Comparing Apples to Apples

It was a lovely warm autumn day, the music was lively and hundreds of people of every size and description were crowded shoulder to shoulder around tables laid out with mounds of sweet fall fruit. Armed with tasting lists and descriptions of each sample, we made our way down the line of crisp treats trying 46 different types of apples and 15 varieties of pears at Portland Nursery's 21st annual Apple Tasting. We tasted everything from Ambrosia to Winter Banana. By the end we had each consumed the equivalent of three good sized whole apples.

The apple strudel, apple sausage, apple cider and carmeled apples didn't look nearly as appealing after we had run the gauntlet of samples. In fact anything apple seemed over the top, but we made our way to the tent where huge wooden crates held thousands of apples of every size and description ready for purchase at 89 cents a pound. We decided to try Jonagold for apple sauce, Rome for baked apples and our favorite from the tasting Rubinette for eating.

After arriving home with our 10 pounds in a bag, we looked for a cool place to store them until our over saturated palates had recovered. It took a week to bring ourselves to peal, pare and cook the fruit. Alas, the sauce was so tasty now we wish we had more. Maybe next year.