Apples!

We have a tradition here in our home. We've done it every year since last year. Yes, that's only two years, but where children are concerned, traditions get established pretty handily.

A nearby farmer's market sells a variety of apples. Every fall (last year and this year) we buy one of each type and have a Tasting Time around our kitchen table. Everyone has a chart to rate the sweetness of the apples. Before cutting them into bites, we always slice the apples width-wise to admire the star-and-dots pattern inside.

This year we had more varieties than last year, although I think the dry, dry summer affected their taste: some of the apples weren't as tart as we remembered, and some were downright bland. But there were some nice surprises, too. In all, we sampled 14 bits of apples last night.



Only eleven apples are shown here because I overlooked the last bag until after the picture. Notice the apple right in front of Stuart: an enormous Crispin that was bigger than my two hands together.

(Pip didn't join us for the Tasting. He went to bed after he started chunking apples off the table.)

The varieties we tried (not in order of the picture above, sorry) were: Arkansas Black, Cameo, Crispin, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Empire, Fuji, Granny Smith, Nittany, Pink Lady, Rome, Stayman, York, and Gala.

It was fun. We ate lots of apple. I have lots left over -- there's obviously apple bread in my family's future.

-- SJ

Bonus picture: Last year's Tasting!