Apple Love

It started years ago, when I would come home from school and settle down in the Big Brown Chair with my new library book and a fresh, sliced Red Delicious apple. In later years I realized that Red Delicious was no longer cutting it ... I grew to prefer Braeburns, and then Fujis ... and now, thanks to the CSA Cameo apples, I have a new favorite. The Cameos are excellent for eating fresh and they are supposed to be good for cooking, too ... but I won't have any left for that. They have a sweet, fresh tang and are wonderfully juicy.

My husband grew up in an apple-orcharding family in the Okanogan Valley, and it's been interesting to learn more about how apple varieties are developed, and how apples are grown.

Only this year did I notice in some orchards the scattered trees loaded with tiny apples left unpicked, and only visible when the leaves had all fallen from the trees. Turns out they are crabapple trees, planted here and there throughout the orchard, for pollination for some apple varieties. How did I miss seeing those crabapple trees, all these years!

The CSA is forcing me to try foods that I might have overlooked or never bothered to try, otherwise. Perhaps these new awarenesses are opening my eyes in other ways.