The oyster mushroom gets its name from its cap which, some say, resembles an oyster. The stem of the oyster mushrooms is perhaps more distinct; it unfurls something like one of those old-time paper lady's fans. The oyster mushroom has...

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How to Grow Apples

Description. The apple is a hardy, deciduous woody perennial tree that grows in all temperate zones. Apples grow best where there is cold in winter, moderate summer temperatures, and medium to high humidity. Apples can grow from 10 to 30 feet tall and nearly as wide. Apples are moderately fast growing, but growth slows with age. Apple trees can live for 100 years or more. Apple trees bloom in the spring, set fruit, and take from 100 to 200 days to reach harvest depending upon the variety.

Yield. An apple tree can yield from 75 to more than 130 pounds of fruit each year.

Apple varieties. There are nearly 10,000 different kinds or varieties of apples. About 7,000 varieties or cultivars grow in North America. Only about 1,000 of these of these are grown commercially or in home gardens.

Some apple varieties are "sports" or accidental mutations of another variety and others are bred--created by apple breeders through cross selection. Not every sport is productive and worthy of growing.

Apple tree sizes. An apple tree can be a standard or full-sized tree which grows to 30 feet tall and can take 6 years to bear its first fruit or a dwarf or semi-dwarf trees which can grow from 6 to 20 feet tall. Most dwarf and semi-dwarf trees are grafted on a rootstock which keeps them small. Dwarf and semi-dwarf trees produce full-sized apples in about three years.

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Apples

Sierra Beauty, Rhode Island Greening, Arkansas Black, Gala from New Zealand, Fuji from Japan: if you really want to appreciate fresh apples, get to know the apples that grow in your region.

Apples for eating out of hand, apples for baking and cooking, apples for sauce and juice, apples to serve with savory dishes and apples for dessert: there is an apple for every use. Apples that ripen early, apples that ripen mid-season, and apples that ripen late for eating right into winter: there is an apple for every season.

There are more than 7,000 varieties of apples. The most popular ones, you know: Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, and McIntosh, are shipped around the country and around the world. But, there are many little known but delicious regional favorites available at farm stores or farmers' markets.

Apples range in color from yellow to bright yellow-green to green to almost every shade of red. Apple textures range from tender to crisp. Apples can be sweet or tart or range in flavor complexity from simple to complex. The flavors of an apple can vary from pineapple to bananas, apricots, strawberries, roses, cloves, spices, wine, nuts and berries.

There are apples that actually taste like where you live. The flesh of an apple can be cream-colored or white or yellow.

In the course of a year, there are actually three apple harvests: an early-season harvest, a mid-season harvest, and a late-season harvest. The harvest for early-season apple varieties begins in mid-summer and peaks in late summer. The harvest for mid-season apples begins in late summer and peaks in early autumn, and the harvest for late-season apples begins in early autumn and peaks in late autumn--and sometimes runs right into winter. Late-season apples can be stored at cool temperatures and stay fresh right into spring.

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Thinning Apples

Too many apples? Sometimes, yes.

The best way to large delicious apples is thinning the crop.

Thinning apples is easy. Thin the fruit to a distance of twice the diameter of the fruit at maturity. If you expect the mature apples to be 3-inches across, leave 6 inches between each apple after thinning. If you're not sure how big the apples on your tree will be at their peak, thin to a distance of 6 to 8 inches apart on the branch.

Some apple thinners remove the fruit on every other spur; others leave a fruit on every third spur as they thin from the trunk outward on a branch. Always leave the largest fruit on the spur. Whichever method you choose, the goal is to leave plenty of room for each apple to mature.

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Apple Blossom Time

The apple is the most widely grown fruit. Apple trees grow everywhere except in the very hottest and very coldest regions of the world.

The apple is celebrated: the apple blossom is praised for its beauty and the fruit is lauded for its goodness.

Apples vary from crisp to soft, from juicy to dry, from acid or insipid to bitter, bland, or aromatic.

