Even the farmer’s markets are boringly wedded to just a handful of varieties. There have been a few new ones in the last few years (I like jazz apples… very nice) I’m sick to death of endless sea of Granny Smiths and Red Delicious (which are anything but in my opinion…yuck. Is there such a thing as a tart red apple? the only ones I’ve ever tasted were only partially red, like Macintosh or Jazz, it seems like red-red = sweet and I don’t like sweet apples.)
I desperately miss my Pippins, which make a very brief and sad little showing for a few weeks each year…when I was a kid and you wanted a crisp, tart green apple the only thing available was Pippin. And even now, the Pippins that are available in grocery stores are pretty sad imitations of what used to be and what still is from the farmer’s markets. Insanely crisp and marvelously tart…yum.
I am a devoted watcher of America’s Test Kitchen and Cook’s Country, and I read CI and Saveur, and I am always taunted by the apparently huge array of apple varieties out there…somewhere else. Not in LA!
Is there a hidden apple dealer somewhere providing access to more than the standard stuff available in every grocery?