Family, Food, Health, Nature, Seasons, Uncategorized

Frostbite

26 Comments

Covid or no covid, YA wants her traditions intact.  So at her urging, we hit the apple orchard over the weekend.  The orchard we go to is taking precautions – one of them is that you are no longer encouraged to have an apple as you pick.  Another is that instead of grabbing a slice from a bowl if you are tasting apple types prior to picking, you have to use a toothpick now to spear your slice.  Like usual there is a big whiteboard of what apples are available for picking and the prices.

At the very to of the board was a listing for “Frostbite”. Not a word you relish seeing mid-September, but I’d never heard of Frostbite apples before so it caught my attention.  Here is what the U of M ag site says about them:

Frostbite™ has been a key apple in the U of M’s breeding program since the 1920’s. It’s extreme cold hardiness and unique flavor make it an excellent apple to cross with other varieties. Frostbite™ is a parent to Keepsake and Sweet 16 apples and a grandparent to Honeycrisp.

I know that they breed apples but I have never thought of any produce being the parent or grandparent of another.  Fascinating.  We definitely sampled them – they were tangy but not as tart as a Granny Smith, maybe a little citrus-y?  When we said we’d like to pick some, the orchard gal said “we only have three trees” and explained where to find them.  The trees were full and the apples are on the small side but a deep red.  We got half a peck.

They are great with peanut butter and I used some of them in my slow cooker apple butter yesterday (along with my favorite, the Connell Red).

Apple Butter Beginnings

Have you tasted anything new lately? 

26 thoughts on “Frostbite”

  1. started adding coriander to my potatosonion blend along with my smoked paprika cumin and the chinese addition of wine soy and sugar ( i have been experimenting with brown sugar honey white sugar combinations

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  2. We went out last Sunday looking for a suitable apple orchard. A lot of them have added so many non-apple entertainments that the apples have become an afterthought. I try to avoid those. Nevertheless, we headed out to one near Watertown—Luceline Orchard—and found, when we got there that it was totally mobbed with families. We fled down highway 25 to Fall Harvest, near Montrose. It was crowded as well but not overwhelmingly so. I noticed they were offering Frostbite apples. They seem to be a current novelty.
    We’ve visited a lot of orchards over the years. Understandably, I suppose, but dismaying to me is that a lot of them have evolved to pander to a sort of lowest common denominator of taste, with a focus on Honeycrisp and Honeycrisp-like apples, of which I am not a particular fan, at the expense of older varieties like Prairie Spy, which I especially like.
    This is not the year, but sometime I’d like to visit the Seed Savers orchard near Decorah, where they have over 1,200 varieties of apples.

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      1. Prairie Spy apples are of unknown parentage and, despite the “spy” in their name, may not be related to Northern Spy at all. They are likely a chance variety propagated from seed, which never breeds true to the parent. They are apparently problematic for commercial apple growers because they are susceptible to fireblight, produce apples variable in size, and are nothing like Honeycrisp apples.

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      2. I am from upstate NY and really miss my favorite Northern Spy Apples. One time my dad brought a suitcase full- they got a bit bruised but I made wonderful applesauce!

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    2. Next year try Thompsons Hillcrest Orchard in Lakeville. They do have a corn maze but they don’t make a big deal about it- other than that just apples.

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  5. Fruit trees are a lot of work to keep healthy. We had a chokecherry tree we had to cut down as it had Black Knot, an untreatable fungus that results in disgusting black growths all over the branches. It is spread through the air, and most of the chokecherry trees in our neighborhood have it. It also attacks regular cherry trees, too.

    I believe Apple trees need a lot of spraying to keep them healthy and worm free.

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  6. I tried some StarKrimson pears at the co-op. I had never tried them before and I don’t know anything about them other than they were a little more tart than Bosc pears. I liked them and I think they would be good in pear clafoutis.

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  7. I have several new recipes, one that I may have mentioned – a cabbage-hamburger casserole with a can of sauerkraut in it, turned out well enough that Husband even said he liked it. I also found a nice cream of tomato soup recipe that I was able to do in the crock pot, because you don’t add the cream till you sit down to eat your bowl of soup.

    Next I want to try this Pear, prosciutto, and fontina quesadillas – will let you know how it goes.

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  8. New to my recipe rotation this summer has been Fusilli with Vodka Sauce. I know there are commercial vodka sauces you can buy but this recipe makes the sauce from scratch. You wouldn’t think that the vodka would make any difference, but food scientists claim it does. Except when I add chopped prosciutto, it’s completely vegetarian and fairly quick. The recipe makes a fair amount, but the leftovers are most welcome. Naturally I’ve altered the recipe from its original source.

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  9. No, not really but I have been informed that Democrats eat the flesh of babies and drink their blood.
    Let me explain.
    One of my workmates is a yuuuge follower of Q. It’s an online community that revels in a multitude of conspiracy theories among which is that Donald Trump is exposing a multinational pedophilia organization. Hillary Clinton and her cohorts sexually abuse and then cannibalize children. So yesterday another of my workmates expressed concern for his brother who seemed to be going crazy. He intended to ask his mother about the problem. He was telling me just a sentence or two of what crazy talk his brother was uttering when I interrupted and said, “That’s Q!”
    I continued to relate what I knew about Q and Shawn (the same workmate) kept saying, “Yes! Yes!” He had never heard of it. After a few more minutes of my showing some more of this Q insanity, I shocked him twice. “There are at least 4 Q believers that are going to be elected to the United States House of Representatives and Trump, for whom you intend to vote, endorses them.” Silence is golden! So yesterday and today we tease about coffee breaks and lunch and eating yummy babies.

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  10. With the various meals that arrived at my house in the last few weeks there have been a few that are similar to what I cook with one or two differences in the recipe(s). One addition I will use next time I make it is a bit of ginger root in my chicken soup – so tasty! Ditto the extra bit of cream cheese in the mac & cheese recipe used by a friend. What I really wish I knew, though, was what all was in the Indian chicken dish a friend had delivered. So tasty! Guess I will just have to find the restaurant and place my own order. 🙂

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  11. We try new recipes all the time. There some standbys, especially Joanne’s Southwest Salad, chicken enchiladas, and Penzey’s basic chili. Husband constantly gets these ideas of things he wants to try, and searches suitable recipes. The sausage recipe book he uses makes very small batches so we won’t be left with pounds and pounds of sausage.

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    2. We, too, try new recipes all the time. Ginger and lemon grass are good additions to chicken broth if you’re going for an Asian inspired flavor. During this time of plentiful home grown tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers, I’ve been making several interpretations of Fattoush salads. A pinch of sumac in the dressing will take it in one direction, pomegranate molasses and mint in another, and feta cheese, olives and lemon juice in yet another. This is a great time of year to be cooking.

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