The “fruit” of knowledge which Adam and Eve ate in the Garden of Eden, some say, was an apple. The ancient Greeks often told of a tussle between the Olympian gods over a golden apple that ended in the destruction of Troy.

Apples can range in color from green to gold to yellow to scarlet orange to pink to dark red to purple. All apples carry the remains of the apple blossom at the fruit’s end opposite the stalk.

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Gravenstein Apple Tart

The Gravenstein apple is simply one of the best baking and cooking apples.

A tart is a pastry crust with shallow sides, a filling, and no top crust.

This tart calls for the apples to be cooked before they are placed in the crust. Once baked, this Gravenstein apple tart will be light and crispy and feature the Gravenstein's distinctly delicious sweet-tart flavor. Served warm with crème fraîche or light whipped cream this is a heavenly dessert.

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Winter Apple Varieties

Late season or winter apples are great for cooking and are also the best keepers. Most will last through the winter until early spring if chilled at just above 32°F (0°C).

Choose apples with tight, smooth, unblemished skin with good color for the variety. Apples should be firm to hard. The scent should be full and fresh. Avoid fruit that is slightly soft, the flesh could be mealy and mushy. To test the degree of ripeness, give the apple a flick close to the stalk--a dull sound indicates ripeness, a hollow sound is a sign of over-ripeness.

Taste is always more important than looks when it comes to apples. Get to know the varieties that grow in your region. Taste several to discover which ones you favor.

Here are some of the winter apples you will find at the farm market this week:

Arkansas Black: from Benton County, Arkansas; very dark color; crisp, juicy, slightly acid; good for eating out of hand, for desserts and applesauce; good storage keeper.

Ashmead's Kernel: heirloom that is highly regarded in the UK; yellow with orange-brown blush; great flavor fresh or juiced--intense nutlike flavor with a balance of sweet and tart; tart when tree ripe, mellows with storage.

Baldwin: from Wilmington, Massachusetts since 1740; bright red and streaked with yellow; sweet-tart with sharp full flavor; juicy; crisp texture; great for munching, baking pies, cider, and applesauce; good to store for winter eating.

Black Twig: heirloom found only at farmers markets; dark red, almost purple; hard, juicy, fragrant; golden flesh and grassy, intense flavor; great for eating out of hand.

Braeburn: from New Zealand; medium size, mottled red and yellow skin and orange red over yellow; crisp, sweet-tart flavor, aromatic, firm texture; stores well for up to12 months; eating out of hand, applesauce, pies, baking.

Brown Russet: heirloom before 1870; very late harvest; with patches of green and red; good fresh, stored, or use for sweet apple cider.

Cortland: from Geneva, New York since 1915; large, round, smooth, shiny red with flat ends; fine-grained very white juicy flesh, crisp, fragrant, sweet; flesh resists browning; fresh eating, perfect in salads, good for cooking and oven-baking, remains firm when baked, perfect for pies, desserts, applesauce. Does not store well.

Cox's Orange Pippin': from Bucks, England about 1830; found in farmers markets in U.S.; skin is clear yellow with orange and red stripes; crisp juicy, excellent flavor; for eating out of hand, applesauce, or blended with other varieties for pies; good keeper.

Enterprise: medium size, red blush; firm, sweet; keeps well.

Esopus Spitzenburg: from Esopus in Ulster County, New York since 1790; medium to large, bright red with yellow dots; crisp, sweet tender pale golden flesh; rich complex flavor, tangy and spicy; choice for dessert, good all-around.

Fuji: cross between Ralls Janet and Red Delicious; esteemed in Japan and China; introduced into the U.S. from Japan in 1980s; medium to large, green to yellow with under color blushed with red; flesh yellow green with red strips; firm, crisp, juicy, fragrantly sweet, excellent honey-like flavor; stores well; use in applesauce blends, eat out of hand; too hard for pies but holds texture well when baked.

Golden Russet: unknown origin before 1870; hard to find outside of farmers' markets; small or medium size and round; skin russeted redish-brown and golden; flesh is firm and yellow; flavor rich and aromatic; excellent eating out of hand, cooking and making fresh cider; keeps well in storage.

