Even though it’s still warm here in the south, fall is in the air. That means it’s time to enjoy the tastes and traditions of the season.
Watching the leaves change colors.
All things pumpkin.
Football.
Cooler temperatures.
And lots of apples!
Our air conditioner is still running full blast, but I am ready to jump into the kitchen and get some delicious fall favorites underway.
Growing up in New England meant that apples were easily accessible. There was an orchard in practically every town. But now that we live in NC, we need to drive at least two hours in order to pick our own apples.
We usually try to make this happen once during the apple-picking season, but with teens and their work schedules, that doesn’t always happen.
Fortunately, we have a wonderful local farmer’s market that does the picking for us and goes the the mountains every day to bring us the freshest NC mountain apples.
They have every variety imaginable:
Gala
Fuji
Jonagold
Honey Crisp
Golden Delicious
MacIntosh (our family’s favorite!)
and many more…!
They are reasonably priced for sure, but when the kids were younger, they would each eat at least one apple every day. We would have “apple time” every night after dinner and before bed. To this day, I truly believe that this nightly habit helped keep them from getting sick. I guess we could agree with the saying, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.”
You can imagine that with five kids, we went through a lot of apples! One solution we found helpful was to buy the “deer apples” at the farmer’s market. Aside from a few bruises and an occasional rotten one we needed to toss, they were completely acceptable for consumption.
After all, why does produce have to be so “perfect and pretty”? Honestly, I don’t like the perfect red apples found in the supermarket!
So deer apples it is! Ask your local farmer’s market or farm stand for this cost effective and perfectly imperfect fruit. We only pay $10 for a large box, and $5 for a smaller one. They also sell “B Grade” tomatoes, peaches, or any other produce that may not “make the cut”. Check it out for yourself!
