How do you like them Apples?

 

Part of our new routine at home is that I meal plan and make the grocery list and Rob heads out to do the shopping.  Not always, but a lot of the time.  Grocery shopping doesn't fall into my list of "preferred-things-to-do".  Don't get me wrong, I love nothing more than perusing the aisle of a specialty food shop, walking through a farmer's market or visiting a butcher or boutique cheese store.  However, the regular "milk, eggs, pasta" doesn't thrill me much, but Rob loves it, so our new way of bringing food into the house is working well for us.

Upon his return from the food shop last week, he had a bag of red apples.  I had put Granny Smith apples on the list and gently questioned if they were out of the green variety.  He said no, but that they "didn't look too good". Fair enough.  When I opened the red apples to place them in my fruit basket I noticed they were red delicious apples.  

What? Who eats red delicious apples?  We don't and I can't really give a good reason as to why, other than the fact that I'm not that fond of them.  I find them soft and mealy and much prefer a Gala, Empire or Honeycrisp (oh, how I love me a Honeycrisp apple).

This, of course, created a long discussion about apples and he challenged me to put it out here on my blog and find all the Red Delicious apple eaters (he feels there are many).  Are there any of you out there?  Now I'm simply curious about kind of apples you like to eat - please do let us know.

In any case, regardless of your choice of apple,  here is a delicious caramel sauce to enjoy with them.  Made with a touch of vanilla and some lavender, this is a wonderful way to make basic apples a tasty dessert. Serve up a selection of sliced apple pieces with a bowl of this gooey sauce and everyone in your family will be happy.  Even if they're eating the Red Delicious variety.

Caramel Sauce

1/4 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup whipping cream

1 tsp vanilla

Melt the butter in a small saucepan.  Add the brown sugar and cream and bring to a boil.  Boil for one minute, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.  The mixture will thicken as it cools.  Serve slightly warm.  

Comments

[Ginger & Pickle]

oh those red delicious... ack! I posted the same question about them last fall! We have espaliered red delicious fences in our garden (they were the only tree available to us that were spur bearing) - anyway, I had to get over the fact that the apple trees we would be growing wouldn't have my favourite apple growing on them... I really don't like them either - they're a bit bitter, aren't they? I will look forward to seeing if anyone has suggestions of what to do with them - they are pretty at least!
Well, I share your love for honey crisp! The greatest apple ever... but recently I have found one that tops even the honey crisp - is it possible?! They are called Ginger Gold. They are an early apple (ready in August) and were created by a man in British Columbia. They are everything the honey crisp is, but with a hint of spiciness - gingery.
have a lovely day! (sorry anpout the long comment! - those red delicious apples got me going!)

[canuck_grad]

I don't like Red Delicious either, I find them too dry and mushy usually. Empire are my favorite. When we moved from Ontario to Nova Scotia a couple of years ago I noticed we don't have Empires as regularly here and they aren't always as good as they were in Ontario. I've been eating Cortland more often since we moved here, they are OK too.

BUT, tell your husband that my husband loves red delicious, they are the only apples he buys. So maybe it's a man thing?

[Leslie]

I'm with you...Granny Smith is my preferred apple. I love the tartness. Not a big fan of red delicious. Maybe turn it into applesauce?

[Pam - captured by our cameras]

Pink Lady and Braeburn are two favorites at our house. For the record though my daughter loves Red Delicious apples with peanut butter. Thanks for posting the caramel sauce recipe. I think my son is going to love this.

[The Orchard]

I actually like Red Delicious but only if they are really red and firm. I know what you mean about them being mealy and soft - if I happen to get one of those kind, eww!

Our favourite apple here is Gala.

Tricia

[Kathleen]

Sorry, but RD's are on the bottom of my list. I think they are too mealy and the skins too tough. I am a Gala fan through and through though I do like the Jonagold, Fuji, and at times Golden Delicious. Pink Lady's are high on the list too. :) Thanks for the recipe. My favorite snack is apple with nut butter and wheat germ sprinkled on top.

[Hannah]

I detest red delicious apples! Honeycrisp are best!

[French Cooking for Dummies]

Granny Smith are my favorite, by far ;)

[Rachel]

Cortland hands down my absolute favorite but they're best during the Fall. Huge, fresh and super delicious straight from the apple farm. Second favorite - granny smith which since it's not a local apple I can get reasonably easy year round shipped in. Macs are in third place. The end :)

[Marie]

Honeycrisp - best. apple. ever.

Braeburn is a close second! :)

[Scott]

I have to admit that I don't actually consider Red Delicious apples to actually be apples. I didn't like apples for a long time because my mother only bought Red Delicious. Eventually I tried some other types and quite like apples now.

My favorite is Jonagold, but they aren't the easiest to find. My second choice is Gala.

[Radhika]

This caramel sauce looks delicious! I think it would be great with my favorite, a crisp Gala apple.

[Zoe]

Storage Red Delic at the supermarket give them such a bad rep I never tried them until I had a kid. Now I love an organic Red Delicious in season: crisp, winey, spicy and sweet, they're a totally different fruit and a great snack! A whole bag though, yeah...

[Jan Scott]

Hi Zoe - Its so nice to see someone here who likes them...even though I dont!!

[Stacey]

We live down the street from an apple farm. Jonagold is our favourite, followed by Honeycrisp and Royal Gala. I don't even think the farm grows red delicious!

[Cara]

I'm a mom of two and wife to one hungy guy. So, I'm always up to suprise them. I was off to make some quick applesauce for dinner and had an idea...SO, I sauteed some Cortlands down mixed with some Mac's with a bit of butter, dash of nutmeg and Apple Juice. Layered them into a sweet crepe recipe, added some vanilla ice cream and placed your caramel sauce on top. wonderful. Thanks for giving me a new twist on some apples I had hanging around my fruit bowl.

[Jan Scott]

Cara, this sounds so great!  I love the idea of stuffing the apples into a crepe.