Followers of this Blog know my healthy delicious “apple a day” advice. Since grade school my daily routine usually includes a mid-day apple which in the early days with only limited varieties available was either a Delicious (Red or Golden) or Macintosh. Many different more interesting ones are now available including the popular complex Honeycrisp and recommended crunchy Cosmic Crisp (a hybrid of Honeycrisp & Enterprise). Also like thin skinned Gala, sweeter Fuji, and fresh juicy Ambrosia before they lose their crispness. Reckon to have enjoyed roughly a total of 25,000 apples in my life so far. Mind boggling number but it is one of my favourite fruits that I have learned to know quite well. Some previous apple links on this Blog include November 18, 2013 here and October 19, 2015 here. Last week we attended a private home tasting of some 18 varieties obtained from the 2023 Salt Spring Island Apple Festival. Fun to study so many new ones though several were just too softly textured for my palate preference. The Airlie Red Flesh brought back identical “raspberry” memories of what I believe to be the same variety as a previous fav in 2015 named Hidden Rose (also called Mountain Rose). The Melrose is better for cooking as it keeps its shape well. Among my highest rated this time were Florina (Querina in France), Pig’s Nose Pippin (small shaped like a pig’s snout from England), and Sundance (crisp lemon-spice notes).
We all brought a drink to match best with apples that included several international “appley” ciders and even a 2002 Iced cider from Quebec, a fresh BC Rose 2022 from Noble Ridge, and a surprisingly good pairing of 2017 Blue Mountain Pinot Noir Block 9 Wild Terrain. The most popular choices were “fruity crisp” Riesling (2021 Dr. L from Loosen in Germany) and “hint of vanilla” Chenin Blanc (2022 Old Vine Reserve from Ken Forrester in South Africa). Explore some new apple varieties!
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