A Word About: Apple Varieties

When it comes to cooking or baking with apples, you have to be careful about the kind you choose to use. Pick the wrong type, and you will end up with a mushy mess, but pick the right apple for the job and you will have something "mahvelous!" These are a few apples you may run across and what they are best used for.

Braeburn: speckled with red and gold; sweet with a touch of tang; good for baking.

Cortland: mostly red in color; tart and crisp; bakes very well; once cut, its flesh does not brown as quickly as many other apple varieties.

Empire: a cross between the Red Delicious and McIntosh apples; slightly tart; good "all-purpose" apple for sauce, baking, pies, salads, snacking, etc.

Golden Delicious: yellow or greenish yellow in color; sweet, but mild, flavoring; good all-purpose apple for cooking and baking.

Granny Smith: bright green color; tart, some would even say a little sour; good all-purpose cooking and baking apple; fabulous when paired with sweet or spicy apples in pies; one of my personal favorites (I think its tang invigorates the palate).

Honeycrisp: developed in Minnesota fairly recently; crisp and sweet (like their name indicates); great for snacking, apple sauce, and baking.

Ida Red: tangy flavor; sometimes the flesh of these apples is tinged pink, which makes a gorgeous colored applesauce (when making into sauce, keep skins on for cooking and strain skin out to get the best pink coloring).

Jonagold: apple child of the Golden Delicious and the Jonathan varieties; redish coloring; sweet with a hint of tartness; great as a snack, or for cooking or baking.

Jonathan: red coloring; tart with a hint of sweetness; does not hold up well if baked whole, but is great in pies, tarts, etc.

McIntosh: red with green undertones; great as a hand fruit; tends to break down when cooked; can be baked with O.K. results if paired with another, more hardy apple like the Golden Delicious.

Red Delicious: the classic apple; deep red in color; not suitable for baking; bred to be a hand fruit and is best enjoyed that way.

Winesap: sweet with slightly spicy flavor notes; firm; good for baking.