Happy October to all you apple devotees!

At this point in the fall, when there are dozens of outstanding varieties ripening in rapid succession, we struggle to keep up with all the harvesting that needs to be done. The thud of fruit hitting the ground is a little heartbreaking for us, because the impact from the fall often compromises the desirability of the fruit. Sometimes the best we can do is to take a deep breath and consider the season from a different perspective, cultivating gratitude for all the sweetness we have been fortunate enough to experience. It calls to mind a memorable excerpt from Louise Erdrich’s The Painted Drum that we think you might appreciate.

“Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won't either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself you tasted as many as you could.”

Picks of the week:
(Click each variety for more info)

American Golden Russet

Hidden Rose

King of Tompkins County

Nodhead

Pound Sweet

Sweet Sixteen

Wolf River

Halfway through the CSA, and it is time to mix it up again. We wanted to treat you to as wide a range of flavors, uses, colors (both inside and out), sizes, shapes and origin stories as we could gather. You can line these apples up and gawk at them and slice into each and take a taste, but this is a group of apples that will require some effort on your part to get to know them. We doubt it will be love at first bite for all seven.

For instance, Sweet Sixteen, which we love, may be too sweet or too candy-flavored for some of you, while the giant Wolf River which we find rather dull and flavorless, may be the one that triggers wonderful taste memories from your childhood. If you cook Wolf River into a pie, be sure to add some of the all-purpose, old-timer King of Tompkins County to give your pie more depth and juice.

Then there is Pound Sweet , a peculiar, no-acid apple, that takes forever to cook, but is dynamite when stewed with meat or other firm fruit. John added it to a lamb stew he made last week; the apples kept their texture and added just the right amount of sweetness to the broth. You may find some watercore inside your Pound Sweet. You can tell because the flesh around the core of the apple looks translucent. Cider makers are excited to see this because it means the apples have a high concentration of sugar.

In contrast Hidden Rose, Nodhead or American Golden Russet (aka Bullock) are three varieties best known as dessert fruit for fresh eating. Use these stunners raw in a salad or sliced up with a piece of cheese to wow your dinner guests. No stewing necessary here.

Mostly we encourage you to experiment with the apples in your share this week. Roast them, bake them, sautee and sauce them, or just nibble on them as you sit at your desk. Let us know how you like them best or least.

A final note on Nodhead. For years we have wondered about the origin of the name. Recently we received an email from Tom Schmit directing us to the website of the Hollis NH Historical Society for an explanation. Seems the name resulted from the habit of Samuel Jewett who discovered the apple to nod his head as he walked and talked.

The observant among you probably noticed two things about the Wolf Rivers in your share. First the label on the Wolf River bag is misspelled as Wolf Rover. We didn’t remake the labels because it seemed an apt mistake; Wolf River, which originated in WI, roved across the midwest before finding a permanent home in the old orchards of Maine. Secondly, the apples do not live up to their reputation as HUGE. All we can say is every orchard and every year is different. We can only hope that smaller size means bigger flavor.

Our apples come to you straight from the tree, so, as with all fresh produce, please be sure to wash them thoroughly before eating. Some of the apples are grown using Integrated Pest Management by the orchards we collaborate with throughout Maine, and some are organically grown here on Super Chilly Farm.

Upcoming Apple Events

John Bunker’s Apple Talks

If the CSA has made you excited to taste more varieties, learn about the history of apples in New England or just spend the day hanging out with other apples geeks, check out some of the events listed on our Calendar. Here are opportunities to hear John speak in the next two weeks.

October 17: Paris Historical Society, 77 High St., South Paris - 7 PM. Tracking down, identifying and preserving old apples. For more information contact Marilyn Jones at (207) 774-2568.

October 18: Milbridge, Pleasant River Garden Club - 1:00 PM. Join John for a tour of old orchards in Washington County. Contact Ora Aselton, PR Garden Club, for more information.

October 19: Downeast Apple Day, Cobscook Community Learning Center, 10 Commissary Rd, North Trescott. Talks, displays and tastings all day. John and lots of his apple-crazed friends will be there to do ID’s and speak. For more information and to register, call 207-733-2233.

October 26: Gulf of Maine Books, 134 Maine St., Brunswick - 4PM. John will be reading from his new book, Apples and the Art of Detection.

Recipes of the Week

French Apple Cake

I’m not sure who gave me this recipe way back in 2012, but it must have come originally from Cooks Illustrated because it has way more science attached to it than I want to read. I’ve pulled it out of my recipe folder every now and then over the years, but I always returned it untried because it calls for a microwave which is something we don’t have. But since I was going to be spending a week in Colorado with our daughter and her family who do have a microwave, I finally had the opportunity to give it a try. So I filled my suitcase with apples from CSA#2 (since we hadn’t picked the apples in this weeks share yet) and headed west.

Cooks Illustrated has a way of making simple recipes like this one appear complicated, but in reality it turned out to be a breeze. Our 4-year old grandson did most of the mixing and egg cracking using some very innovative techniques, and in spite of this (or maybe because of it) the cake that resulted was wonderful. It was custardy on the bottom layer, light and cakey on the top layer, and exceedingly moist throughout - even in the ultra-dry Colorado air, the flavor and texture seemed to improve each day.

The whole idea of using a microwave to cook apples seems ridiculous, so if you don’t have one, don’t be put off by this recipe as I was. It is worth experimenting with different ways to soften the apples, and I would guess the same result could be achieved by steaming them or caramelizing them slightly.

Ingredients

11/2 lb cooking apples - cored, cut into 8 wedges, and sliced 1/8” thick crosswise
1 TBS Calvados, brandy or rum
1 tsp lemon juice
1 cups plus 2 TBS flour
1 cup plus 1 TBS sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg plus 2 large yolks
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup whole milk
1 tsp vanilla

Directions

Adjust oven rack to middle position. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Grease a 9” spring-form pan, and place it on a rimmed baking sheet lined with aluminum foil.
Place the apple slices in a glass pie plate, cover, and microwave 3-4 minutes until the apples are pliable but not completely soft- they shouldn’t snap when you bend them. Toss the cooked apples with the brandy and lemon juice. Let them cool for 15 minutes.
In a small bowl whisk together 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 2 tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp salt. Set aside the remaining 2 TBS flour and 1 TBS sugar for later.
In a larger bowl, whisk the whole egg, oil, milk and vanilla together til smooth. Reserve the two egg yolks for later.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and whisk until just combined.
Remove 1 cup of batter, and put it in a bowl. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the apples into it. Transfer this to the spring-form pan, and spread it evenly across the bottom.
Add the remaining two egg yolks and two TBS of flour into the remaining batter, and whisk to combine. Pour this over the apples and batter already in the pan, and spread it evenly to the edges.
Sprinkle the remaining 1 TBS of sugar over the top. This makes a nice crispy layer on the top of the cake.
Bake until the center of the cake is set and the top is golden brown, about 11/4 hours. Cool the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Then run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the cake. Let it cool 2-3 hours more before removing it from the pan and serving.

Kohlrabi, Apple and Beetroot Salad

I’m finally starting to harvest the root crops that I have been ignoring in favor of the tomatoes, peppers and shell beans for the past month or two. When I peeked under their leafy tops the other day, I discovered that they had pushed their way out of the ground and were standing bright and plump, waiting to be pulled free of their earthy bonds. If your garden or farmers market is overflowing with fall roots, try this colorful salad. Any of the fresh eating apples in this weeks CSA will work fine; a mix of three varieties would be even better.