Red, Yellow, Green Apples, Fall’s Traffic Lights: Purple Passages September 2015

marianbeaman

Humorous Slices 

A green apple, a yellow apple, and a red apple, it’s like a fruity traffic light you can eat . . . . Did you know that my love has the consistency of applesauce? It’s true—and juicy.  ~ Jarod Kintz

ApplesTraffic Light

I ate a slice of humble pie, and it tasted like apples.   ~ Jarod Kintz

Thoughtful Slices

It is remarkable how closely the history of the apple tree is connected with that of man.   ~ Henry David Thoreau, “Wild Fruits”

Anyone can count the seeds in an apple, but only God can count the number of apples in a seed.   ~ Robert H. Schuller

Every thought is a seed. If you plant crab apples, don’t plan on harvesting Golden Delicious.    ~ Bill Meyer

Healthy Slices

Eating apples is good on so many levels. There’s fiber in the skin that’s really good for you. It helps with digestion and helps you absorb all the nutrients of everything you’ve eaten that day. Apples are a really good thing.   ~ Rebecca Romijn

A Story Poem

TinCup

RevisedAppleSlices

Grandma Longenecker’s Apple Schnitz

Grandma Longenecker dried apple slices locked in nutrients and flavor on a vintage food dehydrator similar to this updated one.

Food dehydrator: Google images
Food dehydrator: Google images

The flavor was concentrated, tart, and oh so chewy. Uh-um-good! These look just like Grandma’s! Later Aunt Ruthie Longenecker took over the tradition.

Apple Schnitz: Kauffman Farms
Apple Schnitz: Kauffman Farms

Red, Amber on Green Background – Van Gogh’s Apples

VanGoghAPPLES

Do you associate apples with this season of the year? Any favorite recipes with apples? Thank you for adding quotes, recipes, or anything else that comes to mind here!

50 thoughts on “Red, Yellow, Green Apples, Fall’s Traffic Lights: Purple Passages September 2015”

  2. What a fun post! I just happened to roast/dry some apples in the oven yesterday. I never did that before, and they are yummy! They’re to put in scones I’m going to make for our daughter who will be flying in from Boston tonight. The recipe is for roasted pears and chocolate, but since I had apples, I thought, “why not?” 🙂

    I also love warm apple cider with cinnamon when it gets cold.

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    1. Both pears and apples have natural sugar, so the fruit coupling would work either way. I wonder whether this is the daughter who had the literary wedding this year with the Charlotte Bronte quotes. Scones then, which I somehow associate with the British, seem so appropriate for her home-coming.

      Florida is cooling down, but I’m wait for warm apple cider in mid-October, just around the corner.

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      1. Hi Marian. Our younger daughter who had the book quotes for her wedding lives nearby. She actually teaches in the same district that my husband just retired from. It’s our older daughter who lives in Boston who will be visiting.
        It’s actually warm and sticky here right now. We turned our a/c back on!

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      1. I made an apfle kuchen for my English mother-in-laws birthday and they loved it. The Spanish make a tarta de manzana which is very nice and not too sweet. (a cake like bottom, custard and apples on top.) Apples make a good dessert no matter where you are.

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  4. We love apples. My fondest memory of apples is going to Jean’s house to make apple sauce with her house nestled among big tree leaves. On the ground white picket fence beautiful and cozy. It was a cool day and I loved smelling apples boil. How I love the scents of food cooking, especially in the fall and winter. I make it memorable for family and friends. Thank you for your wonderful post. Going down to make warm apples for my oatmeal. Try it:
    Slice apples, saute in butter brown sugar and cinnamon dash of vanilla til tender pour over oatmeal with nuts. Appointment – delicious

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    1. I have only a few apples left, so I’ll have to stock up on some more. You can bet I’ll try to make the apple-nut recipe when it’s cool enough to have oatmeal for breakfast. Thanks, Gloria.

