The golden apples of the sun

[asakiyume]

I've probably used that exact subject line before. Every year around now I go to get some Baldwin apples from Cold Spring Orchard, because they are The Best for pies, and every year, I also pick up some Roxbury Russets (America's oldest apple type) and some beautiful, and delicious, Golden Russets.

This year, probably because of the drought, they are very tiny. Little baby apples--you could eat one in three bites. But as beautiful as ever.

You might mistake them for ripening tomatoes, by their color, or maybe wild persimmons, but no: they are apples.



Next to a mini pumpkin gourd and next to a Baldwin apple, for color and size comparison:

Comments

[xjenavivex.livejournal.com]

Wow those are small

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

They are! Like toy apples.

[sovay]

Current Music:Jonathan Byrd: Golden Glow of Autumn

That's perfect.

I love that you can buy Roxbury and Golden Russets. The little ones are beautiful.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I realize I didn't say in the post, but both the little ones are golden russets.

And yes about the music! I went looking for something else and discovered that purely by chance--*very* perfect.

[sovay]

I realize I didn't say in the post, but both the little ones are golden russets.

I figured that out from context! They were adorable.

[teenybuffalo.livejournal.com]

Tiny and pretty! I noticed the same thing, when I went to pick apples earlier this month. A lot of the apples were tiny but very cute and sweet.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Cold Spring Orchard didn't even really do picking--I guess the crop was just much smaller than usual and they wanted to take care with it.

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

Wow, those are small!

We don't have those types of apples out here. Are they sweet? Tart? In between?

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

The Baldwins (the big one) are delicious--very full of flavor, a bit of a tang, but not too sour. These particular golden russets are not the best I've ever had, but they're making a nice dried apple (I'm drying them in the stove with the heat on low. They're very sweet.

[amaebi.livejournal.com]

Gas oven?

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

electric!

[amaebi.livejournal.com]

:) Thanks.

[yamamanama.livejournal.com]

Those apples look tasty.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

These particular golden russets are a little dry, but that's okay, since I intended on drying them anyway. (The Baldwins are fabulous.)

[amaebi.livejournal.com]

Yum!

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Definitely definitely!

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Mmmmm pie . . . with ice cream!

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

YES!

[amaebi.livejournal.com]

This makes me realize that Chun Woo is getting to the eating age, so soon it will make sense for me to make apple pie again.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Love the concept of getting to the eating age, and I know exactly what you mean.

[ericmarin.livejournal.com]

Those golden russets are perfect for when you just want a few bites of apple and nibbling at a regular-sized apple would be a waste.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Exactly--although their skins are tougher than modern-day apple skins, so you may want to peel them.

[ericmarin.livejournal.com]

That's good to know. :-)

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

The Golden Apple is my working title for the MG fantasy I'm going to try to knock out this NaNo. :D

I really love apples and cooking sundry things with them; alas, Egypt is not a big apple producing country. Soon, though, soon...

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Awesome! You're doing Nano! Is this story related to any world you've written in already, or is it brand new?

Oh, you know me...

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

I like to start new things. ;)

While I don't feel up to working on a novel-length project, I do feel like writing. So, I'm hoping this middle grade fantasy idea is the ticket to ease me back into the habit. NaNo word counts might be a bit brutal for me, so I'm approaching it with the plan of extending grace to myself. If II do it, I do it; if I don't, I don't...and that's that. :P At the end of it, I'll have more than I have now.

I've been working on the art for the picture book you read, but it isn't the same as crafting the worded world. :D

Re: Oh, you know me...

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Brand-new sounds awesome (though I love what I've seen of your Witherwilds world--it's just that I understand the appeal of shiny-new). I endorse this plan!!

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

They look like apples to me, but then, I'm a Kenting and an apple is never just an apple! :o)

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

They're always so much more!

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

This all sounds lovely. The tiny apples are adorable.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

After I dried some of them, I remembered that I'm always enticed by their beauty but that actually they are ... not as nice as the Roxbury Russets. They're more sweet than I like. But oh well! I used the rest in a pie, where they mixed well with the Baldwins.

[heliopausa.livejournal.com]

A tiny, crisp apple that can be eaten in three bites would be perfect. Of course, a large crisp apple that needs many bites is also good! :)

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Yes--the proper apple for the level of hunger ;-)

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

One of my favorite bits of historical trivia: Johnny Appleseed wasn't wandering around the Eastern seaboard planting apple trees for the sake of the fruit, but for the cider. Most of the varieties he planted were tart and high in tannins, the sort that make complex cider flavors. Alas, a number of them have been lost over the years thanks to Prohibition and the decreasing popularity of hard cider in the intervening century...I read an article about one of the folks whose life's work is finding old apple trees with lost cultivars and nursing the seedlings for replanting. Fascinating stuff.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

That's right! I remember learning that from The Botany of Desire And what a great job, searching out lost cultivars.

[danceswithwaves.livejournal.com]

There's this book that I read a long while ago but think about periodically. I wish I remembered the title. It's about golden apples and mountain folk and valley folk, and there's a competitive race to get to the golden apples, and everyone when they reach a certain age has to run the race. And only the worthy reach them or something. It was a good book and I think you'd like it, but I wish I remembered the title.

Anyway, lovely apples.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Wow, that does sound like something I'd be curious about! Well, if you ever remember the title, let me know!