Ate the second apple ever off our own trees today, a Gray Pearmain that my wife picked up off the ground. It looked like it had been knocked off by a squirrel or maybe a bird, but was largely undamaged apart from a little scuff and a bruise on one side.
Very tasty in spite of not being fully ripe! Nice crunch, quite juicy, nice sweet/tart balance, and actually does have the “distinct pear flavor” that Fedco touts in its description (particularly when eaten with the peel). We have another one still on the tree that hopefully will hang a little longer, so I’ll be interested to see how it compares.
Apple number three this morning: Hunt Russet. Way early for this one, too, but ants were starting to get at it (note to self: got to do something about the ants), and it came away when I tested it, so I figured what the heck.
This one was a small apple with a good deal of russet. Interestingly, I gave a slice to my wife, who had been eating toast with jam, and she found it pretty assertively tart. I tried a slice myself, not having just eaten something with sugar, and I found it pretty strikingly sweet, but with a good bit of tart in the background. Kind of citrusy - the thing that came to my mind was that it reminded me of a clementine.
Texture was firm, almost hard, not really crisp but with a bit of snap/break to it. Very enjoyable over all, especially (again) for being picked way early.
I used my Better Boy tomatoes and my Black Beauty eggplants to make this concoction. I called it a ‘strata’. ? Just layered tomato slices, Vidalia onion, eggplant slices (real thin), garlic, mixture of Italian cheeses on top. Pepper. Baked it for 35 min at 375. It was sooooooo good.
I hated to turn on the oven - but it was a lot easier to make than the sautés I’ve been doing with the veggies.
First choice, I eat them.
It is very tasty :
-in soup cooked with pork spare rib.
-thin slice and sauteed with shrimp/seafood .There is a product called dried shrimp fry in original grocery store that goes very well with
-Stuffed with ground meat.
-Friend of mine give me some Chinese dumplings/Jiaozu made with Cucuzzi and ground pork filling that taste good too.
Second choice. Still have too many. I give them away to family, friends and neighbors
No choice. Still have too many, but family refuses to eat another Cucuzzi, friends say no more Cucuzzi , like the situation I am in now. I dry them. Dried Cucuzzi is very good in soup.
Peel the skin and slice them into very thin (I use the peeler to do that
If you have a mandoline that will be the best) , the shape does not matter but need to be very thin in order to dry well before it start to mold if you plan on sundry. If dehydrator dry, the thickness is not a issue.
I’m down to my last apple variety left this summer. Actually last two varieties. I was looking closer at my Pink Lady tree and noticed there were some ripe red apples growing. Traced it back and saw a graft union with no tag. Ive attached a picture of the red apple next to an immature pink lady. There is an illusion going on as the pink lady is smaller and in the foreground. The red apple is ripe and excellent. I’m curious what it could be? Any ideas what is ripening now that it could be?
Lastly, a neighbor dropped off a bag of pears. I didn’t even realize they had a tree. They did not know what the variety was called but said they are quite good. Kinda looks like Seckel to me. But there is a distinct size difference in the two verieties she gave me. Several are smaller and not much color while the larger pears have a lot of red on their skin. Any guesses on this one?
Apple number 4 from our trees: Adams Pearmain. Having found a couple of squirrel-mauled apples lying on the ground (not sure what variety), I decided that it was time to give things a quick turn-test and pick anything that was ready to pick, even if it still seemed too early. Although it’s supposed to be a later apple, my two Adams Pearmains came away readily, and my wife and I gave one a taste test.
In my wife’s opinion, this was the best yet. Smallish, firm to hard, and quite intensely, richly flavorful. One of those apples that demands your attention. And while I don’t have a great nose for these things, it was apparently quite aromatic, because our elderly dog (who is the true apple connoisseur in the family) hustled on over to claim his share.
Actually . . . . not that one - but I have had to bring many of them in and scrub them with my ‘dish-soap wand’ ! Hey, it works!
A lot of my apples get sooty blotch it seems. Especially those that have to hang there during the muggy summer to ripen.
Golden Muscat grape. I was going to pull this one out this year but let it fruit for the second year. It’s really good when well-ripened. Big berries (without thinning), Muscat flavor and sweet (brix ~20-21). Unfortunately, it has seeds which bothers me more than my daughter. I may keep this around.
@PomGranny – I let my 2 yr old gold rush keep 3 apples this year… in the past couple of weeks 2 of those dropped… where the stem goes into the apple… there was a dark brown area that developed… did not look good.
1 hangs on still… not sure how long.
Thinking I might as well framework graft over my GR with some other varieties… perhaps novamac… and some of my early mac… akane…
When I grow cantelop I grow Hales Best… it has always been very good here. Your kids are soooo blessed to have a father that grows so much good stuff to eat.
Hope it rubs off on them and they do the same for their kids someday.
is super loaded. Too tall to thin.
