The Apple of the fairy tales

Apple has always been one of my favorite fruits. When anybody says apple, the first thing that comes to my mind is a magical world like in the fairy tales. My first encounter with apples in fairy tales was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I am still in love with it. Imagine a magical world filled with a lovely princess, a jealous   wicked witch stepmother (of course, I don't like her and wouldn't want her anywhere near me), seven very cute dwarfs, a poisoned apple and the most important part of all...Prince Charming...the savior and hero (who wouldn't want one of that...I wish they made more of them...i definitely could do with one!). 

Just when I thought I was the only adult obsessed with fairy tales and apples and prince charming to boot, I found a kindred spirit! It is a blog by Claire Massey called thefairytalecupboard.blogspot.in. She actually wrote a whole post on apple based fairy tales and she calls it "Once upon an apple day...". This is what I call fairy tale land.

apple day from 2008

144 varieties were on display ranging from popular eaters and cookers to rare culinary apples such as Ladies Finger of Hereford (inspected in the picture above by organiser John Lloyd) and cider apples like Yarlington Mill and Tremletts Bitter. 

Now they even have movies and TV shows based on fairy tales. And being such a big fan, I have watched every single one of them. I think the best thing about fairy tales are the happy endings. Maybe that's the reason I am obsessed with them. Apparently in UK, they have an Apple day, celebrated on 21 October, was launched in 1990 by Common Ground. It is a day intended to be 'both a celebration and a demonstration of the variety we are in danger of losing – not simply in apples, but richness and diversity of landscape, place, ecology and culture too'. I wish we had something like this here too! 

fairy tale based tv shows and movies

Wiki trivia: There are more than 7,500 known cultivars of apples, resulting in a range of desired characteristics. Different cultivars are bred for various tastes and uses, including in cooking, fresh eating and cider production. 

Cultural aspects

Apples appear in many religious traditions, often as a mystical or forbidden fruit like in the Garden of Eden.

In Norse mythology, the goddess Iðunn is portrayed in the Prose Edda (written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson) as providing apples to the gods that give them eternal youthfulness.

In Greek mythology, the Greek hero Heracles, as a part of his Twelve Labours, was required to travel to the Garden of the Hesperides and pick the golden apples off the Tree of Life growing at its center.

The apple was thus considered, in ancient Greece, to be sacred to Aphrodite, and to throw an apple at someone was to symbolically declare one's love; and similarly, to catch it was to symbolically show one's acceptance of that love. An epigram claiming authorship by Plato states:

I throw the apple at you, and if you are willing to love me, take it and share your girlhood with me; but if your thoughts are what I pray they are not, even then take it, and consider how short-lived is beauty.  

—Plato, Epigram VII 

Here are some of the different varieties of apples found in nature:

Braeburn 

The Braeburn apple usually is orange to red in color on top of a yellow background. This apple is excellent for snacking and good in salads, pies, sauces, baking and freezing. These apples are available from October to July.

Cameo 

The Cameo apple has white spots on a red skin. This apple is excellent for snacking, salads, pies, sauces, baking and good for freezing. The Cameo apple is harvested in September and October and is available to consumers from October to August.

Cortland 

The Cortland apple is a sweet red apple over a greenish-yellow background that comes with just a trace of tartness. This type of apple is a good choice for snacking, salads, pies, sauces, baking and good for freezing. The Cortland apple is available from September to April.

Baldwin 

The Baldwin is an all-purpose red-skinned apple, which is mottled and has streaks of yellow on it, with a mildly sweet-tart flavor. This apple is fairly crisp texture, and originates from the New York region, available from October to April.

Fuji 

The Fuji apple is a sweet, reddish-pink apple that was introduced to the U.S. from Japan, which is where it derives its name from (Mt Fuji). This apple is a good choice for snacking and good in salads, pies, sauces and baking. The Fuji apple is not a good apple for freezing. This variety is available from October to August.

Gala 

The Gala apple can be distinguished by its pinkish stripes over a yellow background. The apple is sweet and is excellent for snacking, salads, and sauces. It is good for pies and baking, though one wouldn’t recommend it as freezing apple. Gala apples are available from September to May.

Granny Smith 

The Granny Smith variety is crisp and juicy, with freckled green skin and sweetly tart flesh. It is one of the best choices for eating and cooking, is grown in New Zealand, Australia, California, and Arizona, which makes it available year-round. It can be stored in the fridge for a maximum of 240 days.

Ginger Gold 

One of the early season varieties, this yellow apple has a sweet but mildly tart flavor. The Ginger Gold apple makes an excellent choice for snacking and salads. It is a good choice for pies, sauces, and baking too. This apple, however, is not a good candidate for freezing. The variety of apple is available August through November.

Honeycrisp 

Honeycrisp is red and yellow and is a relatively new variety, which made its first appearance to the retail world in 1991. Since it is sweet and crisp it makes an excellent snacking apple, and is good for salads, sauces, and freezing. This apple is also good for use in baking, but it is not recommended for use in pies.

Jonathan Apple 

The Jonathan variety is spicy and fragrant, juicy, sweet-tart, is good for cooking, except when cooked whole and is excellent for snacking. It can be stored in the refrigerator for a good 120 days.

Idared 

The Idared is one a sweet and tart apple that is one of the most versatile varieties. This apple works wonder as a snacking apple, as a freezing or even a baking apple, for making pies as well as sauces. This apple is available from October to August.

McIntosh 

The McIntosh is brilliant green variety of apple that is sweet with just a trace of tartness. This apple is a favorite in lunchboxes, which makes this variety of apple excellent for snacking and for making sauces. The McIntosh apple does come across as a baking or freezing apple though it is one of the most preferred choices for making pies and for salads. This apple is available from September to June.

Rome Beauty 

The Rome Beauty is a mildly tart red apple, which makes an excellent baking apple. This apple is as good for use in pies, or sauces as it is for making salads, eating as a snack, as well as freezing and is one of the most versatile varieties.

Apples in Cooking

The best thing about apples is that it pairs well with almost any other fruit. Baked apples are a delicacy. I am completely obsessed with apple pie, and it all started about 8 years ago in the most unlikely of places...Pizza Hut! (can you imagine?). They had apple pie on their dessert menu and we decided to have some...and it when they bought it to us...ooohhh deliciousness!!! Imagine a steaming plate of apple pie, a huge blob of butterscotch ice cream on the side and cinnamon sprinkled all over. I just died and went to heaven! And then they just decide to stop serving it. Man! why do people do such horrible stuff? S o I went in search of the best apple pie. The coffee day version was absolute crap...it took all my will power not to puke into that plate...yuck! Just Bake was the same too. And finally, tired of all the disgusting versions of apple pie that I forced down my gullet,  I decided to make my own apple pie. And when it came out of the oven, it was even better than the Pizza hut version. Ha! Though if you feel really lazy and/or in dire need of comfort food, you can try the apple pie at Daddy's Deli or at Spoonful of Sugar in Indiranagar, Bangalore.

Now, I make Apple Tarte Tatin, Apple Galette, French Apple Tart and many, many more amazing apple based treats. 

Apple Tarte Tatin that I baked for Dad's 61st Birthday

Since Mum's a vegetarian, I baked her this Apple Galette with lemon glaze for her birthday

And the most amazing part about apple based desserts is that it's very easy to make but the end product is beautiful and tastes wonderful. All you need is the apple (of course!), some sugar, butter (what dessert tastes good without this?), cinnamon and any shortcrust pastry base and I guarantee that you'll have magical dreams for a long time to come... :)

Recipe in my next post...and until time, Happy Baking!