Winesap apples should be round, shiny, and have a pinkish-red blush covering most of the skin. They are tart with a touch of sweetness and are great for snacking, cooking, baking, and juicing. They can be mixed with sweeter varieties for a more complex flavor. The freshest apples are found at local farmer’s markets.
The best apples should appeal to all human senses. Winesap apples should be round and shiny, not dull, due to their natural waxy coating, and have a pinkish-red blush covering most of the skin, with some greenish tint. When pressed, the apple should be smooth and firm and have an unbroken, unblemished skin with no brown spots. The flavor of a wine apple is primarily tart, with a touch of sweetness and a fresh, juicy texture. Winesap apples should have a fragrant, sweet scent without any mustiness.
These apples are great for snacking, but are also very popular for cooking, baking, and juicing due to their tartness and smooth texture when pureed. One of the reasons for this apple’s staying power is its flexibility. While many apples are best suited for a particular purpose, such as snacking, baking, or juicing, wine apples are equally suited to all purposes. If wine glasses are too tart to snack on, another variety, Stayman apples, are slightly sweeter than the wines from which they were grown. They’ve outgrown much of the apple market for wines, although the wines have a nice, old-fashioned flavor.
If apples are purchased to eat fresh, firmness and a pleasantly sweet smell are very important. When apples are purchased for making cider or baking, then a slightly moldy, overripe apple is fine, provided it doesn’t smell musty, which may indicate mold growth. If overripe apples are purchased, they should be used promptly or refrigerated in plastic bags to prevent further ripening.
Some people who purchase tart apples such as wine apples for cooking or juicing mix in a smaller amount of sweeter or aromatic varieties for a more complex flavor. Since wineaps tend to be tart, the sweetness softens the bite of the apple. This is especially true for making apple cider. Stayman’s wines will lend a tart flavor, while the addition of aromatic, astringent, and sweet subacidic apple varieties will round out the flavor.
The freshest, best-tasting wine apples tend to be at the local farmer’s market. It is not uncommon to find the apples being sold by the farmer who picked them that same morning. Local farmers tend to use fewer chemicals than commercial grape harvesters, who often grow apples for color, not flavor. Buying at a farmer’s market also ensures that the apples are purchased in season, which results in fresher, better-tasting apples. Under normal circumstances, heirloom apple varieties such as wineap apples are harvested when the farm keeps for several months when stored properly.
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