APPLE DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN!!

Well, it's that time of year again, the smell of sweet juicy apples in the crisp cool air! I'm not a big apple eater all year round but just love apples at this time of year because they are new, fresh, hard and they just seem to be much more juicier, LOL! When the leaves begin to turn in the autumn season, it's time for fresh apples. Many families traditionally trek to the apple orchards for a fun day of picking apples in anticipation of the fall season. Apples are quite versatile and can be used in all types of dishes from salads to main courses to desserts as well as a fresh, raw snack.

Here is a little bit of apple history:

The word apple comes from the Old English aeppel. It's been around since the Iron Age and was cultivated in Egypt. In the first century A.D., the Roman Pliny the Elder listed thirty-six varieties of apples. There are many mythological associations over various civilizations, with the apple in the Garden of Eden being the most widely-known. Apple trees can live for hundreds of years.

The apple was brought to the United States by the Pilgrims in 1620. The French brought the apple to Canada. 

There so many varieties of apples such as McIntosh, Red Delicious, Jonathan, Rome Beauty, Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, Ginger Gold, Gala, Fuji, Empire, Cortland and Honeycrisp just to name a few.

A couple of weeks ago I did a fun shoot in an apple orchard not far from where I live in Saint-Joseph-du-Lac region. It's about 40 minutes north of Montreal. I waited for the sun to have that golden color(I always call it the magic hour) around 5:00 PM in the afternoon. It was so peaceful shooting there and all you could hear were the occasional farmer's tractor from far away and the odd thumping sounds as ripened apples fell to the ground!!
It was magical!!  Here are a few images from that shoot...

 

Here are some very useful apple tips:

To prevent discoloration of peeled apples, place peeled slices in a pan of cold water with a pinch of salt added (for each whole apple peeled).

When making salads, dip apple slices in fresh lemon juice to prevent slices from turning brown.

Discoloration of aluminum utensils can be removed just as effectively by boiling a number of apple peelings in them as by the old method of boiling a little vinegar in water.

Sprinkling salt on spilled juice from apple pies in a hot oven will cause the juice to burn crisply, making it easier to remove.

To peel apples, dip them quickly in and out of boiling water. The skin will come off much more readily.

The next day I took my little bushel and did a studio shoot with the same apples. Here are some examples...

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