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    The Apple Reinvestment Plan

    Lloyd GraffBy Updated:8 Comments2 Mins Read

    By Lloyd Graff

    The Honey Crisp apple season will begin with the Labor Day weekend. Honey Crisp is the apple that has overwhelmed the Golden Delicious, Macintosh, Pippin and Gala varieties in the hearts and palate of the applistas who frequent farmers’ markets in search of the perfect pomme.

    Count me as an apple knocker with credentials.

    I have traveled to the orchards of Wenatchee, Washington; Logan, Utah; Laporte, Indiana; and Honeoye Falls, New York, searching for apple succulence, but in the mountains of North Carolina I found my best Apple anecdote if not the tastiest fruit.

    I stopped at a roadside stand near Asheville where a young woman was selling Winesaps—not my favorite variety but a presentable late season species. I always like to talk to apple sellers for tidbits about their growing approaches. The Winesap lady told me her story gladly. She said her husband was a minister and they knew they never would make a lot of money. When their children were born they planted apple trees under their homestead. They tended to trees with great care, and after five years began to get apples.

    Their plan was to let God’s bounty pay for their children’s college education. She said they took a portion of the proceeds of each year’s crop to buy more trees, and the Apple reinvestment plan was working just as she had hoped.

    I hope they planted Honey Crisps before they caught fire in the market. If they did they probably could afford Harvard.

    Question: What is your favorite variety of Apple?

    Stayman Winesap Apple
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    8 Comments

    5. Noah Graff on

      Honey Crisp I guess. But that’s so mainstream, so I’ll mix it up with the ultra tart Paula Red.

    6. Barbara Donohue on

      I learned about Honeycrisp from a previous column in TMW. Today I got the first of the crop at a local orchard. Yum. I still like Cortlands for cooking, but have become a definite devotee of Honeycrisp for eating fresh.

    7. Peter @ Polygon Solutions on

      My family devoured another large bag of honey crisp apples this week. They had stickers on them that said Made in USA. This is one of the rare fruits I find at the supermarket in Florida with good flavor.