A Wealth of Apples!

The new crop of apples is flooding in and I'm crunching away even as I type! I come by it honestly...I'm a gal who was brought up in a place called, "Applewood Acres" outside of Toronto. Applewood Public School...Applewood Church... Applewood Plaza... you get the idea. It was absolutely a "Leave It To Beaver" idyllic and wholesome neighbourhood.

The streets were all named after varieties of apples such as Snow Crescent, Russet Road, Melba Court, Macintosh Way and Tolman Avenue. As the subdivision was originally a huge apple orchard, each house was lucky enough to have at least six healthy trees that actually still bore delicious fruit. As you can imagine, every teacher at Applewood Acres Public School had a desk covered with about 35 apples each day during the month of September!

We had a variety called Wealthy. Of course, I may be biased because I have such fond childhood memories of living there, but these apples are the best! My guess is that you have never heard of them. They are large, red on one side, and taste tart enough to be a great cooking apple, but sweet enough to be a mouthwatering eating apple. (I have to admit that I have also had my share of small, green, unripened apples in the spring too, but these no longer appeal to me! Neither does the stomach ache that accompanied this crazed eating ritual of my youth!) They ripen in late August and they are extremely difficult to find! If you ever come across them, you just have to try them! (And I always maintain that the first bite is the best!)

Imagine my delight when I found a source only 20 minutes away! I have bought myself and my parents a delicious trip down memory lane!


Mother of Invention, still wondering what my teachers ever did with all those apples!