Pastry Obsession: Apples

Apples are one of the most widely cultivated fruits in the world and a staple of the dessert menu that transcends culture and time: apple sharlotka from Russia, apple strudel from Vienna, Alsatian apple tart and tarte tatin from France, and apple pie from America.  The beauty of apples is, unlike most fruit, an apple exists for every purpose. Honeycrisp apples are great for eating, as are Northern Spy, Gala, Pink Lady, and Mutsu. Golden Delicious apples make succulent apple pies while Empire apples make tart, rosy-hued applesauce.  Winesap and Arkansas Black apples benefit from a brief storage and are best savored when cold weather takes hold and fruit pickings are slim. (Yes, apples can be aged!) Along with the Newton Pippin, these apples can also be fermented into hard cider. With such diversity, it’s not surprising that America dominated the global apple trade for most of the 20^th century.  But the modern apple industry was not founded on such diversity. If you peer into most kitchens and the produce section at the supermarket, you are likely to see one of three apples: Granny Smith, Golden or Red Delicious.

The apple industry, as it exists today, was founded on two apples—the Red and Golden Delicious—both of which were very good and tasty apples in their original incarnations. Early strains of Red Delicious were more golden with red stripes, juicy, sweet and tart. How we arrived at the cosmetically perfect (but bland) Red Delicious is a case study in how mass commerce can destroy exceptional fruit. Because red fruit sells, farmers pushed for redder and redder strains of Red Delicious apples to be developed. Of course, when food is chosen solely for appearance, other attributes—namely flavor—fall by the wayside.

What farmers failed to notice (or shoppers chose to ignore) was that as apple skin darkens, it tastes bitter and Red Delicious apples, while a flawless crimson red, became a disappointment to eat.  Two bites in and the mealy flesh, bitter taste, and ominous lack of acidity only persuade me to throw away most apples. I no longer buy apples from mass markets where apples are kept in long-term controlled storage only to emerge tasting like white sugar and the barest hint of an apple. (I believe the real reason people don’t eat as much fruit as they should is, not because junk food tastes better, but because they haven’t eaten good-tasting fruit. But I digress…)

Farmers received the highest prices for the biggest and reddest fruit until trade and political factors have intervened to slow the Red Delicious juggernaut to a crawl. America has since lost its lead in global apple production to Chile and China, a country that barely grew apples just 30 years ago. Lesser known varieties such as Gravenstein and Cox Pippin are more commonplace but we still have a long way to travel towards restoring heirloom apple varietals back to their rightful prominence. Putting aside concerns of genetic diversity, are convenience and uniformity worth the price of losing the kinds of tastes that modern food production cannot produce on an assembly line? Is the convenience of buying Granny Smith apples from Baldor at any time of the year worth losing the nutty flavor of a Roxbury Russet, or the aroma of a Ralls Genet?

My goal for the upcoming fall season is to create desserts using only heirloom apples. The challenge will be to find techniques that showcase what’s unique about an apple varietal—apples that taste nuts, flowers, lemons and even pineapples, apples that smell like wine, apples that soften and change flavor as they age. This project will involve lots of schlepping but one bite into an ‘Ashmead’s Kernel’ and you’ll realize just how luscious and complex an apple can taste.

Resources:  Orange Pippin offers a comprehensive resource of apple varieties and orchards who may be growing the variety that you’re looking for. Also, small-scale produce wholesalers will often ship by the case during the growing season. I’m fortunate to live in the Northeast where apples are plentiful and local orchards offer apple shares for the season. This fall, I’ll be scouting for:

• Sierra Beauty—an all-purpose apple that stores well during winter months.
• Geneva Crab—used for making ciders and jelly.
• Gravenstein—noted for its excellent flavor.
• Hidden Rose—noted for its red flesh
• Ashmead’s Kernel—a gem of an apple that hides stunning apple flavor under the guise of a beat-up old Russet potato.