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Picking the perfect pie apple

Apples come in thousands of varieties, sizes, textures and flavors. If you've ever stood in the produce department of a supermarket completely confused, join the crowd. It's not easy to know which to select because each variety of apple has a slightly different flavor, from sweet to tart to bitter to -- yum -- just right! Textures also vary among apple varieties, from soft and mushy to firm and crunchy. And because there are so many different varieties, each with slightly different qualities than the next, producers grow different types of apples for different purposes. Some apples, like the Empire, are sweet and wonderful when eaten fresh (in fact, of all the cultivated apples grown, over





half are eaten fresh). Other apple varieties are better suited for cooking or further processing. The Rome Beauty, for example, is often used for baking and not eaten fresh because it has a firm, acidic flesh and tough, smooth skin.

When it comes to making the perfect apple pie, you want to select an apple that has some tartness and will not turn mushy. Braeburn, Cortland, Granny Smith, Jonathan, Macoun, Northern Spy, Pippin, Rome Beauty, Jonathan, Winesap and McIntosh are all excellent candidates for a great apple pie. But you need more than apples -- you need the perfect apple pie recipe. And here it is:

PERFECT APPLE PIE RECIPE