apple recommendation for apple pie

I normally use Granny Smith apples for apple pie. I wanted to know what is your favorite apples for apple pie. Any recommendations? I plan to pick up some apples when I go apple picking.

Hi,

Jonathon's are my favorite for apple pies.

Don't be tempted to use MacIntosh unless you will mix it with a firmer apple like Granny Smith or Jonathon.

Whenever you see an apple pie where the crust hovers above and the apples are far below? This was due to the choice of apple, where they used one that collapses during cooking.

Regards,

I believe Paula Haney of Hoosier Mama Pie answered this question yesterday with Granny Smith. She said in season they also use Cortlands & Macs.

CI's Skillet Apple Pie ( I love this) chooses accessible supermarket apples for the pie. They use a combination of both sweet & tart apples suggesting Golden Delicious for the sweet and Cortland or Empire for the tart variety.

pairs4life wrote:I believe Paula Haney of Hoosier Mama Pie answered this question yesterday with Granny Smith. She said in season they also use Cortlands & Macs.

CI's Skillet Apple Pie ( I love this) chooses accessible supermarket apples for the pie. They use a combination of both sweet & tart apples suggesting Golden Delicious for the sweet and Cortland or Empire for the tart variety.

I haven't seen the Cortland apples at the grocery stores. I'll probably try mixing Granny Smith with some Golden Delicious since those are easier to find. I just ordered the Hoosier Mama Book of Pie book today. It is too inconvenient for me to drive into the city to get a pie.

Be careful using Cortlands - unless they're incredibly fresh, almost unripe, they can deteriorate and turn to sauce in a pie. Macintosh are even worse. If you can make it to the farmers markets, Northern Spy are great - nice & tart, as are Granny Smith. Stayman-Winesap or Winesap are very unique and great for pies. Jonathan, Jonagold and Golden Delicious are also good. Best to mix some of the tart varieties with not tart. Jonagold/Golden Delicious always make the non-tart choice for me.

I am a baker girl (actually a pastry chef) and I am a fanatic about great apple pie.
I vote for Cortland, mixed with some McIntosh (they don't hold their shape but they have great flavor and their 'apple mush' fills in the 'cracks' of the apple pie). I use Granny Smith in this mix but I recommend shredding up those apples. They tend to be watery and a tad acidic - so it's nice to add a bit of Granny Smith but Cortland is born to a life in apple pies.Most apples are sour or sweet, soft or hard - so great apple pies are often a mix of a few types of apples. (For open faced French style apple pies, Pink Lady, Cortland and Honey Crisp)

I'm going to share my apple pie secret here. I add a few spoonfuls of Woods Cider Jelly to whatever apple mix I have put together. The jelly is nothing but pure Vermont apple cider, boiled down. It adds a depth of flavor that is hard to achieve with just apples, and is not too sweet. Being reduced, it does not add too much liquid. Woods' Cider Syrup is also excellent, both as a syrup on waffles or Indian pudding, and as an addition to salad dressings, marinades, and as a glaze on ham, pork chops and poultry. Since I recently moved to St. Louis, I have been able to locate a wide variety of local products, including apple syrup. For those who shudder at having something shipped from Vermont, Canton Missouri's Blue Heron Orchard offers a Midwestern apple syrup.

I think that I will skip the Cortland apples next time. I found them to be too mushy.

I prefer Gravenstein's but the season is early and short so now it's Mac's and Cortland's.
For those who want to go to an Orchard where the growers are true apple people with a plethora of varieties for sale, I recommend Birghtenwood Orchard in Wisconsin. There are no clowns, road side attractions and you can't pick your own but the apple selection is amazing. The owners have also branched out into sparkling wine and spirits.
You can sample whatever you want. We go in early Setember for Gravenstein's and again in October for the rest.-Dick
http://www.brightonwoodsorchard.com/index.html

Gravensteins are delicious, but typically suffer the same fate as Cortland and Macintosh apples. If you're like me and don't like mushy/saucy apples in your pie, don't use them.

Locally at the farmer's markets, you can purchase Northern Spy, Winesap and Granny Smith which are great for a tart flavor (Winesap is terrific and really distinct and found easily at Green City Market - use some of them!). Mutsu are fine too but I prefer the latter 3. And mix with Golden Delicious for a nice mix of tart and sweet. These are all varieties that retain texture and don't turn to mush/sauce.

My secret is that I cut the apples, mix with the sugar and citrus and let drain for an hour or so. I then cook down the liquid into a syrup (this will also lessen/eliminate the need for cornstarch), briefly cook the apple slices, cool and put in pie for baking. The reason I cook the apples a little to soften first is because otherwise, you'll end up with the ugly dome effect, where you remove your pie from the oven only to find that the totally raw apples you put in the pie sank to the bottom and there's a 2-inch gap between the crust and the filling. This also solves the gap issues mentioned by marcygoldman without creating an apple pie filled with sauce.

I rely on taste more than whether the apple slice is firm or mushy. In fact I've really never noticed and neither has anyone else.
My pies are simple, I use sugar sparingly, Ceylon cinnamon, a leaf lard crust and whatever suits me when making. Simplicity and ease of making are key for me, so Gravenstein's, Mac's or whatever are fine. More than anything is a good source of apples and Brightonwood is certainly a good source.-Dick

I like Winter Banana when I can get them, but I think I might have peculiar tastes in apple pies. I like more spice than most recipes provide, and while I like tart apples when I eat them fresh, after they're cooked the tartness turns into a sourness that I don't enjoy quite so much.

