Apple Picking Time

The air is turning cool in the evening now and the that means autumn isn’t far away. Fall is my favorite time of year for several reasons, not one of the least being that it is prime harvest time for many wonderful foods, including practically everyone’s favorites - apples. Some of my fondest memories from childhood are going with my grandparents to the closest apple orchard, which was about an hour up the road from our small hometown, to get the season’s first pick of Jonathan apples. Grandma usually got a bushel basket full so she could make all sorts of fresh baked goodies throughout the cold winter months, and Grandpa got a bushel just for eatin’. Thankfully, our family lives in one of the biggest apple producing states in the nation, so there’s no shortage of varieties to choose from when it comes to apple picking season. Strangely though, Jonathan apples are hard to find up in these neck of the woods. So I have learned to expand my apple tasting preferences, and now enjoy the many other varieties that are available, like Gala, Fuji, Honeycrisp, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Pink Lady, Cameo, Braeburn - and the list goes on.