We woke up early one Saturday morning. It’s not really a chore when a day full of laughing, eating, and cider-drinking awaits. I sat on my bedroom floor curling my hair with sleepy eyes and too-tired-to-be-nimble hands. I grabbed a cup of coffee, packed up our picnic and my camera, and we set off.

We drove up a mountain -- the kind of mountain that makes your car scoot backwards each time you take your foot off the accelerator. Thankfully, the promise of cider soothes the oncoming nausea.

The orchard was bustling with eager families ready to fill their baskets with apples and their stomaches with doughnuts. The grass was wet with the morning dew and the air was filled with every fragrance synonymous with autumn. Sweet cider, spicy doughnuts, apple trees, and hay filled our senses.

We walked past the crates of pre-picked apples that were far too pedestrian for our liking, and carried our baskets up the hill and to the trees which were heavy with newly ripened fruit. We quietly expressed our frustration at the biggest, most beautiful apples always growing on the branches far above our 5’ 2’’ reach, and we laughed at our failed attempts to grasp them.

That pretty lady? She’s my Aunt Mere. She’s adorable, hilarious, and just…endearing. I love her. My uncle, her husband, is a fantastically talented photographer who captured all the mischief of our day.

I love apples. I really, really do, but that is not necessarily why I insist upon going apple picking each and every year. I go for the smells, the trees, and the charm of the entire experience.

It is a chance to live Autumn the way I imagine myself doing every day on my fanciful English estate. You pick your own fruit leisurely, snacking often, drinking enough cider to make your stomach feel sloshy when you walk back down the hill, and return to bake with the (literal) fruits of your venture.

I wait all year for these slow, chilly, autumnal moments and this year’s certainly did not disappoint.

I have a refrigerator full of apples and a notebook full of recipes and I cannot wait to share them all with you! In the meantime, however, here are a few of my past apple-y endeavors.

Baked Brie with Caramelized Apples

Sweet Cinnamon and Apple Turnovers

Maple Apple Galette

“Autumn...the year's last, loveliest smile.”

- William Cullen Bryant

Sincerely,

Pedantic Foodie

All photographs by Matthew Dejesus

Every year my infatuation with the humble apple is renewed. In the United States we grow twenty-five-hundred varieties of apples, and seventy-five-hundred are grown worldwide. It’s no wonder that the apple is one of the most popularly consumed fruits. With a variety of textures, flavors, and uses unique to each breed there is an apple for everyone.

I spent a weekend at an orchard drinking my weight in cider. The air was crisp and filled with the aroma of hot doughnuts, cider, and apple trees. This particular orchard grows multiple varieties of apples and I there was no way I could choose just one.

In addition to my Crispins and Golden Delicious, (for my father), I came home with half a bushel of Stayman Winesaps which are fantastic! Stayman apples have a dusty red exterior with white spots. Their flesh is firm and crisp and their flavor is tart and aromatic. These apples are great for out-of-hand eating and can be used in baking and cooked applications as well.

When selecting apples it is best to select firm specimens with smooth tight skin. Minor bruises are acceptable if the apples are going to be turned into sauce or preserved. Apples can be held in climate-controlled cold storage for several months without a great loss in quality.

If you do intend to keep your apples for an extended period of time, wrap the apples individually in a bit of newspaper. This will keep the apples from causing each other to spoil. Apples release Ethylene gas which can cause the fruit around them to spoil. “One bad apple spoils the bunch.”

P.S. There was a severe lack of hand models at the orchard, excuse my unpolished fingers. Just look at that apple, that's a nice apple.