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  5. WE picked apples in late summer. Grandmother dried them on sheets of aluminum in the sun, bagged them into pillowcases, rehydrated them and made fried apple pies all winter. 🙂 Never tasted anything like it.

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  6. I love this post as much as I love apples! For eating, big, dark red, Delicious Apples, are my favorite. My husband and I share one, because they’re so big! For baking pies or apple crisp, I use MacIntosh or Granny Smith or whatever kind is available. I know this is bragging…but everyone loves my apple pies! My kids call them ‘home, home-made apple pies and want them when they come home to visit. My wonderful husband, now helps me out, by peeling the apples for me!

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  7. I loved the fruity traffic light idea with illustration above. Would never have thought of that one.

    Stuart and I work together on baking apple pies. I peel and slice. He does the rest. How’s that for a deal? Children and grandchildren love them.

    I loved coming home from school and going to the bushel basket on the front porch. Stayman Winesap apples, fresh crop, very crisp. And Wege pretzels, sourdough. Maybe a little Swiss cheese also. I had to have enough pretzel in my mouth and then take a big bite of apple to get the crunch, smooth, sweet, salty, combination just right! I could eat quite a very apples and pretzels for my “snack.” Today, that would be a meal.

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  8. Jarod Kintz supplied the clever idea for the apple/traffic light combo; I just took off with it. I’m glad you enjoyed it.

    Thank you for recalling the brands my mother used also: Stayman Winesap apples and Wege pretzels were staples at our house too.

    You and Stuart have a good thing going. Every writer needs household help, especially in the kitchen. 😉

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  9. Okay, was the traffic light of apples original with you?? Really cute! But yes, absolutely, fall brings a yen for apples, especially Stayman, which I’ve yet to put my hands on this fall. The pies I ended up baking last Friday were from Cortland apples, which now rate as a very close second–and got rave reviews from my family and my daughter’s in-laws who also gathered to celebrate the birthday of the 2-year-old grandson we share. 🙂 For anyone who hasn’t made it over to the Amish Wisdom blog featuring my favorite Davis apple pie recipe last Friday, here’s a link: http://amishwisdom.com/tag/apple-pie-recipe/

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    2. I clicked over to the website, marveled at that perfectly turned out apple pie and marveled even more that you and your daughters (all good cooks and bakers) don’t seem to struggle with a weight problem – ha!

      Great adaptation of the title to that famous Scottish ballad about the cherry pie.

      Oh, and I did register to win! Thanks for the tip & reminder, Melodie.

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  11. I have so enjoyed your almost edible post this morning Marian . Apples evoke the most delightful memories , I could write and never stop writing .
    Our very old apple tree that I left at my old house for one , it was beautiful in all seasons , Autumn was its best with an an abundance of golden rosy apples that I made into pies , puddings , tarts , sauces and toffee apples .
    In the winter my tree was cloaked in snow ,in the spring laced with pinky white blossom and the summer it was a shelter from the sun . Beneath its fine roots lie two of my beloved dogs that I’ll never forget
    This Saturday my sister is coming for s visit and I am baking her an apple ( Apples my wonderful neighbour supplied ) and blackberry ( that I picked from a local hedge row ) bread and butter pudding mmmmmm if you want me to send you the recipe I will . Hey you have really started me off .
    Cherryx

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    1. You write like a poet – and a cook! Yes, do send the recipe for bread and butter pudding. Probably other readers would enjoy it too.

      Thanks always for your cheery, enthusiastic replies in this column – we love it!

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  12. Apples, apples everywhere…that is what is like here right now. We have 3 trees of our own and yet my husband while out on a delivery last week came back with 20 pounds of Cortland apples. The last couple weeks I have made red cabbage with apples, baked squash with apples, apple pie and apple crisp. Tomorrow we are making oven pancake with cinnamon apple slices and will have that for an early meal before we start off to my uncle’s house.