But Jonathan's what I usually use. They're easier to find.

BR wrote:My secret is that I cut the apples, mix with the sugar and citrus and let drain for an hour or so. I then cook down the liquid into a syrup (this will also lessen/eliminate the need for cornstarch), briefly cook the apple slices, cool and put in pie for baking. The reason I cook the apples a little to soften first is because otherwise, you'll end up with the ugly dome effect, where you remove your pie from the oven only to find that the totally raw apples you put in the pie sank to the bottom and there's a 2-inch gap between the crust and the filling.

You are my pie hero.

Hi,

I don't have a dome effect when I choose the right apple or combine shrinking violet apples (MacIntosh et al) with firmer (Jonathons, Granny Smiths).

I was at Royal Oak Farms where you can pick your own apples. They have local ladies come in to make their pies. I bought a slice of pie to find it had that dome effect. When I asked about it, they commented they make their pies from whatever apples they are given. Since they had quite a lot of apple varieties on the property, I would have thought they could have done better.

I don't particularly like MacIntosh. My experience with them is typically a mealy apple. I remember once LAZ defending them as a very good apple when very, very fresh.

Regards,

Speaking of the freshness of apples, does anyone have recommendations for freezing apples for later use in pies? Should I lightly cook them first or not?

I have several pounds I picked up at Brightonwood Orchard a week or so ago that I need to process asap. I second the recommendation of Brightonwood if you are looking for a family farm, non-amusement park atmosphere. I especially liked tasting their numerous heirloom apple varieties and chatting with the proprietor. An added bonus is the two-story treehouse!

UMN extension recommendations for several ways to freeze
http://www1.extension.umn.edu/food/food ... ze-apples/
Wikihow has more or less the same, but with Pictures
http://www.wikihow.com/Freeze-Apples
HGTV suggests making your filling and freezing it
http://www.hgtvgardens.com/freezing/pre ... eze-apples
Frugal living says if you do that add your spices just before cooking
http://frugalliving.about.com/od/freezi ... Apples.htm

I have always used Granny Smith. I saw a recipe that used Golden Delicious yesterday, but I always found this to be a mealy apple so I was afraid to branch out. I never had a problem with Grannys being too tart; with all that sugar, the pie ended up being a nice mix of tart and sweet. The recipe I used yesterday called for the juice of one lemon; on the following page, there was a nearly identical recipe that used one less apple, slightly more sugar but brown, not white, and apple cider vinegar. So I added an apple, used all brown sugar, and used twice as much vinegar...looks okay, I'll report back after I try it.

Pie Lady,

Since apple sizes vary wildly, I don't worry about apple count. Instead, I take the pie pan and prep apples enough to fill it as high as I want it. Plop apple chunks or slices in a bowl to mix with sugar and spices. I wipe the pie pan clean before laying down any pie crust, then proceed as usual.

Regards,

But how do you know then how much cornstarch/tapioca/whatever to use? I'd like to take a classes from you!

Hi,

For apple pies, I use flour. If it were peach, I use tapioca. If it is Concord grape, I use cornstarch.

I actually have a feeling you have a good grip on making pies, Pie Lady!

Regards,

Meh. Fair to middlin'.

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

For apple pies, I use flour. If it were peach, I use tapioca. If it is Concord grape, I use cornstarch.

I actually have a feeling you have a good grip on making pies, Pie Lady!

Regards,

I have been wondering why you would use flour vs cornstarch as a thickener. What is the difference? For one apple pie, I used 2 T cornstarch and 1 T of flour. For another apple pie, I used 1 T of cornstarch and 2 T of flour. I could not really detect any difference.

Part of it is that flour can lead to a cloudy filling, so if you're looking for that shiny glassiness in the thickened juices, cornstarch is better. I believe it's also true that cornstarch has a little more thickening power, is that so, everybody?

Hi,

I think cornstarch is too slick looking. I really dislike when I cut into a pie so heavily thickened with cornstarch that it looks like Moses parting the Red Sea. I want my filling to have a little animation.

Regards,

And some fillings, due to their acidity or lackthereof work better with different thickeners, like tapioca or arrowroot.

Has anyone ever tried Wondra? I've been using it for gravies for some time now, and I really like how it works.

Geo

I'm not really sure what that is. I thought it was just another brand of flour.

Wondra is a type of flour formulated to be used as a sauce thickener. It doesn't clump when added to hot liquid.

Picked up a bushel of Gravenstein's two weeks ago at Brightonwood.
Firm delicious. I don;t know where some get the idea they are mushy?
http://www.orangepippin.com/apples/gravenstein
Made two pies using King Arthur Pastry flour and homemade lard I rendered myself from a pig we purchased.
One pie was a big hit on Labor Day.
When we are done with the Gravenstein's, I will go back for later season apples and try another Hierloom variety.
Apples are free to try as long as you don't waste them.-Richard

budrichard wrote:Picked up a bushel of Gravenstein's two weeks ago at Brightonwood.
Firm delicious. I don;t know where some get the idea they are mushy?

When cooked, they often turn to mush (though less so than a few other varieties). If fresh and really crisp, they're likely to fare a little better. I love the flavor.