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08/23/04 - Feral Green Monsters

Check out these little green apples. You can't buy them in any store. They're tart and dry and perfect for a pie. You have to add water to them to make applesauce.

They might not look like much, but they are intensely flavored. Washington State may be famous for its apples, but let's face it, the "Delicious" apple is delicious in name only. It usually tastes like sugar and cardboard. Even Washington State farmers are now starting to pull out their Delicious orchards and putting in other varieties.

Our default supermarket apple is the Granny Smith, but even these can be more sweet than tart. When we lived in Massachusetts, we'd often try out other cultivars. Even Stop and Shop had a fairly good "apple festival" with a good dozen types to choose from. Baldwins and Northern Spies weren't too bad, but our favorites were the Gravensteins. There was an orchard in Littleton that had Gravensteins.

Out here in Washington, we actually found some Gravensteins at the Port Angeles Farmer's Market. They were pretty good, and we'll be looking for them again this season. Still, even Gravensteins pale in comparison with these feral green monsters.

Where do we find them? That would be telling, but they are on legally accessible land and not so far away that we couldn't carry back a pie or two's worth.

Great Green Pie Apples

Great Apples: Born to be wild and be green.

Keywords: food, port angeles, washington state