Types of apples in apple pies

Cooking Discussions Baking, Sweets
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Apple pie season is back! What varietals are you HOs using this season? I went picking yesterday at an orchard near Hudson, NY (about 2 hours north of NYC) and brought home several new-to-me varietals that I’m excited to try in baked goods.

First, two Macintosh varietals - the “Fix” Mac (a varietal bred by the orchard for their own use) and the Ruby Mac. The Fix tastes like a slightly richer, more complex version of a classic Mcintosh, while the Ruby Mac is a whole different beast - large, really juicy, quite tart, slightly crisper flesh than your usual Mac. As a fan of tart fruit, I really REALLY love the Ruby Mac - very excited to see how they bake up. They also had Acey Macs, but I found them too sweet/bland in comparison to their cousins.

Next, a bunch of Crisps - Autumn Crisp, Ever Crisp, Crimson Crisp and Ludacrisp. I’m a big fan of Crimson Crisp but the others were new to me. Autumn and Ever were disappointing - sweet and insipid. The Evers may not have been quite ripe, too - they had an odd vegetal aftertaste. The Ludacrisp, on the other hand - WOW! A super interesting apple. Gingery and spicy initial flavor, giving way to a perfect tart-sweet balance. DH found the spicy ginger flavor off-putting but if you are a ginger fan, I think you will love these.

Finally, I snagged a bunch of Red Rubens - an apple I had never heard of. Medium sized, thinnish skin, tender/firm and juicy flesh with a really nice balanced apple flavor. I found out when I got home that this is an Italian apple, also known as Civini, that has become popular in Europe: https://rootstofruitsnursery.com/products/red-rubens?srsltid=AfmBOopLKcWXC-oTCzr8qVeljiDezMom97WBodVqd9NDUG4i9LQ64o3F

Other new to me varietals were Koru (way way way sweet and fake vanilla tasting to my palate - I actually spit this one out! https://chelanfresh.com/koru-apple/), Ambrosia (very sweet and banana-flavored, again, not a fan https://www.orangepippin.com/varieties/apples/ambrosia), and Piñata (sweet-tart at first but with a candy-sweet, almost tropical fruit finish - just a bit too sweet overall for me https://www.stemilt.com/fruits/apples/pinata-apples/)

I’ll report back on these once I’ve baked with them!

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22

Baked an apple crisp using one each Golden Delicious, Red Ruben, Ruby Mac, Fix Mac and Cosmic Crisp last night. Apples were all sliced around 1/4" thick and nuked for 7 minutes to start, then baked under streusel for around 50 mins at 375. Verdict: delicious! Most of the apples broke down to near-mush (which is Mr. Bionda’s preferred texture), but there were still a few meatier pieces left (I suspect these were the Golden Delicious and Red Ruben pieces). Flavor was excellent with plenty of tart to balance the sweet, despite not a Granny Smith in sight! I had 1.5 lbs of apples after peeling/coring and used 6 tablespoons of sugar to sweeten, plus 2 T. of cider vinegar in lieu of lemon juice (I find this significantly boosts the apple flavor). May try a tarte Tatin next!

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23

I’ve been quite happy using Fujis in pies. For the last several years, I’ve been buying a bushel or two of Fujis, mostly for baking, drying, and saucing, but also for eating out of hand. There’s a packing shed not too far from me where I can get them for about USD20 per bushel. Ever since I found the shed, I’ve been too cheap to pay supermarket prices for apples, so Fujis by the box it is!

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My absolute favourite for pies is northern spy, but I haven’t seen any locally this year.

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Spies are a late apple. Im hoping for some this year for my pies; unlike some others, I dislike apples that turn to mush in baking. These stay intact though tender after baking and have very nice texture, acidity and flavor. I also like that they may have little bruises, but those are superficial - the apples are so firm they resist real damage.

My family also used Jonathans extensively when I was growing up which also have wonderful apply flavor. Less available now and you have to make sure they are full ripe after picking or they will not have the full flavor. Lately I have seen a lot of new apples in the market which are really very good, but I do so little baking at this point that I am unlikely to test their baking qualities.

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I prefer a bit of texture myself, but I let Mr. Bionda have his way this time. I think if I had skipped/shortened the microwaving step, the apples I used for my latest bake would have retained some texture (except for the Macs, but I depend on those for apple goo to hold the chunks together). You’re right about Spies, though - their texture and flavor are both excellent in baked goods.

