Apple tastings will not give you any information as to what is the best apple, because each apple reaches its prime at a different time. That's the whole beauty of growing backyard fruit: you get to pick and eat the apples just when they reach their highest potential, at which point each one in its own right would win a taste test hands down against any competitor that isn't at its prime. As far as choosing the right variety for your garden is concerned, there again, fruit tastings are not useful, because soil, micro-climate and the growing season weather all have an effect on the quality and flavor. Because apples loose most of their fragrance in commercial 33F storage conditions, and because they're often picked several weeks before they reach their prime (this is done yet again to improve their shelf-life) you also cannot judge an apple from the way it tastes when you buy it at the store or even often at local farmers markets where apples are stored in cold conditions. Of course, different apples respond differently to cold storage, some are better at retaining good quality. Cameo is generally horrible when bought at the store, but a tree-ripened cameo eaten after just the right amount of "natural" 45-55F storage will taste amazingly good. As a rule of thumb, the later the apple ripens, the higher the quality will be. Some speculate the reason for this is that as the leaves turn, the nutrients from the leaves find their way into the apples. So for example, an Akero ripening in mid-September in Northern Sweden just as the first frosts show up are of much higher quality and have much longer storing properties than an Akero ripening in August in California. In California where I live, the best apples are those that finish off ripening on the tree all the way into January and even Febuary. For example, Granny Smith, an apple that stays green and at best has culinary appeal when grown in Northern latitude reaches its prime table eating quality when it turns bright yellow in late January. At that time, it tastes like a cross in between a fully ripened pink lady and a golden delicious, a most exquisite apple that rivals any other apple out there. The reason is that it ripens when the leaves finally fall off (January in most of sea-level California) and when there is a good chance of light frosts at night. Other apples which are far too tannic to win a taste test but reach their prime in Febuary includes Lady Williams and a number of the Etter selections. However, personally, I still love Summer apples - they have a very small window of good quality that you have to hit just right - that window is sandwiched in between too much astringency on one end and the apple going mealy on the other end. For a really early apple like yellow transparent, that window is sometimes just a few hours, or maybe a day or two at most. When you hit an apple like that just right, it's down right heavenly and could win a taste test down right. For example, I just picked "yellow transparent" apples last night, and I let them sit on the counter until this afternoon. This afternoon, they are 100% perfect, the right balance of sweetness and acidity, still nice and crunchy, and downright awesome and yummy and refreshing. Another six hours and they'd be going mealy, good maybe for baking or the chickens. But they're worth it for that small 6 hour window. That's part of the fun. How do I know when they're at their peak? I smell them, as the aroma will peak when they're just right. The beauty and fun of backyard apple growing is that each apple is a 100% unique flavor, completely dependant on when it is picked and what the weather was like, and the types of feeding it got. Yes, this is the total opposite of what commercial growers try to do - a homogenized, repeatable but bland experience of eating an apple that is usually more reminiscent of eating cardboard. The truth is that each apple is like a fine wine: it's going to taste different each time, and when treated right, aged properly, and consumed at just the right time, then it can be an earth shattering experience. My advice to anyone wanting to grow their own apples: experiment with a lot of varieties. Learn to graft and try out grafting many different varieties to find the one that suits your taste buds the best. You will be handsomely rewarded. I have Rhode Island Greening, now that is one heck of an amazing apple. My all time favorite through has to be Pink Lady. A good home grown Gala or jonagold will knock your socks off, but a store bought one may leave you wondering how anyone can eat apples that taste like cardboard. I can't over-emphasize how much of an impact the surroundings of a tree can have. For example, Cox Orange Pippin is notoriously difficult to grow. Out here in California, this tree is best grown with 100% afternoon shade, otherwise the fruits are of very poor quality. Finally, there's the whole issue of disease resistance. But why care about that for a backyard apple? Unless you have commercial ambitions, who cares what the apple looks like. Apple disease susceptibility should not be the primary factor in selecting a backyard tree. In the backyard, imperfection is not only acceptable, it's desirable. On an interesting note, Cox Orange Pippin wood has viruses, yet these very viruses give the fruit more flavor. Here in California, Dave Wilson had the viruses removed from the Cox Orange Pippin (a laboratory procedure) and the resulting trees bear fruit of far inferior quality than the original virus infected Cox orange pippin. The bottom line is that backyard apple growing is not a factory practice, it's a real art form - it should be a fun and unique experience. Your apples will be special and different from everyone else's apples. I'll get off my soap box for now - I'd love to hear other's experiences of the best tasting apples they have ever eaten.

They might look awful but are probably just 'cosmetic' issues. Linda Lou has just stated all the same info I typed in. I recall a few short years ago when Linda Lou had not heard of Clear Jel, Pomona pectin, or Ball Pickle Crisp. Now she is a convert.. Pickles will reduce that shrinkage once they sit in the brine a few weeks. In fact, they are better tasting after a few weeks to a month later. I d hope you tasted the pickle brine prior to pouring into the jars. Relying on even eact measurements in a recipe can give you all kinds of results when first starting out. Always use Pickling salt, and good quality white distilled vinegar. I buy only the Heinz brand at BJ's and Costco and they are 5 quart bottles intead of gallons. Never had any problems with them. RIght now, seeing as its HARVEST time for many, I will seriously doubt if you an find the trie Pickle Crisp from Ball. Its usually sold out and comes in a small box with some foil packets inside. Its actually a food grade CALCIUM CHLORIDE and is used as a 'buffer' to reduce the long term acidic breakdown effects caused by vinegar. I bought a pound+ of it from the source below. Their product is the same but slightly courser than the Ball type. I use a heaping teaspoon instead of the regular teaspoon measure of Ball PC. With lots of pickles to can, you can use up the single Ball PC box in one day. If you do buy it in bulk, pour it all into a big quart canning jar with metal tight fitting lid. It soaks up moisture from the air and can clump if left out to high humitity for too long (takes just a couple of hours to get exposed to the humid kitchen air and it clumps). After it sucks up all that water, it will not even evaporate. They use the liquified product to de-ice airplane wings! Here is a link that might be useful: Bulk Foods

And again in the catagory of "everyone's taste preferences are different" - I absolutely love the Coyote's I grow here in NW Pennsylvania. My mother (75 yrs. old) having grown tomatoes most of her life, also likes them a great deal. From all the bad comments on it I would be tempted to think I didn't have the real Coyote, but my Coyote's fit the descriptions I have read of the variety. Indeed it would be a boring world if we all liked the same thing! LOL! Karen

"Mush is porridge", Kathleen says. Among the oatmeals, there's large flake, quick (broken flake), minute, and steel cut, that breaks the flakes into small chunks and there's more of a texture of pieces retaining their shape than with instant, and there's Scottish, which to me sems quite a lot like steel cut. Then there's farina, or cream of wheat, and another kind of wheat, and I've heard of one that's pretty well barley, but haven't tried it. And there's 3-grain, 8-grain (which I think is substantially similar to Red Diver Cereal) and 11- or 12-grain cereal, which latter retain a coarser texture when cooked. Which kind of porridge did you mean? This unlettered extra-northerner has to ask, "Does "mush" bear any resemblance/similarities to "grits"?". ole joyful