Harvest Fruit Favorites: Seasonal Apple Recipes, Pear Recipe and Cranberry Recipe

By Anne Vassal
Published on October 1, 1996
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PHOTO: ROBIN THOMAS
The Cahills strike again. We couldn't resist grabbing some photos of the apple authorities in action. Here, Ginny Cahill cooks up some candy apples with neighbor's grandkids Melissa (left) and Katelyn Foley.

MOTHER’s Kitchen column shares how to use harvest fruit favorites featuring seasonal apple recipes, pear recipe and cranberry recipe for fall.

Harvest Fruit Favorites: Seasonal Apple Recipes, Pear Recipe and Cranberry Recipe

Fall is full of contrasts. Balmy summer evenings make way for crisp, grab-a-jacket weather. The sweet softness of the peaches, plums, and berries is replaced with the noisy crunching of the first fall apple. As sorry as we are to see summer end, at least it departs in a blaze of glory with bright autumn leaves and crisp, tart fruit. Sure, my dentist advised me to cut up my fall fruit to avoid damaging a capped tooth, but I ignore him because cut fruit isn’t the same. There’s something about wiping an apple on your flannel shirt on the way home from the apple orchard and eating it whole. Besides whole fruit munching, there are other ways to consume those apples, pears, and cranberries without getting stuck in a dessert rut and it’s to our advantage to do so. A recent Harvard study of 30,000 men found that those who ate the most fruit fiber, the equivalent of five apples a day, were less than half as likely to develop high blood pressure. Pectin, the fiber in apples and pears, is known to reduce cholesterol and heart disease and possibly prevent cancer. So an apple a day (or two, three, or four) really isn’t a bad idea.

APPLES
We like to make apple juice in our juicer or make applesauce out of the reject apples. Apple juice and sauce freeze well, so they can be kept all winter. Apples must be kept cold (about 45 degrees) to stay fresh. Try to buy from a local stand or orchard since supermarket apples tend to be waxed. While the waxes themselves are considered safe (but who wants to eat a candle?), they seal in pesticide residues because waxes don’t wash off of the fruit. Local orchards also carry varieties other than the old standbys. Sample a few and discover a new favorite. (My latest favorite is a Pippin.)

Candied Apples Recipe
5 apples
2 cups sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup water
1 two-inch stick of cinnamon
Red food coloring

Stir all ingredients until sugar is dissolved. Bring to a boil. Cover and cook three minutes (steam will wash down crystal). Uncover and cook without stirring nearly to hard crack–290 degrees Fahrenheit on a candy thermometer. Remove cinnamon stick; add a few drops of red food coloring. Pour glaze into a double boiler above (not in) boiling water while dipping apples. Skewer apples. Dip quickly. Dry, upside down, on a piece of foil.

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