Jonared Apples. First Harvest. And Apple Pie.

These are Jonared apples. I grew them for nostalgic reasons. My parents had a Jonathan apple tree in their yard, more than 50 years ago. I couldn't find a Jonathan at the time that I planted this tree, but Jonared is just a red sport, so the apples should be the same. This is the first year that it bore. I planted it about 4 years ago.  The fruit set was very good this year - several dozen - but deer managed to get into the tree cage, and damaged about half.  This was a hot dry summer, and I watered this tree, but not a lot.

The Jonared apples are crisp and tart, not very sweet.  I read that Jonathan apples need a Midwestern climate to  reach peak flavor.  That's OK, my wish was to make a pie.

 In our household, during my parents' later years, it was my dad who made the pies.  He always used tapioca starch as a juice thickener, but I usually use flour. In his honor, I used tapioca starch this time, sold locally as tapioca flour, in the specialty flours section at the grocery store. It worked much better than my usual flour, wasn't soupy at all, even with a hot pie. I usually add a half teaspoon cinnamon, and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, plus 1 teaspoon vanilla that I mix with the sugar before mixing with the apples. Very happy, reminded me of my dad's pies.