THE 10 MOST POPULAR AND BEST VARIETIES OF APPLES FOR BAKING AND COOKING
The 10 most popular and best varieties of apples for baking and cooking
Walk into your local grocery store and you’ll find piles and piles of apples in colors ranging from pale yellow to deep red. Their shapes and flavors are as varied as their colors. Some are sweet, others are tart; a few (like Honeycrisp) strike a happy medium.
Some types of apples are good for baking, while others are good for slicing straight through a crisper.
Just like their flavor or, the texture of apples also varies from variety to variety. Some are mild and lethal when bitten, while others are softer. A comparison of flavor and texture will determine the type of apple you use and for what purpose. Soft apples will break down quickly, while soft, sweet varieties are best cooked. Whether you’re making a mile-high apple pie, whipping up a jar of homemade applesauce, or adding fresh apple slices to a crunchy fall salad, there’s an apple variety for you.
Here are the most popular types and how to use them.
1. Granny Smith Apples
Originally grown in Australia in the mid-1800s, Granny Smith apples are one of the most popular apple varieties today. They are also among the most versatile. Their low acidity is enough to leave your cheeks aching while you chew. Their texture is strong and soft, so they hold up well when baked and won’t turn to mush.
How to use:
Granny Smiths are the obvious choice for apple pies, tartlets and coffee cakes. They also use some of their ingredients when fried, making them a great choice for glazed apple fritters. When combined with sweeter types of apples, they provide a unique tartness to apple butter. caramel apples for the holidays.
2. Golden delicious apples
These apples originated on a small farm in West Virginia in the early 1900s. The characteristics of golden skin make them stand out from the crowd. Their pure white flesh has a mild taste, sweet taste and soft texture
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How to use:
We love eating Golden Delicious apples fresh, slicing them for salads, adding them as garnish to charcuterie boards.
3. Red delicious
Old cousins ​​of their golden counterparts, Red Delicious apples were discovered in Iowa in the 1870s. They have that unique red color and unique apple flavor that we associate with the fruit. If you’ve ever had an apple-flavored candy, chances are it was a Red Delicious-inspired flavor.
How to use them:
They are quite watery and as such don’t hold up well to cooking, but their neutral, slightly sweet flavor makes them perfect for eating straight.
4. McIntosh
You probably think of the technology company before you think of the apple, one of the most widespread in North America. The McIntosh apple variety originated in Canada in the early 1800s. It is considered a dessert apple because of its sweet taste. We think they also have a good balance of acidity.
How to use it:
This fruit is very soft, so it is not good for pies and tartlets, but it works wonders in applesauce.
5. Honeycrisp apples
Honey apples have gained a lot of popularity in the last decade. They were bred as part of the University of Minnesota’s apple breeding program. Honeycrisp is a cross between a Macoun apple, native to the Midwest, and a Honeygold apple. It is often called an “all-purpose” apple because it is delicious both in baking and when eaten fresh.
How to use:
Honeycrisp is a great apple to add to mixes for coffee cakes, baked apples, and pies, especially our Caramel Apple Pie, which brings out all the sugars in Honeycrisp. Their flavors are so balanced that they work well in savory recipes. They are not sweet but not tart, making them perfect for pairing with bacon.
Another University of Minnesota hybrid, the SweeTango apple, is a combination of the Honeycrisp and Zestar varieties.
6. Gala
Gales Apple is the 1930s New Zealand, they are one of your favorite food. Gala is not very good for baking; although it is one of the most delicious of the group, it is usually delicious for dessert.
How to use:
Core a Gala apple, cut it into 15 minutes and eat it with a little milk or a sprinkle of soft sea salt.
7. Pink Lady
Like many other apples, the Pink Lady is a hybrid. It is a cross between Golden Delicious and Lady Williams and was grown by a horticulturist in Australia in the 1970s. Taste wise, Pink ladies are usually sweet and a little spicy.
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They make a great addition to any apple filling and add great flavor to savory soups like butternut squash soup.
8. Fuji
Fuji apples are red hybrids that originated in Fujisaki, Japan, hence their name. They are sweeter and have a fresher, smoother texture. Their tough flesh takes a long time to digest, so they are not suitable for baking.
How to use:
Eat Fuji apples as a snack or slice them and add them to fresh fruit salads and other seasonal ingredients, such as grapes and citrus.
9. Empire
Empire is a variety of apple named after the state in which it was grown. It was developed at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, in the 1940s. When fruiting, the Empire apple is fruity and crunchy. Once cooked, their flavor comes out even more.
How to use them:
If you’re using them in a pie filling, be sure to combine them with other types of apples that have firmer textures, such as Granny Smiths. We like to use Apple Empire to make apple crisps, perfect for eating or garnishing a cake.
10. Jazz
Jazz apples are grown all over the world, but they are native to New Zealand. This type of apple is crisp and crunchy, and smells like pears.
How to use:
One of our favorite ways to use jazz apples is in cobblers and crumbles, but they also hold up well in the kitchen for a delicious snack.
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