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My son likes those, but I'm not crazy about them. My grandmother and mother bought and made pies with McIntosh. If there was an apple in the refrigerator, it was probably that variety.
When I lived far away from my PA roots, I asked a produce manager what I could use to replace it, and he told me that Rome was the best match that he had. That guy knew his apples. I was going to bake a pie, apple blackberry, and it's a great pie apple. Really, it's better for that purpose than McIntosh. He also told me that he knew I was from New England because those are the only people who make those.
Yes, I was told that Rome and Cortland were the best apples to use in pies. That's what I use, rather than McIntosh (which aren't as tasty as they used to be).
Anything that purports to be something that is XYZ-FREE, when XYZ is something that's inherently part of what makes the dish good.
If something is "Vegetarian" or "Fat Free" or "Sugar Free" or "Gluten Free" or "Dairy Free" or anything else, and that ingredient is part of the essence of the dish, it always falls extremely short.
IE, at a recent birthday party they served "Gluten Free, Sugar Free" cupcakes (and I THINK, but am not certain, that it was dairy free.) Look, pick one. You could have made gluten free cupcakes with a dairy/sugar icing. You could have made them sugar free with gluten in the cake. But the combo wasn't great.
I can't eat greek style yogurt or anything "probiotic." Goes right through me.
Any type of unsalted cheese. Unsalted cottage cheese to me was inedible.
Agree with all of the produce horror stories. I used to go to farms in the summer or to farm stands, but the prices there are 4 times the price of the produce in the supermarkets. That's way above my budget.
I did buy some peaches from Georgia a couple of weeks ago. They weren't bad.
The only avocados that I've had that were good were in California.
Those gigantic strawberries that you see in the supermarkets. I try not to buy them in the winter. You all know how they get moldy the next day. Then you kick yourself for wasting money, but eventually you do it again because you want some sort of fruit in the winter.Around April or so they come from Florida, but they still aren't that great these days. Last year, I planted strawberry plants and this year, in June, I had a bumper crop. They were small and some had some "bad" parts, but I cut them off. Oh how I forgot how real strawberries tasted! You'd pop one in your mouth and they started off sweet and then ended on a slightly tart note. To die for!
It's always hit or miss with cantaloupe and honeydew. I try to only buy them in the fall.
Most supermarket apples these days are tasteless, even in season.
I'm not a big fan of apples or oranges, but apples from the local orchards are better. I just can't afford them.
Nope. Dehydrate or process it down in a blender, and then freeze for later.
I hadn't thought of blending and freezing. I freeze or process and freeze all kinds of fruit. Thank you, seriously, for pointing out the obvious. Forest, meet trees.
Yes, I was told that Rome and Cortland were the best apples to use in pies. That's what I use, rather than McIntosh (which aren't as tasty as they used to be).
They either don't taste as good as they used to, or my taste buds are old and dying. I'm never sure which.
Fruit out of season is never going to be good. (except some varieties of apple. I've had good luck with Nikita)
Cantaloupe and peaches, smell before you buy. There should be a faint aroma of fruit. Peaches and nectarines, you must wait 3-5 days before you eat them. Wait until they are starting to soften.
Strawberries, also sniff before buying, Look on the bottom of the box to make sure a rotten one isn't in there and sniff for strawberry odor.
Tomatoes, if you buy the ones on the vine, you can let them sit out for a few days and they will continue to ripen. But you will never get an excellent tomato from the market because refrigerating ruins tomato texture. If you home grow tomatoes, you never put them into the fridge. The store ones are refrigerated to ship and store them.
Watermelon, my trick to pick a good one is to go and get the produce manager and ask him to pick one for me. I've had the produce guy tell me I wouldn't get a good one because it was too early in the season and if I wanted a good melon I needed to wait for the properly ripened ones to be available. The watermelon in my fridge right now is pretty good. Later in August the local Hermiston watermelons will hit the market and they are excellent (and kinda expensive).
Avocados, I have no advice. The only place I ever got good ones was at a local economy market and if their avocados looked good on the surface and were nice and hard, they would be good once I took them home and let them ripen. Other than that is is a huge gamble and most often its a loss.
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