“Apples, heigh-ho,” said Trumpkin with a rueful grin. “I must say you ancient kings and queens don’t overfeed your courtiers!”

Prince Caspian. C. S. Lewis. Harper Collins. 1951.

At this point in the book, Prince Caspian, the protagonists have had mostly apples to eat for the last forty-eight hours. They started with a few sandwiches before they found an apple orchard. When the dwarf, Trumpkin, joins them they also have one meal of fish over the next twenty-four hours. And apples. But if you have to live on one thing for a long time, you could do worse than apples.

I love apples in the fall — fresh off the tree when I was younger, and could go to U-Pick orchards. Now I go to the farmer’s market instead, where a particular vendor brings fifteen varieties of apples to the market every week in the fall. Not the same fifteen, mind you. They gradually change from August to December. Smokehouse and Swiss Arlet are just about gone, the sign says. Meanwhile, Suncrisp, Sweet Zinger, and Winesap are making their appearance. Cameo, Gala, Fuji, and Baker’s Delight have been around for weeks.

When the season arrives I take three or four different varieties with me as a snack for my grandchildren. The variety has been fascinating to the kids for several years. It’s such a big deal that the three-year old, having refused to eat his lunch at lunch time, will quickly finish it when I arrive so that he can participate.

Still Life with Apples. 1886. Charles Ethan Porter, American. NGA public domain

This visit I asked for serious evaluation of the varieties so that I’d know which ones to stock up for Thanksgiving. That was enlightening! The Ludacrisp apple was at the bottom of the list for three kids. The verdict from mom was that it was tangy but not quite flavorful. The three-year old wanted more. He said it was “different” and he would have eaten the whole thing.

The Suncrisp is relatively sweet, and crisp! I find this distracting since the apples of my childhood, Golden Delicious, Red Delicious and Granny Smith, were, in order, sweet and mushy, less sweet but still mushy, and sour and crisp. So a crisp sweet apple is a surprise even though by now, Honeycrisp apples are as ubiquitous as Red Delicious was in my youth.

The Swiss Arlet are flavorful, and tart/sweet and have dense flesh that still has a bit of a snap. That kind of density used to be associated in my mind with mush OR with apples that do not make good applesauce or pie. They never softened enough to seem cooked. I don’t know if Swiss Arlet apples would be good cooked because they get eaten so quickly that it’s irrelevant.

I haven’t tried the Baker’s Delight yet, but maybe this Saturday I will. I like to make apple pie filling ahead of time for Thanksgiving, and freeze it in the pie pan so it has the right shape. Then I make can make a crust at my leisure. I would love to go around saying that the apples in the pie are Baker’s Delight. However, I should probably test the flavor first before I present it to the world (my world anyway) on Thanksgiving.

In any case, I highly recommend looking around for different apple varieties and trying them out. It’s a seasonal bit of entertainment since fresh apples are the most distinctive, and also because some varieties are only at farm markets and only for a few weeks.

Study of Apples from Nature. 1863. William Rickarby Miller, American painter (born in England.) NGA public domain

Header, Still Life. Henri Fantin-Latour, French, 1866. Public domain, NGA