Julian apples
Julian is an hour inland and four thousand feet up, and its apples come down the mountain starting in September. A local apple picked this week and eaten raw is a completely different fruit from one that has been in cold storage since last fall — crisper, sharper, and more fragrant.
How to choose it
- Firm all over, with no give when you press near the stem
- Smell the blossom end — a fresh apple smells like an apple
- Skin should be taut, not waxy or slippery
- Small bruises are fine; soft brown patches are not
- Ask what came in this week rather than choosing by variety
Buy this much: 4–5 for the week, and buy more than that if you actually drive up. They keep.
Mountain apples cost more than the bin at the grocery store, and for the first few weeks of the season they are worth it. By November, the difference narrows.
During the week
- Diced into picadillo
- Shredded into slaw with lime and cilantro
- Grated over Greek yogurt with honey
- Eaten whole, cold, in the afternoon
On a weekend
Shredded into a lime-and-cilantro slaw for the fish tacos.
One thing worth learning
Apples are one of the few things in the produce aisle where nothing is truly out of season — but almost everything is out of harvest. Most of the year you are eating fruit that has been held in controlled cold storage for months, which is impressive and also why supermarket apples taste the same in March as in December. September and October are the weeks when you can taste the difference, and the only way to notice it is to eat one raw.