October is a great time for apples in Northern Minnesota.
How do you like to eat an apple? Do you have apple trees? What do you do with all of them?
Here's what we heard
Tom from Grand Rapids said, "I make cider. Still have one tree with apples that are the eating apples. In a few years, I will have way too many apples, I may have to go to the Farmers' Market to be an apple guy."
Ian from Minneapolis texted, "My absolute favorite apple is the Keepsake, a late season apple that is sweet & flakey. It’s also a “parent” of the Honeycrisp!
"My favorite way to eat apples is apple butter. My grandma used to make toast in the morning with apple butter, and it was SO yummy! What I remember most is that she used to refrigerate her 'real' butter, and she’d always struggle trying to spread it on the toast before spreading the apple butter."
Dave from Shevlin told us, "Bob for ‘em, sauce ‘em, press ‘em, peel ‘em, core ‘em, slice ‘em, pick ‘em, haul ‘em, store ‘em, sort ‘em, wash ‘em, sell ‘em. I owned an apple orchard in a previous life. Your question of the week made me think about all the satisfying tasks that are a part of the experience of owning and running a small farm growing apples."
Another listener texted, "I love caramel apples and have my own healthier version which is cubing up an apple and pouring maple syrup over them and stirring in a little yogurt. This makes a creamy caramel like sauce that covers every bite. Yum!!"
KAXE's staff had some definite thoughts as well. Phenology Coordinator Charlie Mitchell said, "My grandma Bebe would always serve sliced apples with a few cubes of sharp cheddar cheese - it's a fantastic pairing, and I still think of her every time I have it."
Many others agreed that cheddar and apples are great together. We also had suggestions of Gjetost or Juusto cheese.
Member Services Coordinator Heather Johnson shared a recipe for French apple cake. She said, "It's mostly apples with just a little not-too-sweet cake batter holding all the slices together. It's amazing."
Producer Jennifer Barr discovered her favorite apple recipe while leafing through an old cookbook from her kindergarten class: apple caramel pudding. It's sort of like an apple crisp, but with a caramel sauce. So good!
What do you like to do with apples? Let us know!
