Best apples for pie?

[Janet H]

Thanks for the good suggestions about apples. I live in the PNW and the selection of apples is distinctly different that varieties found on the east coast.

I typically make a pie by sauteing the sliced apples a bit (you could do this in the oven as well on a sheet pan) to remove water and intensify flavor. After they have cooked a little (but not too much) I add sugar or honey, lemon, cinnamon, a little butter and flour and then deglaze with some calvados, bourbon or even a little white wine.

This was last weeks pie with the usual goldens and granny smiths:



Golden delicious used to be pretty cheap but now I am seeing them for more than $2.00 a pound; premium apples prices... it's time for a change.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

Janet, what apples are available near you? If we know what you can get, we can then tell you if any of them are our favorites and why.

 

[Addie]

Thanks for the good suggestions about apples. I live in the PNW and the selection of apples is distinctly different that varieties found on the east coast.

I typically make a pie by sauteing the sliced apples a bit (you could do this in the oven as well on a sheet pan) to remove water and intensify flavor. After they have cooked a little (but not too much) I add sugar or honey, lemon, cinnamon, a little butter and flour and then deglaze with some calvados, bourbon or even a little white wine.

This was last weeks pie with the usual goldens and granny smiths:

View attachment 26448

Golden delicious used to be pretty cheap but now I am seeing them for more than $2.00 a pound; premium apples prices... it's time for a change.

Wanatchee Valley. Favorite place to be in the Fall.

 

[Mad Cook]

I think a good tart apple makes the best pie. Certainly Granny Smiths. We don't usually (well I don't) mix apples. And I am in favor of traditional types, such as the Cortland and Gravensteins mentioned.

We grow Harrelson's in our orchard ( ok it's just 2 trees, but doesn't that sound la-de dah.) Crisp, tart, releases juices when baking and the sliced apples still hold their shape and don't break down. Makes excellent tasting pie. Not sure how far beyond the mid-west these apples are available. Harrelson's were developed here. They are not available year round.

I always sprinkle ~1 Tb lemon juice on the sliced apples. Because that's the way my mom did. Pretty sure not every apple in the barrel needs this, but hey, tradition.

Don't know about yours but the best Granny Smiths we get in UK are the South African ones. French are horrid - tasteless, no texture, yuck - I think the French are still getting their own back for the battle of Waterloo! Granny Smiths from Chile always seem to be very sour.

We have Golden Delicious from France here. Someone once said they should be reported to the Trading Standards Office - being neither golden nor delicious

Have you tried Braeburns? Again - the French ones are tasteless!. I'm sure you must grow them in USA. They have a lovely flavour and are crisp so probably won't fall in a pie. "Jazz" is a Braeburn cultivar but I havent tried it.

(Over here we like our apples to "fall" when they are cooked and so we have proper "cooking" apples, the best being Bramleys.)

 

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

I've always liked Pippins for apple pie, but they are quite hard to find now days

 

[CakePoet]

Bramley apples are heaven. We did have a bramely tree when I was little here in Sweden. It produced very little apples, except one year, it was so much it was insane and then next year the tree , just died on us. It said to been there for as long as the old people could remember and the house was built 1928 and tree died in 1980.

But with 9 different remaining apple tree , we didnt complain. It used to be 14 apples trees there, all different types.

 

[Janet H]

these are the apples typically available locally:

Red Delicious
Golden Delicious
Gala
Fuji
Granny Smith
Honeycrisp
Cripps Pink
Ambrosia
Aurora
Braeburn
Cameo
Opal
Pacific Rose

Seasonally I see:

Autumn Glory
Breeze
Cosmic Crisp
Jazz
Jonagold
Junami
Kanzi
Lady Alice
Piñata
Rome

 

[GotGarlic]

We have a bunch of apple varieties in the stores here. I should get one of each and do a tasting

 

[Cooking Goddess]

I see my favorite, Gala, on that list. Depending on what is in my fruit bin and what needs to go, if I get the urge to bake an apple pie I'll also toss in a lonely Braeburn or Fuji. Honeycrisp's are too pricey by us, so I prefer eating it out-of-hand. My go-to apple, though, tends to be Gala. We always have them since I like them - and the shopper gets to buy what the shopper likes.

We have a bunch of apple varieties in the stores here. I should get one of each and do a tasting

OR you could do what I did way back when and make a pie a week.

 

[GotGarlic]

OR you could do what I did way back when and make a pie a week.

DH is working on losing weight. I wouldn't want to sabotage him

 

[Cooking Goddess]

You're a smart lady...

 

[Addie]

DH is working on losing weight. I wouldn't want to sabotage him

It sure helps when you have support.

 

[Kaneohegirlinaz]

All varieties of Apples here in the middle of the desert have not dropped down below $1.50 per pound for a few years now.
I'm bummed, because I really wanted to make my homemade chunky Apple Sauce and can it for my Mother and her BFF. I did that I think 3 or 4 years ago so that she had some kind of fruit to eat readily available, that and Rhubarb, her two favorites. Mom said she was mixing the two and it was her side dish many nights.

 

[Addie]

All varieties of Apples here in the middle of the desert have not dropped down below $1.50 per pound for a few years now.
I'm bummed, because I really wanted to make my homemade chunky Apple Sauce and can it for my Mother and her BFF. I did that I think 3 or 4 years ago so that she had some kind of fruit to eat readily available, that and Rhubarb, her two favorites. Mom said she was mixing the two and it was her side dish many nights.

I just checked this weeks flyer from Demoulas Market Basket. Empire Apples are "on sale" for $1.99 a pound. I have never seen any apples that high that I can remember. The highest I have ever seen them is $1.29 a pound. And for me I consider that high. We have so many apple orchards right here on the east coast of Mass. And I know of two of them that grow just for Market Basket. Unless the price comes down considerably, there will be no apple pie for Christmas this year. Custard or Lemon Meringue Pie or some other fruit.

 

[GotGarlic]

I just checked this weeks flyer from Demoulas Market Basket. Empire Apples are "on sale" for $1.99 a pound. I have never seen any apples that high that I can remember. The highest I have ever seen them is $1.29 a pound. And for me I consider that high. We have so many apple orchards right here on the east coast of Mass. And I know of two of them that grow just for Market Basket. Unless the price comes down considerably, there will be no apple pie for Christmas this year. Custard or Lemon Meringue Pie or some other fruit.

Addie, put your glasses on It's $1.99 for a three-pound bag, or 66 cents a pound.

 

[Addie]

That is still expensive for here. They usually sell a five pound bag for less. Like $1.29 for five pounds. That is what I usually buy if they are for pies. Only I buy the Granny Smith. Part of the bag for pie and Pirate eats the rest of them.

 

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

DH is working on losing weight. I wouldn't want to sabotage him

NO SUGAR ADDED SALTED CARAMEL APPLE PIE​

 

[CakePoet]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7--fzZE2qk

When you chosen apples then here is a fast way of peeling them!