Gravensteins after all.

food and cooking,

A while back I mentioned how I got the bright idea, to drive out to the farm and buy some Gravenstein apples, a specialty variety that comes on early and is definitely not a good keeper. Those apples have the most appley flavor and make sauce that needs no added sugar. But because I’m not thinking about apples in August I always miss them. It was too busy a week, as I realized eventually, and dropping that project — and the resulting extra kitchen work — from the to-do list brought great relief. I knew I would manage to go sometime in October or November and bring home a box of apples of some other type.

Then when my sister Nancy was visiting last week, I thought what a nice thing to do together, to drive through the beautiful countryside and visit my favorite orchard. When we arrived, we found that the apples are late this year, and the only variety they had so far (out of dozens that they grow) was Gravensteins!

I’ve made several jars’ worth of sauce so far and eaten many out of hand, mealy as they already are. So, so yummy, and a special treat for me. Next year maybe I will try to get them earlier, but there’s no way to predict what week that might be, this far ahead. So I’ll just be ready to receive whatever gifts come my way.

 

18 thoughts on “Gravensteins after all.”

    1. Are you able to grow apples there, Anne? I suspect not. They don’t thrive in the hot Central Valley where I grew up. My father found a variety that would grow, though, and planted it in the middle of our lawn where it grew for many years and became quite large. It produced an abundance of perfectly sour apples 😦 I don’t remember that they even had an appley flavor, but my mother made quarts and quarts of applesauce with them, using lots of sugar. Eventually the tree was removed and we began the practice of driving an hour or so up into the foothills to buy a couple of lug boxes of really nice Golden Delicious apples, a wonderful fall treat.

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  3. I’m so glad you have this surprise treat of a favorite apple! I have an apple memory of the applesauce made by my grandmother in Georgia, always from the one apple tree in her back yard. I have never since tasted an apple that matched what I remember of hers, although I always try heirloom apples that come my way. By this time of my life, I have to wonder if I have a true memory of that taste or not… but still, it would be quite something to me to find that variety.

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    1. My first and favorite apple memory is from my 20’s, when I learned to bake pies using Pippin apples. I still don’t think an apple pie tastes right unless it’s made with Pippins, and they are not commonly found in the stores these days. “My” apple ranch usually has them, but I often miss that seemingly short period of their availability.

      I hope you will stumble upon That Apple one of these days. Please tell me if you do! ❤

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  5. If I get a chance to taste a Gravenstein apple some day I certainly will. I bought some Galas recently and was disappointed because they were mealy. They were not bought with the idea of applesauce but that’s what they became.

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    1. I suppose Gravensteins never make it into any markets except local ones, as they are so lacking in sturdiness and longevity… but I could be wrong. I will ask about that when I go back and get my October apples.

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