While looking up apples on the Internet earlier this week I came across a discussion of mealy apples, and why it’s worth cooking with them. I was fascinated and let the information percolate for a bit, but here is the deal.

Being living matter, apples are made up of cells. And being plants they have plant cells. Plant cells have walls around their membrane and they have vacuoles inside the membrane, which are basically liquid storage tanks. All cells have ways to adhere to the other cells around them. Most cells have ways to stick to their own kind. That’s why your skin is, you know, skin! The skin cells stick to each other preferentially when they want to, and not when they don’t. So your hand is covered with a connected sheet, but your fingers don’t stick to the back of the hand when you touch it. It’s actually quite remarkable to think about.

In a good, crisp, juicy apple, the cell vacuoles are filled with lovely and delicious tasting liquid. When you bite the apple, the cells adhere to each other more strongly than they hold together, of themselves. Hence, the cells break, with that lovely crunch, and the vacuoles give up their luscious liquid. However! As the apple ages, the adhesion between cells weakens. You bite the apple and the cells all separate, and keep their juice to themselves, and you have a mouthful of separate mealy bits. Consequently, cooking such an apple can result in a better taste since heat will break down the cell walls and release the juicy taste again.

I hadn’t realized it but this is also true of peaches. Older mealy peaches are also separating into their cells and holding onto their juicy, lovely taste. Many of the articles I read discussed apples and peaches together. A notable cook of my acquaintance listened to me on this topic, and said that of course you take mealy peaches and make cobbler. And it will be very tasty. She’s always right.

These apples are really great tasting. The yellow apples are Suncrisp. The reds are either Stayman or Winecrisp in the lower left, and in the upper right, Cosmic Crisp. The Cosmic Crisp is like a super improved Honeycrisp. (And I think Honeycrisp are pretty good.) The Staymans are very flavorful, and both sweet and tart. The Winecrisps are the kind of tart that makes me start counting the hours until the market reopens, and I can buy more. There is an apple called Stayman/Winesap. I don’t think that’s what is here.

The squash is a Kabocha, and when roasted and pureed, makes the most amazing pumpkin pie. See KAF for the recipe. They add black pepper to the filling. I can’t taste the pepper specifically but the pie is great. https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/pumpkin-pie-recipe

Enjoy the autumn. Winter cometh!