Cortland Apples: A First Taste

Wheeling through the produce section of my local grocery store today, driving a "car cart" with my daughter in the front, steering away, I was stopped by an anonymous shopper who insisted that the cortland apples on sale were absolutely magnificient. I am usually a gala apple girl, but the cortland apples were on sale for a remarkably reasonable price, so I decided to risk the week's apple consumption and try the shiny cortlands out. I bought a five pound bag. Sarah and I had one for supper tonight. Actually, Sarah ate nearly the entire apple, and I had a couple of bites. When she wasn't looking, I carefully swiped a section and scampered to the basement stairwell where I crunched away.

I was quite impressed with cortland apples. I don't know that I'd want to eat them every week, but they were a nice change of pace. They were fresh and crisp, with a snow white flesh that looked almost eerie next to the blood red peelings on the exterior surface. (Sarah preferred her without the skins. I tried to be a good mother and make her eat the skins, but she started gagging, so I kindly peeled them for her). The cortland apples were a bit more tart than gala apples, but in autumn, I enjoy a nice tart apple.

I was interested to find that these particular cortland apples had been grown in my local state of Wisconsin (strange, to live in a state that actually produces apples for grocery store consumers) and I noted that the apples went particularly well with cheddar cheese slices, something else that is in no shortage in Wisconsin.