the baking ham. Choose any one or two of these great baking apples for this tasty dessert: Honeycrisp is sweet, Braeburn is sweet-spicy, Jonagold and Rome Beauty are sweet-tart, and Granny…
Apples
How to Make Old-Fashioned Applesauce
McIntosh and Granny Smith are two apples that are slightly tart and juicy and well suited for cooking and applesauce making. (Once I have the applesauce, it’s hard to resist the baking up a dozen applesauce muffins.) McIntosh is an East Coast and Midwest favorite. Granny Smith, originally from Australia is a West Coast favorite. It’s…
Sliced Apple Flavor Matches
A refreshing, fruity balance of sour and sweet, apple slices are versatile—and widely matched for flavor. Sweeter varieties such as Fuji and Gala are right for desserts—match them with cream, ice cream, and honey; tart varieties such as Braeburn and Granny Smith are suited to dark greens such as spinach and arugula and sharp cheeses….
Apple Pruning
Apple trees are best pruned in winter when they are dormant. Young apple trees can grow narrow and erect or open and spreading. At maturity, the apple tree will be spreading. Prune young narrow and erect apple trees by cutting branches just above buds which are pointed away from the center of the tree. Prune…
How to Choose an Apple Tree for Planting
Before you buy and plant an apple tree consider the following: ■ Space to grow and form of tree. How much space do you have? This will determine the form of the tree you choose. ■ Size of tree and type of rootstock. What size tree will fit the space? The ultimate size of an…
How to Grow Apples
The apple is a hardy, deciduous woody perennial tree that grows in all temperate zones. Apples grow best where there is cold in winter, moderate summer temperatures, and medium to high humidity. Apples can grow from 10 to 30 feet tall and nearly as wide. Apples are moderately fast growing, but growth slows with age….
Apples: Kitchen Basics
Apples for eating out of hand, apples for baking and cooking, apples for sauce and juice, apples to serve with savory dishes and apples for dessert: there is an apple for every use. Apples that ripen early, apples that ripen mid-season, and apples that ripen late for eating right into winter: there is an apple…
Thinning Apples
Too many apples? Sometimes, yes. The best way to large delicious apples is thinning the crop. Thinning apples basics. Thin the fruit to a distance of twice the diameter of the fruit at maturity. If you expect the mature apples to be 3-inches across, leave 6 inches between each apple after thinning. If you’re not…
Apple Harvest Time by Variety
The apple is the most widely grown fruit. Apple trees grow everywhere except in the very hottest and very coldest regions of the world. Apples vary from crisp to soft, from juicy to dry, from acid or insipid to bitter, bland, or aromatic. Apples can range in color from green to gold to yellow to…
Gravenstein Apple Tart
The Gravenstein apple is simply one of the best baking and cooking apples. A tart is a pastry crust with shallow sides, a filling, and no top crust. This tart calls for the apples to be cooked before they are placed in the crust. Once baked, this Gravenstein apple tart will be light and crispy…