Chus On Chow

If you have never gone apple-picking in the fall, you are missing out on one of the finest celebrations of the fall season, at least for those of us who think eating is more important than football. There are a good number of U-pick apple orchards all around Syracuse. There is a bunch of them clustered on route 20 between Lafayette and Skaneateles. Of course, you don’t want to miss others, some even closer to Syracuse. But if you’re heading into the most apple-intensive area, you’re in luck. We’ve done the scouting for you.

Just take Interstate 81 to Lafayette and then go west toward Skaneateles from there. You’ll have five or six different places to choose from. Beak and Skiff is quite possibly the biggest, and they might have more fun things for kids, but their apples probably cost a bit more, too.  We checked several of them last Saturday and the best price was at O’Neill’s. That said, it’s worth it to stop at several just to get a really good variety of apples. You’ll want to pick up the varieties that can’t usually be found in the grocery stores.

A few decades ago when I worked selling apples in the Hudson Valley, the grower taught me to mix Northern Spy and Golden Delicious in a pie. Now you can get the best of both apples in the Spigold, available well into the season in some of the apples stands. There is nothing like an apple pie made with Spigold apples.

I don’t know if you can say you grew up in Central New York if you didn’t go apple picking in the fall. If you’re bringing some kids with you and if they’re still little enough to sit on your shoulders, let ‘em reach up into that tree to pull down an apple. They will never forget it. You can teach them how to gently twist the apple off, rather than yank it, and hand it to you gently or set it gently in the bag. If they drop it, it will bruise and not last as long. After you fill your bag with a variety of apples, you might want to get those kids a cup of cider, so they know where that comes from, too.

Folks are making apple fritters at a good number of stands, but we found the fritters way up the hill at Burrell’s Navarino Orchard to be possibly the best fresh-made apple fritters anywhere.

This coming weekend is the Lafayette Apple Festival. I’d plan on getting there just as they open (at 9:00 a.m. both Saturday and Sunday) because the traffic gets pretty bad as the day wears on. There are tips for driving there that might help you avoid the congestion.

Whether you go to the festival or just get out into the hills some afternoon, memories of apple picking will put a smile on your face during the long winter. Between the pies, fritters, and fresh slices of apple with super-sharp cheddar, properly stored apples can make for good eating for many months.

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