"Hello, I'm a Mac."

I grew up in apple country.

In upstate New York, we didn't buy our apples at the grocery store. We went to the apple orchard. The store on site was filled with freshly pressed cider, jugs of maple syrup, and odd bins for Italian plums, Seckel pears and Concord grapes. And then there were the apples. Apples in bags and boxes, newly picked Cortlands and Northern Spies. There were Rome apples, used almost exclusively for applesauce or apple pies. And you might find Pippins or Macouns. But my heart belonged to the hard, tart, early Macs, and to this day, at least for me, nothing beats a McIntosh.

What apple are you?

--Tracy Schneider

 

Comments

[netzwerkkabel on September 18, 2009 at 02:59 AM]

I used to be windows. but I think I'm gonna go mac. it's not that I don't like windows. but I love to make movies and stuff, and pc is kind of slow, I don't want to get a virus, and I'm afraid it will crash and destroy my work. I hear macs never crash, so I think I'm gonna give it a go.

[Melissa Trainer on September 18, 2009 at 06:47 AM]

Tracy
We love Akanes in our house. They are grown here in Washington by the Tonnemaker family, and I buy them at the University District Farmers market. I wrote them up on my blog, www.hooksforcooks.com
because they are the perfect lunch box apple! I've been buying them for many years now. My kids inhale them. They are small with a striated skin and snow white interior. My kids like them so much they won't even trade them for a Rice Krispy treat!!

[Phyllis Palmer on September 18, 2009 at 06:56 AM]

Stayman Winesap... I've only seen it in VA and PA,and that was many years ago, but it was crisp and just the right level of sweetness and tart. Obviously I still have good long term memory!

[Donna Smith on September 18, 2009 at 08:22 AM]

Honeycrisp. They grow them in orchards here in Illinois (and elsewhere I am sure) and they are sweet-tart crisp apples --yum! I have one here at my desk which will be my mid-morning treat!

[Gringo on September 18, 2009 at 12:09 PM]

My parents also bought our apples at orchards, not at grocery stores. Ida Red is my personal preference, but I would not feel deprived to eat a Mac instead.

[Rick Caird on September 18, 2009 at 12:18 PM]

Is that the cider mill in Endicott? The kids liked to see the apples pressed. The taste of the cider changed over the fall as the different apples came in.

We don't have any cider mills in this part of Florida. We are lucky to get apples.

Rick

[Bible Money Matters on September 18, 2009 at 12:19 PM]

Honey crisp hands down.

[chad on September 18, 2009 at 12:20 PM]

It seems like "netzwerkkabel" is either a spambot or a paid hack for Apple. He's really got the pre-screened, focus-grouped talking points down. Come on, though. Spinning for Apple Inc. in a post about actual fruit? This is astroturfed, "guerilla" marketing at its most obvious.

As per the topic, my wife and I just visited the Sky Top Orchard near Flat Rock, NC, and picked a peck of apples. We got several kinds and we're drying most of them. I've been pleasantly surprised by the Jonagolds.

[Rhodium Heart on September 18, 2009 at 12:23 PM]

I sure as hell ain't a Pink Lady.

I would like to think I'm a Fuji. Crisp, firm and just the right amount of sweetness.

[Pixelkiller on September 18, 2009 at 12:26 PM]

For apple pies and apple sauce, Gravenstein apples are the best!

[dick on September 18, 2009 at 12:27 PM]

Does being a Cuervo Black count?

[JorgXMcKie on September 18, 2009 at 12:35 PM]

My wife prefers Gala, and they're okay, but I grew up in Illinois apple country, and there's still nothing I like as much as a nice, crisp Jonathon.

[Andy on September 18, 2009 at 12:35 PM]

1) Fuji

2) Cameo

3) Honey Crisp

[Mark Webster on September 18, 2009 at 12:42 PM]

Johnagold, Braeburns, and the odd empire. The classic Macintosh is never refused, but I prefer Northern Greenings for pie. I grew up buying my apples in Cardiff, so I sympathize…and I really miss the fresh cider.

[Tim on September 18, 2009 at 12:47 PM]

Nothing can beat a cold ripe Stayman's Winesap.

[Jonathan Limebrook on September 18, 2009 at 12:48 PM]

I'm a Jonathan, but that's just because my parents named me that. Apple-wise, I prefer Galas. At the perfect point of ripeness their texture is creamy, and the flavor hints of pears, which I also love. Unfortunately I grew up in Southern California, where we don't have any apple vines, or whatever.

[Duane on September 18, 2009 at 12:56 PM]

I too grew up in upstate NY, and every time I bite into a Macintosh I remember those school field trips to the orchard and those Sunday afternoons picking up a bushel of apples and a gallon of cider after church.

I now live in Seattle and have to suffer through those mealy Red Delicious "apples" they grow out here.

[Greg Ransom on September 18, 2009 at 12:57 PM]

Nothing beats an old-grove Red Delicious picked from a tree in NE Oregon.

Likely you've only rarely run into anything very close in a grocery store.

[Ron Moses on September 18, 2009 at 01:06 PM]

I am definitely a Fuji. I used to be a Red Delicious, but now I am firmly in the Fuji camp.

On an unrelated note... one of these comments is not like the others. Methinks someone missed the point.

[Kendall Gelner on September 18, 2009 at 01:10 PM]

It's probably a sign of my lack of experience with apples outside stores, but I'm very fond of Granny Smith apples here in Colorado (in large part because as someone else noted Red Delicious apples in stores are rather mealy). Sometime when I am out east again I shall make it a point to broaden my horizons.

They make great caramel apples in the fall, fast approaching...

[Mark B on September 18, 2009 at 01:17 PM]

Macintosh rules. You don't have to have teeth like Kathrine Hepburn to bite into one and they aren't tart and bitter. What else could one want? Unfortunately I can't find them in Austin, Texas.

[gullyborg on September 18, 2009 at 01:18 PM]

Arkansas Black.

[RebeccaH on September 18, 2009 at 01:24 PM]

I'm a Granny Smith from September to March, and a Fuji or Gala otherwise in the winter months (because they're imported). Apples are not a consideration during watermelon/peach/plum/grape season.

[Harry on September 18, 2009 at 01:25 PM]

Now I'm excited, and I'll have to go this weekend. I live near several apple orchards in Upstate New York. What I love about picking my own is getting a collection of different kinds. My favorites are probably Cortland, Macoun, Macs, Empire, Golden Delicious, Rome (even though they are a cooking apple) and I'll throw a couple others in the basket. The multitude of flavors and smells! Takes me back to growing up in Geneva where apples are king http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_State_Agricultural_Experiment_Station

[RebeccaH on September 18, 2009 at 01:26 PM]

To clarify my previous post on Fujis and Galas, it's not their season but their crispness and flavor that I love.