What's a good eating apple? It depends
Chloe Ballinger, of Ephrata, picks the very bestest pumpkin in the bin at Tonnemaker Farms fruit stand, with advice from her grandpa Ron.
FRENCHMAN HILLS - Kole Tonnemaker said he gets the question all the time, from people who visit his fruit stand or stop by the farm's booth at farmers markets. What's a good eating apple?
The answer is, it depends.
It really does depend, Tonnemaker said, because people are different. Answering that question depends on whether or not the questioner wants something sweet, or something with a little more tartness. And Tonnemaker sticks with the varieties he raises in his own orchard near Royal City.
The question comes up a lot right now, because it's harvest. It's fall.
Fall is a wild scramble to get the fruit - or potatoes or onions, or whatever needs to be harvested - off the trees or out of the ground before cold weather renders the whole effort moot. Fall is trying to figure out what to do with the last of zucchini squash, and fall is pumpkins.
Chloe Ballinger, and her grandpa Ron, drove over from Ephrata to the Tonnemaker fruit stand to find the perfect pumpkin. Chloe said that of course she's going to carve a pumpkin for Halloween.
The Tonnemaker fruit stand, 9098 South Dodson Rd., has apple and cherry bins full of pumpkins and various decorative squash, along with peppers, onions, apples and pears. Everything from the jalapeno peppers to the Jonagold apples is certified organic, Tonnemaker said.
There's confusion about what that means, he said, but it's actually pretty simple. "Anything we add to the crop would just be a natural product," whether that's insect or weed control or fertilizers. The state has a certification program, and "they're pretty thorough about checking everything," Tonnemaker said.
So - what's a good eating apple? Depends. For people who like sweet stuff, Fujis are good, and Ambrosia. People who like not-so-sweet apples can try the Braeburn, or Jonagold, which is a cross between two classics, Jonathan and Golden Delicious.
There's also the Cameo. "To me, the Cameo has a really old-time apple flavor," he said.
One apple stands out for the customers at Tonnemaker's. "Without a doubt, our biggest selling apple is the Honeycrisp."
Customers really like it, he said. "It has a good texture, it has a thin skin and it has a very nice tart-sweet flavor. It has a unique flavor, no question."
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