November, 2001

McIntosh, Gala, Fuji, Braeburn, Jonathon, and Granny Smith. Fall is the time for apples...apple salad, applesauce, apple pie, baked apples, apple chutney, apple crisp.

Also, fall is the time to crunch into an apple. Encourage your kids to eat Red Delicious and Golden Delicious, the number one and number two eating apples. Apples spread with peanut butter, goat cheese or cream cheese make a great after-school snack. And don't forget the apple for the teacher...

Many apple varieties are ripe from August through early summer, and even for those of you in colder climates, you can still visit your local orchard and harvest the fruit. There are few snacks as enjoyable as fresh apples, and apples always seem to be part of Thanksgiving feasts.

You can store apples in cool, dry places--your refrigerator crisper is ideal. Keep apples in a well-covered Tupperware container. One idea is to wrap the apples in tissue the way many companies ship them. This prevents bruising and keeps the apples fresher longer.

Although apples still tend to spoil quickly, you can preserve yours all winter, thanks to dehydrators such as the ones Open Chute features. You can make dried apple chips by dehydrating and baking pieces of apples.

How do you like those apples?