As we reluctantly watch the exit of summer, Mother Earth is releasing her horde of crisp multi-colored apples. They seem to be spilling over everywhere from the Farmer’s Market, along the roadsides, and brought by in shopping bags by friendly neighbors.

• Apples are cheap, they are plentiful and packed with a nutritional punch. Heathful pectin is abundant in apples, additionally, they are low calories, have high amounts of potassium, and contain only 16 grams of fruit sugars (in a medium size apple). All the more reason you should be chopping one of these delightful spheres of fiber. Unlike many other fruits that demand a tedious peeling, the apple is ready to go without any special preparation. Their versatility is boundless.
• Having lived several years in Santa Rosa, I visited Sebastopol – the self-titled “Apple Capitol of the World” – many times. Sebastopol holds two festivals celebrating the apple each year, in April, the “Apple Blossom Festival”, and in August, the “Gravenstein Apple Fair”.
• Johnny Appleseed was a nickname for the real John Chapman, who spent most of his life traveling and planting his beloved trees throughout the Allegheny Valley to the territories of Ohio and Indiana. He was a gentle and religious man.
• Apples are steeped in tradition and folklore. Apple pie, Apple cider, Applejack and “apples for teacher", just to name a few.
  Apples play prominent roles in our cultural history: one only has to think of Newton and his discovery of gravity, Snow White and her evil stepmother or Eve in the garden chomping on this source of great temptation.
• Apples have a long history of being adulterated with alcohol. Before prohibition Apple Brandy was popular and also referred to as Apple Jack and Jersey Lightning. Who could forget an 1800s-era political slogan like “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too!”? William Harrison promised “log cabins and cider” This cider was hard. During long political speeches, the jug was passed among potential voters.
• The longest lasting symbol of the apple lies in New York City. How did the pet name of the “Big Apple” attach itself to New York City and remain so for 75 years? It is now thought likely that the term originated in horse-racing circles and was first popularized by John J. Fitz Gerald, although there are numerous legends surrounding the origin.

Just like every good thing that nature has provided to people, we’ve managed to screw the apple up. In the fall, we like to dip these crisp gems of natural goodness with caramel coating. Thousands of commercial pie companies place them inside a
pastry shell half – cooked and heavily sugared, especially during the holidays. For preservation purposes many are coated with wax. Some are stored a little too long and taste mealy. All the above seems to be part of living in a modern automated society. Regardless, the apple cannot be changed and it promises a savory flesh within its protective skin. Nutritional data on apples and other fruits is available at www.bestapples.com.

Here are some easy rules and suggestions for getting all the benefits from this wondrous fruit phenomenon. If possible, buy from a grower’s or farmer’s market where prices are usually most reasonable. At home, store them is cold place like the bottom of the refrigerator (please take them out of any plastic bag). Place a few in a place where the family spends time. Keep apples handy when potato chip and cookie cravings become unbearable. Wash, quarter, and remove the seeds of apples before putting them in kids’ lunches – this will keep the school garbage can from being filled with half-eaten apples. It’s even possible to freeze sliced and seasoned slices for busy future days.

Learn to make bottomless apple pies: Recruit family members to peel and cut into small pieces enough apples to fill
a 10 inch glass Pyrex or even a long glass lasagna pan. Add only 3 tablespoons of sugar along with teaspoon of cinnamon and 2-3 tablespoons of flour.Sprinkle over apples and cover with thin pie crust. If you wish, piecrust is available in the freezer case, or make your own (look inside the Joy of Cooking for crust-making directions). Apples are already sweet, so the addition of minimal
sugar is meant only to provide a base for the cinnamon and flour to adhere to. Here the true sweetness of the apple brims in glory.

Homemade apple sauce is a good way to utilize those apples waning in flavor: add a little lemon, about ¼ cup of water, place in a double-boiler. Cook down gradually, the use of a double-boiler will prevent the apple sauce from scorching.

Recently I’ve revisited the Waldorf Apple Salad. The original recipe was retuned for a client, who wanted to introduce more walnuts and celery into her diet. I cut up lots of apples and combined them with celery bits and dried softened cranberries. To this mixture I then added the walnuts. Use a simple dressing of canned cranberry sauce and equal yogurt, and if desired, a bit of low-calorie sour cream. Easy is the key word. By keeping routines simple you will see in time that preparing an apple pie can be a piece of cake.