An Apple A Day

Fall means crisp, juicy apples, and there is no sweeter way to enjoy one of those crunchy red orbs than when it’s coated in caramel.

I was up in Green Bluff last weekend picking out pumpkins and sunk my teeth into the best caramel apple I’ve ever tasted at McGlade’s Treemendous Fruit, just off Highway 2.

These babies were cloaked in a thick, dark, chewy caramel. (McGlade’s has experimented with many different recipes and come up with just the right combination.) That amazing coating covered a just-picked Gala; they also use Empires, Jonathans and Red Delicious.

Those two simple ingredients added up to a perfect balance of sweet and tart, of crunchy and chewy, of sinful and virtuous. As my 9-year-old daughter pointed out: “It’s like dessert, but with lots of vitamin C.”

It might be tough to pass up the huge selection of freshly baked pies that perfumes the air at this country store, or the rich, hard-ice-cream milkshakes that folks line up for, but the icing on the cake in this dish is that McGlade’s caramel apples are just $1.50 — two bits more if you want them to add chopped pecans.

You’ve still got this weekend and next for this year’s Green Bluff Apple Festival. So, get out there and enjoy — and don’t forget to pick up one of those heavenly caramel-coated apples at McGlade’s while you’re at it.