On Saturday, October 7th, Hamilton, MT rocked its 44th Apple “Bake Sale” sporting pies, cider, caramel apples, and more. You can read the rest of the story by clicking here. By: Derek Joseph 8KPAX
(My story below)
In Flathead County, many apples trees just didn’t produce this year (unlike the incredibly abundant ‘pear’ did). However, we did find Macintosh and abundant Honeycrisps and more and just in time.
After years (and I mean years) of harvesting and working with apples, I have finally learned numerous important tidbits when it comes to what the French coin, “La Pomme”.
Here are some useful things of which I’ve stumbled upon after 35 years of trial and error in the ‘world of apples’.
- Transparent Apples are FABULOUS for making applesauce however disasterous when it comes to pie making. (They are thin skinned and don’t weigh much and bake down to mush when cooked (hence why they are so fantastic as sauce but a big no-no for pies.
- Macintosh arent great for making pies either but so good for sauce and fun to dry (tasty that way).
- The more sout the apple and harder and firm the apple is the better it is for pies! (Can you tell with all this ‘pie talk’ that our family is super big on pies?
- Honeycrisp apples (in my humble opinion) are the overall BEST just about everything imaginable in the world of apples. They are perhaps the most versitale apple in all of Montana and grow very well here (even in sparse years). They make excellent pies, cider, caramel apples, and eating! Sauce might be best left to the other variety of apples.
- Apples ARE abundant in Montana if folks will use organic sprays; be sure to always ask if sprays are used and which ones.
Happy Harvesting!!
