Our city's nickname, the Big Apple, has little to do with fruit production.
But New York State is one of the top five apple producers in the country — alongside Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington — according to the author and apple expert Dan Bussey.
The 19th century marked a golden age for apples, with the country growing roughly 14,000 varieties. Some of the leading nurseries, including William Prince Nursery, Bloodgood Nursery and Ellwanger and Barry, were on New York soil.
Today, New York is best known among connoisseurs of fine fruit for its classic Northern Spy and Newtown Pippin apples.
(A Northern Spy tree can take up to 10 years to bear fruit, said Mr. Bussey, whose encyclopedia, "The Illustrated History of Apples in North America," is scheduled to appear next year.)
Some helpful tips as we bite into apple-picking season:
• The best apples are those that ripen later, around October through December.
"Better-developed sugars, more complex flavors and more satisfying to eat," Mr. Bussey told us.
• Once you've picked them, keep them somewhere cool to slow the decaying process.
(Until, of course, you bake them into an apple cake, apple pie, tarte Tatin or bourbon Bundt.)
• And don't judge an apple by its color.
"They can run from practically black and tints of blue to yellows, greens and reds," Mr. Bussey said.
It's just their genetic makeup, he said, adding that the pretty apples don't always taste the best: "Under the skin is really where it counts — not what's on the outside, but on the inside."
Agreed.
As reported by NewYorkTimes
As reported by NewYorkTimes