Last Earth: Do not confuse bloom period with ripening order. There is no direct relationship. Bloom period is the one that is important to pollination. In my experience, with over 30 apple varieties, it is hard to say which ones cross-pollinate, since they all seem to be in bloom at about the same time. I wouldn't expect it to be a problem if you have three trees. But Murky's point about triploid varieties like Gravenstein is an important one. I have several triploids out there (Stayman, Spigold, Mutsu etc.), which are pollen sterile and cannot pollinate anything. But there are other apples that can pollinate them, and there are a pretty fair number of decorative crabs in the neighborhood, which are excellent pollinators. Apples are pollinated by insects, which fly several hundred yards or more between trees. If anything, overset is more common on apples than underset, requiring the orchardist to do some thinning on the clusters. I thin to one per cluster, but two is about the maximum if you want apples of decent size and quality. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Thanks for the no oats recipes! I grew up with a no oats crisp and made the oats version for many years. To me, it's like eating an oatmeal cookie crumbled over apples. Too heavy and sweet, especially with the ice cream. My version is from Caprial Pence, who once owned a popular bistro in Portland OR and had a cooking show on PBS. Fruit Crisp from Caprial's Desserts 1 c. flour 3/4 c.sugar 3/4 c. cold unsalted butter, diced 1/2 tsp. vanilla pinch of salt Combine all ingredients and mix with fingers until mixture resembles a coarse meal. Note: I like to press some of the dough into marble-sized clumps and refrigerate it to maintain the clumps. Otherwise, it spreads while baking. 7 c. peeled and sliced tart apples 2/3 c.sugar 2 tbsp. cornstarch 1 tsp. cinnamon 1/2 tsp. nutmeg, allspice, and ginger 1 tsp. vanilla Toss fruit with the other ingredients. Place in a 9" x 13" greased pan. Sprinkle with topping. Bake at 350 degrees until bubbly, about 45 min.

I wanted to check back in to let y'all know that you really were spot on about the blackberry being the way to go! I made both the blackberry crisp & Mtnester's Martha Stewart apple-blueberry (thanks again for the recipe, Mtn!). Only my pregnant niece asked for apple-blueberry! The other 8 people asked for blackberry! So given the dwindling supply of blackberry, dh & I went for apple-blueberry, which was very, very good! (Niece had another serving!). We all had vanilla ice cream with our crisp. Thought it was interesting that when given a choice (sight unseen) blackberry was what almost everyone requested. I am glad I had a couple of options though, & it was good to try out another recipe to get some more experience with such things. (Hope each of you enjoyed a day that was merry & bright!). And...thanks, Sally! Yes, please call me Stinky!

With a bottom crust, it would resemble an apple galette, and I use Calvados in the crust when I make that. I haven't made apple crisp in a long time, but I like oats and will consider making that when I have a new crop of apples. If yours is topless and bottomless, I'm not sure what it would be called - maybe a chunky apple sauce, as Ann suggested. I would like that also. I bought tart red cherries from Michigan at Trader Joe's, but I use apples more often. Lars P.S. Your title reminds me of Jacques Pepin (Fast Food My Way), and I recently watched him make an apple galette! Did you see that episode? This post was edited by publickman on Fri, Dec 5, 14 at 11:58