Saturday, October 10, 2009

Gone pickin'

Today the hubs and I got moving at a reasonable hour to go apple pickin'. We searched "pick your own" spots in southeastern Wisconsin and located a few nearby spots. We had planned on going to two of them but since it was only about 40 degrees out and it started misting and SNOWING we only ended up going to one of them. One of the things I love about being in Wisconsin is the number of outdoor/nature-y activities available. It's like the people here cherish the few short months of outdoor opportunities each year and want to take full advantage of them. I had been to one apple farm on a field trip but we choose a new one called Barthel Fruit Farm. It was so much fun! I took a ton of pictures even though my hands were numb after about 5 minutes out in the cold. Here is our trip in pictures.

Honeycrisp apples are the absolute best!

Some of these apples were REALLY big!

Pretty berry bushes, too.
Crab apple trees.

Queen Anne's Lace and apples.

Greg climbing for the best ones!

You could pick your own pumpkins, too!

Apple on a post.

Our loot - all 17 pounds of it!

Apples taking a bath!

Now what,

exactly,

are we going to do,

with 17 pounds of apples??! We've got 38, oh wait, we already ate one, so 37 apples to use up. Here are some ideas I'm thinking of right now.
  • Apple pie! I've been wanting to make one forever so this is a must.
  • Apple cake. I saw a yummy one here via here.
  • Apple butter. Just seems like a fun thing to try.
  • And of course, the honeycrisps are so good we will probably eat them on their own - my mouth is watering just thinking of them!
I also picked up this handy chart that I plan to keep as a resource for future apple baking endeavors:

Flavor

Apple Pie

Sauce

Sauce Texture

Flesh color

Harvested Refrigerated
Life Expectancy
Earlygold

Tart

Good

Good

Chunky

Yellow

Mid- August Mid- September
Jersey McIntosh

Tart

Fair

Good

Smooth

Cream

Late August Mid- September
Paula Red

Tangy

Good

Good

Chunky

White

Late August Late September
Gingergold

Sweet

Good

Good

Chunky

White

Early September Late October

Flavor

Apple Pie

Sauce

Sauce Texture

Flesh color

Harvested Refrigerated
Life Expectancy
Wealthy

Sour

Good

Good

Chunky

White

Early September Late October
McIntosh

Mild, tart

Good

Excellent

Smooth

Cream

Early September Early January
Mollies Delicious

Sweet

Poor

Poor

Chunky

Yellow

Early September Late October
Jonathon

Tart

Good

Excellent

Chunky

White

Mid-September Late October

Flavor

Apple Pie

Sauce

Sauce Texture

Flesh color

Harvested Refrigerated
Life Expectancy
20 oz Pippin

Tangy, tart

Best!!

Good

Chunky

Yellow

Mid-September Late October
Cortland

Semi-sweet

Excellent

Good

Chunky

White

Mid-September New Year
Spartan

Sweet

Fair

Good

Chunky

White

Mid-September November
Macoun

Mild, tart

Good

Good

Creamy

Cream

Mid-September November
Golden Supreme

Mild, sweet

Fair

Poor

Chunky

White

Mid-September November

Flavor

Apple Pie

Sauce

Sauce Texture

Flesh color

Harvested Refrigerated
Life Expectancy
Honeycrisp

Sweet

Fair

Fair

Chunky

White

Early October 6 months!
Red Delicious

Sweet

Poor

Poor

Chunky

Yellow

Early October December
Golden Delicious

Sweet

Excellent

Excellent

Chunky

Yellow

Mid-October December
Ida Red

Tart

Excellent

Good

Chunky

Cream

Mid-October Excellent four months

Anyone else have any great apple recipes? Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend!

xoxo,
lucy

1 comment:

  1. What a wonderful day Lucy! I love all the pictures and the setting and your perspective. You are definitely mufti talented!

    Blessings!
    Amanda

    ReplyDelete