Apples Are Not Just Red

"Why do we need so many kinds of apples? Because there are so many folks. A person has a right to gratify his legitimate taste. If he wants twenty or forty kinds of apples for his personal use…he should be accorded the privilege. There is merit in variety itself. It provides more contact with life, and leads away from uniformity and monotony." -- Liberty Hyde Baily

Apples, out of all the other fruits, are consumed the most at our house.  Being a creature of habit, I always keep a bowl of my favorite variety out on the counter because no one complains about the kind I buy.  A while back, Aidan and I were looking at a book that had a drawn picture of a green apple in it.  He didn't know what it was, I was shocked. After thinking about it for a while I realized, of all the times he's accompanied me to the store, of all the times he's been involved in counting and picking produce, of all the times we've used the scale to weigh items, I had never pointed out the varieties available to us for apples.  There was a disconnect between his exposure to them and our discussions about them.  Aidan thought all apples were red, I always grab the same kind..oops.

This fall, I decided an apple tasting experiment would help broaden my son's knowledge of the versatile fruit.  On our last trip to the store I purchased one of each variety that was available, and brought home nine different kinds of apples.  For the first time there was an array of apple colors laying on my kitchen counter.  

I labeled each apple with a sticky note and began slicing off sample sized pieces.  Aidan noticed the differences in taste and consistency right away.  He described the mcintosh as "soft and mushy."  The granny smith was "spicy."  That moment was the perfect opportunity to discuss the words tart and sour, because apples are not hot, unless you bake them!

We arranged the apples by what we thought was the sweetest to sour.  Aidan counted seeds, organized them into a few designs, and admired the apple core stars.  After stuffing ourselves with fruit he decided his favorite is the golden delicious apple.  I had never done a side by side taste test with apples before myself, and found I like braeburns just as much as my old favorite, the gala.  

There are other varieties we'd like to try, if and when I see them in the store.  But now that our family knows what our favorites are, you won't find the same old apples on my counter anymore, because apples are not just red.

Like Little Moments Facebook Page to stay up to date on all our moments and more!