Made it to the orchard! Mom got a bushel: 1/2 Pink Lady & 1/2 Arkansas Black. I got a peck of Arkansas Black & half a peck of Winesaps as a gift for someone at church (his wife said he only eats Winesaps). I love this place - basically a shack at a bend in the road with huge crates of apples sitting around. You select your own apples from the crates. On this visit, the crates have been moved inside due to the below freezing weather we’ve had. The owners are about as friendly as it gets - fun to talk to. It’s a family orchard - they bought it from the wife’s grandpa who had the orchard for 40 years.
These folks grow 4 varieties & get the rest from other farmers in the county. They also grow peaches - actually more than apples. They got hit with a very hard freeze when the peaches were blooming this past spring - 22 degrees for over 12 hours & it killed most of their crop - they got 4 bushels out of 600 trees! The other orchards had similar experiences & peaches were hard to find. At Walmart, they were selling for $1.32 each & locally, $75 per bushel. Fingers crossed that the peaches do well next year - I’ll be back at this little orchard to load up :-)
I also bought a half gallon of apple cider & some Peach Salsa as a Christmas gift for a cousin - she mentioned the other day she loves peach salsa.
We stopped at a fast food place (I know, I know, but mom had coupons & was treating) & then the local ice cream stand for cones. Whew - no dinner for me tonight ... but maybe an apple or two.
Here’s the info the orchard put on Facebook about their apple inventory:
“Arkansas Black have to be one of the most beautiful apples ever! These hard apples are one of the best storage varieties available. These apples were designed to eat once they’ve been stored a few months as their sharp and tart flavor turns to more of a lightly sweet taste with accents of cinnamon and vanilla and can even take on a wine-like or molasses flavor! We have plenty in the market if you’d like to come check them out!!”
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Apples in the market today:
🍎Pink Lady - tangy then sweet, more tangy now and will sweeten as it ripens, excellent winter keeper, holds shape for baking
🍎Arkansas Black - tart and very hard, one of the best winter storage apples, holds shape well for baking, ripens into a complex sweet-tart flavor in storage
🍎Winesap - tart and crispy, good winter storage apple, holds its shape for baking, excellent for tarts and pies
🍏Nittany- *low supply* - sweet and crispy, a cross between York and Golden Delicious, holds its shape for baking, great for unsweetened applesauce or pies
🍎York - tart and dense, hold their shape well for baking, known to be amazing frying apples
🍏Fuji - *low supply* - sweet with a slight tang, crispy, hold their shape well for baking, great for unsweetened applesauce
🍎Stayman - tart and dense, flavor intensifies when cooked, hold their shape well when baking, known for their amazing apple butter!
🍎Rome - tart and dense, holds shape well and known as “Queen of the Baking Apples” makes fantastic dumplings
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More info on Arkansas Black apples in this article:
Black Apples Guide: Arkansas Black vs Black Diamond Apples
https://harvestsavvy.com/black-apples/
What a great day you had! I have never heard of ‘Arkansas Black’ - sounds wonderful!
For some winter reading for apple lovers I’ll again recommend, ‘The Orchard: A Memoir’ by Adele Crockett Robertson.
“Recounts a young, single woman’s laborious struggle to save her New England apple orchard from going under during the Depression.”