September is a transition month for both the landscape and the weather. Orchards are opening for pick-your-own apples and a wide variety are ready for harvest including ginger gold, Paula red, and of course the ever-popular McIntosh. My favorite is Macoun, although I’m still not sure how to pronounce it, is a later season variety. Autumn for me also means fresh, warm apple cider donuts or fresh-pressed cider cold from the jug.
John Chapman, AKA Johnny Appleseed, was born in Massachusetts in 1774. Unlike the Disney myth of a barefoot wanderer surrounded by singing bluebirds, the apple seeds Chapman planted were not of the sweet, eating variety. His were inedible as snack fruit but contained the ideal sugar and acid profiles for fermenting into high-proof alcoholic beverages. Inspired by the German cider mills he visited in western Pennsylvania, he gathered leftover seeds there and set off for the American west ahead of the pioneers, planting a series of apple nurseries and giving away thousands of seeds and seedlings. Hard working fellow transplants from New England enjoyed hard cider and chugged down an average of 10.5 ounces a day!
During Prohibition the government cut down thousands of sour apple trees to stop the production of homemade hard cider and applejack. Only one original Johnny Appleseed tree is left standing, a 175-year-old Winter Rambo located on the Harvey-Algeo farm in Nova, Ohio, that is still producing fruit, used for hard cider, applesauce and baked apples!
Baked apples are a simple way to enjoy the season’s apple bounty.
Ingredients
- 4 large baking apples
- 2/3 cup mixed dried fruit bites
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/3 cup apple cider
- Whipped cream or yogurt
Directions
Mix the fruit bites, cinnamon and brown sugar together. Core the apples, cutting a slightly larger hole at the top. Peel the top halves of the apples and place them in an 8×8 baking dish.
Fill the centers with the fruit bite mixture and pour the cider around the apples.
Bake covered with foil in a 350° oven for about 40 minutes, or until a toothpick is easily inserted into the apple.
Serve with whipped cream or yogurt on top.