Gold Rush: medium size, yellow; dessert quality, excellent fresh or for baking; best after storage.

Idared: from Idaho since 1942; large, dark red with greenish-yellow spots; firm, juicy, fragrant, tangy-tart flavor, aromatic flesh; all purpose, excellent baked, remains firm when cooked or baked; for applesauce; keeps well.

Melrose: from Ohio, the official apple of Ohio; cross between a Jonathan and a Delicious; medium to large, round; skin yellow with bright red blush; white flesh, mildly tart, aromatic; good for storage, good dessert apple.

Mutsu (Crispin): developed in Japan as Mutsu; renamed Crispin in Europe and America; large, round, harder than Golden Delicious; pale yellow skin with light red blush; cream colored flesh, crunchy, moderately sweet to tangy; eat out of hand, excellent in pies and for dessert; long storage life.

Newtown Pippin' (Yellow Pippin', Yellow Newtown): developed in the Borough of Queens, New York before the American Revolution; large; skin is pale green and soft yellow with occasional red streak; crisp, faint citrus scent and complex sweet and tart taste; excellent for cooking, pies and applesauce.

Northern Spy (Red Spy): from East Bloomfield, New York about 1800; skin bruises easily so seen usually in farmers' markets; large, round shape with pale yellow pink to red blushed skin; tender, fine-grained flesh; juicy, sprightly flavor, aromatic; excellent dessert, baking, and cooking apple; eating out of hand and applesauce.

Pink Lady: crisp fall nights bring the bright pink color to the skin; sweetly tart taste with hints of kiwi and raspberry; for snacking and baking.

Rhode Island Greening: yellow-green grassy colored skin; distinctive sweet-tart spicy flesh, sometimes sour and hard; for eating out of hand, pies, applesauce; intensifies in flavor when cooked.

Rome: from Rome Township, Ohio; older than the Rome Beauty; large, round, yellow-to green skinned with mottled red overtones; crunchy texture and tangy flavor; best as a baked apple; mealy and flavorless when stored too long.

Rome Beauty (Red Rome): from Ohio; medium to extra large, round, smooth red, tough skin; firm greenish-white flesh; juicy, crisp, slightly tart, firm; outstanding for baking, keeps its shape with sweet flavor; use for whole baked apples; fair for eating out of hand; season from September to early November, holds until June.

Sierra Beauty: intense sweet and tart flavor, crisp and juicy.

Stayman (sometimes mistakenly called Winesap): cross between Red Delicious and Winesap; grown mainly in the southeastern United States; rich red color with green undertones, russet dots; fine-grained, firm flesh, juicy with lively, complex flavor; all purpose, excellent cooking apple.

Tydeman's Late Orange: full flavor around Christmas; excellent for storage.

Winesap: small, bright red sin with areas that look almost purple; fine grained, firm , juicy with lively, slightly fermented winey flavor; good eating out of hand, good for applesauce and pies, apple cider; stores into June.

York or York Imperial: from York County, Pennsylvania since the 1800s; off-center, lopsided shape; light red or pinkish skin dotted with yellow; yellowish flesh, crisp, moderately juicy, mildly sweet; good for drying, cooking, or baking; add to pies or applesauce.

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Winter Apples

Have you noticed fresh, local apples at the farm market in the past couple of weeks? Fresh, local apples at the end of December? Apples that have not traveled half way around the world?

What’s up?

Well, the answer is simple.

There are more than 7,000 varieties of apples but not all of them come to harvest at the same time. In the course of a year, there are actually three apple harvests: an early-season harvest, a mid-season harvest, and a late-season harvest.

The harvest for early-season apple varieties begins in July and peaks in August and September. The harvest for mid-season apples begins in August and peaks in September and October, and the harvest for late-season apples begins in September and peaks in October and November--and sometimes runs right into December.

The apples you are finding at the farm market now are late-season apples.

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