    We will put many apples into our root cellar, we will can applesauce and make apple jelly, and we will go to the family cider making tomorrow at my uncle’s. We all bring apples, picked, gleaned or boughten. Everyone takes a job, sorting or washing or running the chopper or one of the 2 presses, pouring into jars for canning or into gallon cartons for un-canned. There will even be a caramel apple making area for the youngers. My youngest girl is helping with that.

    I already have the bottom shelf of my upright freezer ready to hold 8 gallons of cider. We like to drink the cider when thawed while they are still icy cold and a little bit slushy. The cider we can in half gallon jars will be used for hot spiced cider.

    My grandma used to dry the apple slices on screens up in the attic.

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    1. You are making us all hungry with your tasty morsels here. I enjoy reading all the details, especially how your family cooperates in food preserving. I’m sure the little ones enjoy the caramel apple making process – all gooey and sweet-smelling – and with a yummy result too. I can imagine apple cider thawing and just “a little bit slushy.’ It doesn’t get any better than that, Athanasia. Thank you!

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    1. Maybe like a squirrel you store up enough good apple juices in your system to last awhile. I think cravings are often a good thing – especially when they come at the height of a particular season.

      Right now I’m celebrating with you all the good things coming your way, fruity or not.

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  15. One of my favorite fruits – applesauce (with lots of cinnamon), applie pie (homemade, of course), and MacIntosh apples (a tart, but tasty flavor) are among my favorites.

    Marian … Your post takes me back to Central New York. In the fall, we’d often travel to Tully to take advantage of the many apples and treats they had there. Great times. Loved the pics and quotes. 😉

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    1. You zoomed back to central New York and I to southeastern Pennsylvania at a time when apples where (and are) abundant and juicy. I’m glad you enjoyed the quotes. One of them, of course, inspired the apple traffic light idea and photos.

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    1. I can’t think of a more wonderful aroma. Was your mother trying to dispose of the apples or was she baking the apples in the bonfire to eat? This is a custom unfamiliar to me. Interesting though . . .

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  17. Apple pie makes the world go round! I rarely bake anymore, but I can still make a mean apple pie. Pie is for big family dinners and parties–or a fireman’s fairs. I wrote a post a few years ago about making apple pie for the local fireman’s fair and combined it with a book review of Beth Howard’s ‘Making Piece: A memoir of love, loss, and pie.’

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    1. Your comment here made me put Beth Howard’s book on hold at the library. I know I’ll love reading it along with your apple pie post published probably before I knew you. I love to read books in the genre I’m now writing in. Thank you, Elaine!

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  18. Hi,
    I love your metaphor–fruity traffic lights. I know many people here–Hugh, Elaine, SK Nicholls, and of course, Debby.
    Thanks again for your nice remarks on Debby’s site about her review of my blog.
    Janice

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    1. I see you here now, but sorry that you had trouble posting. Every once in a while I hear of such a problem, often happening on a smartphone. Laptops or other devices don’t usually pose this obstacle. It may have to do with a setting. Anyway, thanks for making the connection here. I’m glad you liked the “apple” story. You probably have some of your own.

      Mother used to call one of her dishes, apple-sass! 😉

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      1. What I tried to post included a nostalgic comment inspired by your “apple” post. Do you remember from our LMS days the Kauffman apple orchard? If my memory is accurate, their children attended LMS. At a fall Parents’ Night I shared with a group of parents Frost’s poem “After Apple Picking.”

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        1. Thanks for the memory jog. Now I’m struggling to remember the Kauffman apple orchard. You were the expert in American Literature and I was the designated English Lit teacher. I’m glad we are doing some cross-pollinating now. And thank you for the Frost reference, so appropriate for the season:

          Lovely lines: My long two-pointed ladder’s sticking through a tree
          Toward heaven still,
          And there’s a barrel that I didn’t fill
          Beside it, and there may be two or three
          Apples I didn’t pick upon some bough.

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