Summer apples are really yummy. I just grafted a number of the Summer apples listed in the previous posts above, i can't wait for fruit. This year my William's pride is fruiting for the first time, I await with great anticipation. Summer apples are a big deal here in Santa Cruz county given that you have to go all the way to Anchorage, Alaska to find Summers as cool as ours. As you can imagine, we get some pretty high quality Summer apples thanks to the cool temps. Viking: Top of the list, flavor is a cross in between lychee and rose, totally yummy, ripens late July just before Gravenstein and has a 3 week window for us here, and will keep under conventional cooling storage for about 3 weeks if picked early. Red June: good but only because there's almost nothing around at that time of the year, ripens before Viking, early to mid July, decent flavor, goes mealy in the blink of an eye. Atlanta: this one is yummy, but doesn't keep well. Ready in late July. Pink pearl: yummy, pink fleshed apple, slightly tart but very aromatic, makes strawberry flavored apple juice. It comes in right around with Gravensteins, keeps very well, at least 6 weeks ripening in our climate. Yellow transparent: early July, excellent if you don't mind waiting next to the tree for the 3 hour window when it's perfect. Picked too early makes it too sour, picked too late makes it mealy. There are far superior selections of this type of apple that have been made in Europe. Transparente de Croncels comes to mind, it's a much larger apple and it's supposed to be one of the best. Pristine: Oh, one of my favorites, delicious, firm, crisp, ripens mid July, and keeps really well, up to 6 weeks. It becomes real fragrant and smells up the entire house. Gravenstein: One of the best all around apples, an apple just doesn't get any better than this one when it's grown in the cooler parts of the Central Coast of California. Ours keep very well because of the lack of Summer heat, up to 3 months in cold storage. They are so fragrant and delicious, everything anyone could want in an apple. Our Summer apples will be late this year - 58F outside as of 3PM and it's almost the 4th of July here. Burr, I wouldn't mind a little Summer feeling.

To my knowlege there are no comercial "home" smokers that can do cold smoking reliably. I also beleive that it would require alot of effort and ingenuity to create your own system at home that would be capable of cold smoking in a reliable fashion. Cold smoking also reuires more care so that you don't grow alot of evil bacteria on your food as your smoking it. Methods I've seen for home made cold smoking involve building a fire in a pit bellow ground, and running the smoke thrugh ductwork that is also bellow ground... eventualy the smoke cools down, and then can be piped into a container where the food to be smoked is at. In the end your probably better off buying smoked food that is comercialy cold smoked...

marys1000 - thanks for the reply even if you can't answer my specific question. I guess we all have the same problem with bones etc. due to the disappearance of small pork butcher/smokehouses. Seems that a "butcher" mostly doesn't exist anymore. Also, as you say, butchering has mostly moved from supermarkets to industry centers. I'm in Connecticut, but I know more about northern New Jersey where they long ago created local ordinances requiring stainless steel walls, ceilings, and specific floors for small local meat processors and smokehouses. These were probably good ideas, but also somewhat aimed at eliminating smoke houses. That's when my pork butcher had to shut down. I'm surprised and disappointed though, that you're in the midwest and the heart of hog country (isn't it?) and even there, you don't have a pork butcher. For soup I've gone to smoked pork hocks, which oddly, are still in local supermarkets. Don't you have these? In Radburn, New Jersey there is still one great place, the Swiss Pork Store, which still has a smokehouse license and still makes everything: hams, bacon, hot dogs, German sausage types, the works. They have fabulous smoked pork butts, big ones. Only problem is, I'm no longer close enough to go very often - used to go every Saturday. Another problem is that you don't see any younger people behind the counter, so who knows about their future. I agree about standard brands sausages.

My mother made chicken salad in the summer. To go with it we'd have some nice buttered toast or rolls. It really makes a great hot weather supper or lunch. My Mom's Chicken Salad 2 skinless bone-in chicken breasts, *cooked, deboned and cubed 1 1/2 c. uncooked pasta, cooked accdg. to package directions, drained 1 c. diced celery 1 red delicious apple, diced 1 can baby peas, refrigerated and drained 3 hard-boiled eggs, chopped Mayo **Miracle Whip, opt. salt to taste Mix chicken, celery and apple with mayo until very moist. Gently blend in pasta and add more mayo if desired. Carefully add in the peas and hard-boiled eggs, again adjusting moistness if necessary. Chill and serve on lettuce with buttered toast. Note: I always start to make the salad a day or 2 before putting it all together because everything should be cold when you mix it up. *I used to boil or poach the breasts. Now I put them in the crockpot with a can of chicken broth. No fuss, no watching them cook. I strain the broth from cooking and use it to make soup. I also cook the pasta and eggs the day ahead and keep refrigerated until ready to mix the salad. **You can add some Miracle Whip if you like the salad a little sweeter. Most of the time I just use Mayo because the apple provides enough sweetness.