An apple a day...

I guess that I should watch the of that adage (I am a physician after all), but it seemed apropos! Now, let it be known that I like a good, crisp, tart/sweet (depending on my mood) apple, just like the next guy. So, I welcome fall and the arrival of apples at the local farmers market and our Madisonian food co-ops. I love the box or bushel basket full of non-uniform sized fruits, labeled merely as a price per pound and the farmer’s or farm’s name; it is the name that I have to remember when I check out. “Are those Glen’s or Penny’s apples you have there”, the clerk queries. No bar codes or stickers when we return to take a step back (forward?) to Mother Nature, that’s for sure. In Wisconsin, I am finding it easier to branch out from the main apple varieties. My home of almost 15 years and comparison state is Washington, a prominent apple grower, and, it seemed to me, exporter. Many of the apples we found in the bigger grocery stores were Fujis, Red Delicious, and Granny Smiths from New Zealand. The co-ops and farmers markets captured some of the local apples before they were whisked away, but, in a pinch, I was stuck with marginal apples that had traveled thousands of miles to reach my kitchen, or, well, teeth. Now, I’m swamped, and almost literally have apples coming out of my ears. It has been fun to explore the Wisconsin Apple Growers Association website, but the “Find an Orchard” tab only scrolls down to “10 miles”, so I won’t be walking or biking anywhere quickly to pick a piece of fruit for lunch. Under “General Info”, then “Educational Materials,” I located the “Favorite Apples” pdf, listing 18 varieties, but I know there are more, both within the city (I love the feral apple delight on occasional, but watch out for the worm, or worse, the half-worm) and in the one orchard I visited last fall. Either way, it is going to be very fun to venture into Apple-land and find the best for eating, cooking, baking, pressing, and, we’ve all done it, throwing. An apple a day….