Worm Hole

Do you purchase apples with worm holes?

As I try to make a point of buying locally grown, organic apples, I generally find many of the apples have worm holes in them. I've eaten plenty an apple with a worm hole, especially as our house in Berkeley had tart, tasty apples that were frequented by worms (and squirrels, but those ones were always on the ground, natch).

I didn't mind the holes at all from the apples in my yard, but maybe that's just cause the apples were free. I'd just pick the apple and cut out the worm hole. When I'm at the store, though, I avoid the worm holes like the plague. Guess it's just cause I'm paying for them.

This post is apropos of nothing in particular.

Baird Farms Gala

Just back from the produce market, where I bought a Gala for the first time in ages. I pronounce it Gal-uh, for what it's worth. Polished one of them off with my sandwich for lunch, and I recalled why I don't generally buy the Gala. It's bland. A little sweet, I guess, but really not much to it. Texture was fine, not super crisp, but not mealy (I'll generally just toss a mealy apple into the trash rather than finish eating it).

Thankfully I have some dark chocolate covered walnuts from the Berkeley Bowl (just returned from a trip to the Bay Area) to leave my mouth with a good post-lunch flavor.

No clue where this Baird Farms is. I initially thought they were local, but am not finding anything relevant from Google. Oh well.

#4 Organic Ambrosia (BC)
#3 Baird Farms Gala
#2 Organic Fuji(WA)
#1 Organic Honeycrisp (WA)

Gala

While eating a Gala yesterday (by the way, do you pronounce it Gay-la, or Gal-uh), I noticed that an advantage of and apple with a softer texture is that you can eat in much more quickly. Had mine polished off in about 2 minutes (while driving home, which is my preferred method for eating apples nowadays).

Honeycrisp Review

Had a Honeycrisp for the 3rd consecutive day yesterday. This one was marred with minor bruising. The apple fared rather well (as opposed to a Red Delicious, which seem really sensitive to bruising), and was still a pleasure to eat.

The texture of a Honeycrisp is really similar to a Pink Lady. I recommend that all readers of this blog (3 persons currently, but hopefully growing every day) do a texture comparison.

On a side note, here's a discussion topic:

What do you dislike more?

• Really "chewy" apples? (those with super thick skins)
• Apples with excessive wax

Organic Fuji (Washington)

The fuji was my standby until I discovered the honeycrisp a couple weeks ago, and I was seriously enjoying them. So I'm not sure if the apple I had today was lacking in comparison to the honeycrisp or just a subpar fuji. I think the latter is more likely, as this apple may have been in the crisper for a couple weeks, suffering beneath a pile of rotund honeycrisps.

Flavor was mildly sweet, but a little bland overall. The texture was borderline mealy -- not quite mealy, but not fully crisp either. A better texture would have saved it, although wouldn't have impacted its order in the current rankings:

#3 Organic Ambrosia (BC)
#2 Organic Fuji(WA)
#1 Organic Honeycrisp (WA)

Thankfully I have some leftover dark chocolate from Halloween to wash away the memory of that disappointing apple.

Organic Honeycrisp (Washington)

Little change of pace today as I wait for Nicole and Della to return from their morning doings. The house was cold this morning -- outside temperature was in the low 30s this morning and our heating system has some kinks we need worked out, namely that the furnace that's supposed to kick on to supplement the heat pump at low temps like these hasn't quite kicked in.

All of which is a long-winded explanation for why I had coffee earlier than my normal 10 am coffee break. I like to wait as long as possible because as soon as that caffeine works its way into my system, I need food. And I need it fast.

As a result, I was hungry and Nic and D aren't back yet, so I'm having my apple prior to lunch instead of after it. And it's a beauty.

This honeycrisp is roughly the size of Maxine the cat's head, including her fur. She's got a ginormous noggen. And it's crisp, sweet and tart. She's a beauty.

Definitely my #1 these days. Not even gonna rank an apple until I've reviewed it here, so my sample size is small right now.

#10 Organic Ambrosia (BC)
#1 Organic Honeycrisp (WA)

Gold Star: Haagen-Dazs Mint Chip with Chocolate Syrup

To say I'm a picky eater would be an understatement. I like to think of myself as particular, however, and I tend to think that if I like something it must be pretty damn good. In my thinking, most people eat lots of things that they don't really enjoy that much, whereas I prefer to eat things that I really enjoy as often as possible.

I'm sure I'm wrong in my thinking, but whatever. Regardless, though this is an apple blog in name, I figure it's a good place to award Josh's "Gold Star" certification on items.

The first "Gold Star" item is Haagen-Dazs Mint Chip with a small stream of Santa Cruz Organic Chocolate Syrup.

Truthfully, the chocolate syrup isn't even necessary and I did without it for years. I've sampled many a mint chip over the years, generally when the local supermarket is out of Haagen-Dazs, so I think I can say with some confidence that other mint chips aren't even in the same league as Haagen-Dazs. It's nice and rich with the perfect balance between mint ice cream and chocolate chips. And unlike some mint chip, the chips aren't waxy tasting.

Recently, I discovered the Santa Cruz Chocolate Syrup and decided it might make a good addition to the mint chip. You want to be careful though, as you don't want to overwhelm the mint chip.

Give it a try -- I guarantee you will enjoy it.

Apple "Power" Rankings

Tried the Honeycrisp last night. Nice, nice apple. Definitely crisp. And amazingly, it did taste like it had a touch of honey in it.

I realized that you've all probably been in withdrawl as I hadn't published my Top-10 Apple "Power Rankings" in nearly a year. So, here you go....you'll be amazed to see where the Honeycrisp debuts....

10. Red Delicious
9. Granny Smith (I can't stand eating these alone...the skin is way too thick...but they are good for making pancakes, etc).
8. McIntosh
7. Jazz
6. Fuji
5. Gala
4. Braeburn
3. Honeycrisp
2. Cameo
1. Pink Lady

To Cut or Not To Cut

I feel a bit like George Costanza in the way that he used a fork and knife to cut a candy bar, but over the past couple years I've almost never eaten an apple the old fashioned way -- taking big juicy bites from the apple itself.

Almost invariably I cut the apple into quarters (or eighths if it's a massive apple) and eat it that way. I think I started eating them this way because it was a bit less messy (not so much juice running down my hands and chin, which is important when you're in front of a keyboard), but I also like it because I don't feel rushed to eat it and I feel like I get to eat more of it.

Anyhow, curious if that's odd. I'm kinda guessing it is, seeing that most of my eating habits are.

Organic Ambrosia (British Columbia)

Sampled an organic Ambrosia from B.C. today as part of my lunch, which (and this may be a shocker) was a salami sandwich (mustard, lettuce and tomatoes!) with Salt & Pepper Kettle chips.

The Ambrosia was just crisp enough. Not super crisp, though, and I could have overlooked this aspect if the flavor was satisfying. Unfortunately, it was a largely bland apple with a hint of sweetness and nothing else. With each bite I was hoping I was almost done, yet I soldiered on before Nicole saved me and took the last wedge.