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Cortland. That is all.

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Well today I bought cortland, honey crisp, and … Matsu?? So that is what is going in to my pie today. Not sure I know what to expect from a Matsu but happy to find out.

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I’m not a big fan of Mutsu - I find them a bit bland and one-dimensional. They might be better grown elsewhere, though - I’ve only had them from NY orchards. And I’ve never baked with them. Will be interested to hear about your results!

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Agree. Granny or Go Home!

(JMHO)

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A great example of how to ruin a food by focusing exclusively on one aspect (in this case, redness).

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32

Mutsus/Crispins are my favorite apple. :smiling_face_with_tear:

They are sweet, but with a tinge of tartness - not as extreme on tartness as a granny smith. I love them. They also often come giant sized too.

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Just made an apple/ pear tart using Crimson Gold. I was very surprised how nice and tart these were , juicy with a lot of flavor. I’m assuming it’s a hybrid from Golden Delicious which I use frequently for tarts but not as an eating apple. Crimson Gold hits the mark for both eating and baking.
My favorite pie apple is Rhode Island Greening, an early apple and hard to find. I’ve been using Braeburn apples successfully.

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34

I am familiar with, and like, Cosmic Crisp. But you wrote Crimson Crisp in your OP; is there such a thing or did you mistype?

I once did a similar experiment with dozens of heirloom apples from New Hampshire. Straight eating, baked apple, and hand pie. IIRC, Northern Spy, Empire (not rare here), and Hampshire, their own exclusive, were topnotch for all three.

It’s early season here for Evercrisp, which is now my favorite hand apple. It has an edge over kissing cousin, Snapdragon, only because Evercrisp keeps its crunch longer. Macoun is sublime but only for its very brief prime, after which it gets soft and bland, like an old McIntosh. For pies, I use a mixture of soft and crunchy apples, so the filling comes out like chunks in applesauce.

The 21st century, so far, seems to be the Honeycrisp Dynasty. It’s in the family tree (intended) of most of the newer varieties. Since apples are related to roses, I am unsurprised to find that Honeycrisp tastes like a Golden Delicious sprayed with cologne. Not a favorite hand apple but holds its shape extremely well in pies.

Last year I was on a test panel for Kissabel, a yellow French apple with pink/red flesh. Good hand and baked.

Cooks Illustrated recommends a mix for pies: McIntosh, Granny Smith, and your choice of all-purpose apple like Rome, Cortland, or Gala. They noted that they confined their choices to readily available supermarket varieties.

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35

The ones I tasted last weekend were indeed HUGE, but sweet and watery, not very flavorful. That’s typical of my experience with them at various orchards around here. Maybe that’s just how they grow in NY?

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No typos - they were Crimson Crisp. https://newenglandapples.org/apples/crimsoncrisp/ I have had Cosmic Crisps as well but I think I prefer the Crimson.

I was expecting to like these but the one I tasted last weekend was not good - it may have been underripe. The crisp texture was appealing but there was a weird, green peppery flavor and not a lot of sweetness or acidity.

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I find that honey crisps vary depending on where they are grown. I’m happy to pay the extra for MN grown honey crisps because that’s where they came from and we’re bread for our soil and climate. The ones from Washington state are passable. I won’t buy the ones from Michigan - the taste and texture are just off to me

Another member of our CSA gave us several pounds of local honey crisps. Probably going to just do crisp or crumble with them to use them up before vacation. The kids think apple crisp is a great breakfast

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The Shakers regularly included apple pie in their large, filling breakfasts, so your kids have justification! I know folks who stretch the precedent to pizza. :apple::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::pizza: Shakers started their days by dawn, milking cows, gathering eggs, and starting other chores after a simple mini-breakfast. Meanwhile, bread and pies were baking, eggs and breakfast meats being prepared for the members who worked outdoors earlier.

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There was a book, then a tv report, about the disaster that is the “standard” US tomato.
They became larger, plumper and redder but the tomato flavor just about disappeared.
The reporter interviewed a large tomato producer (i hesitate to call him a farmer) and his response to the question about what happened to American tomatoes was “I don’t get paid one cent for flavor!”
I think something similar happened to the Red Delicious apple. In the 1970’s they were mid-sized rather red apples that were in fact a delicious, mildly sweet apple.
Now they are very large, very red, very crisp, but the “flavor” is very disappointing.

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Good article on apples for pie: