Cloudy skies this evening followed by scattered showers and thunderstorms overnight. Low 58F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 40%. Higher wind gusts possible..
Cloudy skies this evening followed by scattered showers and thunderstorms overnight. Low 58F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 40%. Higher wind gusts possible.
Updated: November 9, 2022 @ 7:48 pm
The end of apple season is near as freezing temps prompt the last fruits to be picked. But apple farms still have plenty of freshly picked apples in cool storage to enjoy.
It’s hard to pin down exactly why people of any age enjoy going to apple orchards. There’s the juicy, delicious apples picked at the height of ripeness, of course. But heading to the orchards has more to do with enjoying the comfortable weeks of autumn before the short days, cold and snow set in.
There are also all of the ancillary products sold by most apple farms. Adding lots of butter and sugar and making a variety of apple-based goodies offer us the guilty pleasure of apple season.
Minnesota doesn’t produce the number or variety of apples of states such as Washington, New York, Michigan and California, but we shine in introducing some of the best new apple varieties in the country.
That’s due to the University of Minnesota’s long and successful horticulture program. A guy named Samuel B. Green was the first professor of horticulture at the U in 1888, and he threw himself into cataloging and growing apple varieties.
Today the university uses DNA fingerprinting and other technology to pinpoint traits they want in a new apple variety, leading them to develop nearly 30 popular varieties, including the early star of the apple world, Honeycrisp.
Getting better-tasting apples, with the crisp textures people enjoy, was definitely needed. While there were thousands of varieties around the state and nation, many bred to simply withstand different climate conditions, a lot of them weren’t a treat to eat.
Naming apples is important to get consumers’ taste buds going. The U’s Zestar, Pizzaz, SweeTango, SnowSweet and First Kiss apples all hit the marketing sweet spot.
Never has there been a greater misnomer than the Red Delicious apple. The apple is hard, mealy and tasteless. But it looks great, which was apparently its downfall. The first Delicious type of apple was grown in Madison County, Iowa, in 1872 and for decades the Delicious varieties were actually delicious. But genetic tinkering to make them look better and store longer killed the taste.
The U.S. Apple Association says there will be 255 million bushels harvested this year.
That’s pretty amazing considering that outside of the crab apple, there were no native apples in the country.
European settlers brought apple seeds with them, with John Chapman “Johnny Appleseed” getting a lot of credit for spreading seeds. He served under George Washington in the Revolutionary War and after his service traveled the colonies to preach. He planted apple orchards in each community he stayed in, fenced it off, and then sold the land to a local farmer as a way to pay for his travels.
Apple trees, particularly cider apples used to make hard (alcohol) cider, were plentiful by the early 1900s. But Prohibitionists across the county advocated chopping down the apple orchards as a way of fighting against the “demon liquor.” In a few years hundreds of apple varieties unique to the United States were destroyed.
Thankfully the country’s love of apples helped restore the orchards and revived thousands of varieties.
Apples remain the top fruit choice in the country and provide a perfect way to celebrate the end of autumn.
Tim Krohn can be contacted at tkrohn@mankatofreepress.com or 507-720-1300.
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