Two varieties of apples are now being picked for market, Jonagold and Empire, both of which are gorgeous and delicious, and bring the number of varieties we are offering to seven. If you look closely at the two photos you may notice just how huge the apples are. In the bottom picture Eddie is holding a "monster" apple and is testing for sugars, just to be sure exactly how ripe they may be. In the above picture you can see that the four apples Jesse has put on top of the crateful of fruit almost dwarf the standard half bushel crates you have seen for years at market; The wooden crates appear to be almost half sized.

     This season has seen some pretty huge fruit and many of you have commented on the size, not always positively. At this point there is nothing we can do if your favorite apple is just bigger than you would like. Customers will have to decide if it is OK to cut them up and deal with it that way, perhaps wrapping half and refrigerating it. When you have a "light" crop of a certain variety it is nearly inevitable that most of the fruit will be large. The weather this season has been as perfect as we can remember, not just for size, but for color and finish on the fruit.

     Jonagold is a great variety for all cooking purposes and is a perennial favorite in Europe, especially in Germany and Holland. They are crisp and sweet- sharp, with beautiful color, as can be seen in the pictures, a strong crimson blush over a yellow/green background. Just think, being as they are terrific as cooking apples, you will only need about three to make a pie or cobbler. 

     The variety was developed as a cross of Golden Delicious and Jonathan; it was created at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, and was released in 1953. The fruit is delicious simply eaten fresh with its abundance of sugar but plenty of tart-tanginess. Speaking of New York, another great apple came out of that state.

     The Empire variety was developed at the same experimental station, a part of Cornell University, as Jonagold but is a cross between McIntosh and Red Delicious; often described as the best of the two, having the flavor and tartness of the McIntosh and the sweetness of the older reds. It has a bright red color with creamy white flesh inside. When fresh it is crunchy and juicy with a wine-y flavor with enough tartness for any cooking purpose. It was once voted the best apple in a country wide "bake off" to find the perfect pie apple. Empire also makes a wonderful sauce apple, even turning the end product a rosy color, if cooked down with the skin left on.

     I have, over the years, including just yesterday, been asked why Jonathan and McIntosh are so difficult to find in this mid-atlantic growing region. We once raised McIntosh, and they were good for a week or so until they inevitably got soft and mealy. The apples never developed any color, making them difficult to sell; if left on the tree long enough to develop the red that is expected of a good Mac they will be too soft when picked, at least this far south. It is inevitably northern customers, meaning they are transplants from New York state and above, and were raised on northern Macs. The Empire is perhaps as close as we can get to producing the apples which they remember from childhood.

     As fall sets in we can look forward to some perennial seasonal favorites getting ready for harvest. The crew is hard at work gathering up lots of winter squash and are about ready to dig our sweet potatoes, both the traditional Beauregard and the white Japanese variety. Both of these crops, squash and sweet potatoes, require "curing" to be at peak flavor as well as to enhance their "keeping" qualities. Years ago we sometimes rushed some to market, prematurely, and they were less than satisfactory; hey, live and learn. 

     Curing is a process which will lower the moisture and increase the sugar content of these veggies. A room with a source of some heat is required to produce the correct environment in which they will properly cure. Up to this year we did this in a small tomato room with small baseboard electric heaters. it is now simply too crowded at that site. The new storage building will serve that purpose, along with heat from the biomass system already keeping the greenhouses cozy. This is part of what we had in mind when we designed multiple rooms with various temperature and humidity capacities. The sweet potatoes will require a week at about 80F; and boy was that a hassle in the old tomato room.

     Another two crops nearing maturity are the brassicas, brussels sprouts and Kaleidoscope greens, the new powerhouse veggies being touted as super foods, more on that at some other time. Arturo says both may be ready in a week or so; I'll keep you informed. 

     I've already overstayed my welcome and need to try to fetch Lyn to edit this newsletter.