The apple of her eye

McClatchy Newspapers (MCT) - We got so lucky.

Mother and son, standing on top of a mountain, cupped by blue sky and surrounded by trees loaded with apples, bending with apples, shaking with apples ready to fall at the slightest brush of a shoulder.

We hefted our baskets and started up the winding path through the orchard, in search of the first of the Jonagolds and the last of the Honeycrisps.

I made my first trip to Sky Top Orchard in September 1991, before the tall teenage boy beside me was born.

I've managed to get back every year or so since. And I've watched as the crowds have grown as thick as bees in a flowering orchard.

If you try to visit Sky Top on most fall Sunday afternoons, the cars pack into the lot at the top of Pinnacle Mountain Road until they spill down the sides.

In 2001, I met a friend there on the weekend after Sept. 11. So many people had come in search of apples and solace, we couldn't get any closer than a bench at the edge.

I finally stopped trying to visit on weekends, taking the occasional weekday trip to stock up on apples and cider.

This year, we got lucky. We happened to be in the mountains in the travel lull after Labor Day, the same weekend Hurricane Hanna was expected to rain all over the Carolinas.

The storm brushed past, and we were left with a lovely, and blissfully uncrowded, weekend. A Sunday stop at Sky Top was in order.

Last year, a spring freeze and summer drought stripped fruit trees in the Carolinas. This year, Nature is making up for it. The trees are so dotted with apples, they look like they were drawn by an enthusiastic kindergartener.

We stretched into the high branches and dipped under the low ones. We strolled between the rows, sharing one crisp apple between us.

Almost too quickly, our baskets were so full we had to walk back slowly, stopping every few steps to pick up apples that tumbled off.

We rewarded ourselves with cold cider slushies and hot cider doughnuts.

I pulled out of the parking lot reluctantly, wishing I could think of an excuse to linger for another hour on top of the mountain, under the blue sky, surrounded by apple-filled trees.

POLISHING UP ON APPLES

There are dozens of varieties of apples grown in the Carolinas. Here are some of the most popular and the best ways to use them.

Arkansas Black. Cooking and pies, long storage.

Braeburn. Cooking, pies, eating fresh.

Cortland. Applesauce, pies, eating fresh.

Fuji. Eating fresh, applesauce.

Gala. Eating fresh, drying, pies, applesauce.

Golden Delicious. Eating fresh, pies, applesauce, cider.

Granny Smith. Cooking, cider, long storage.

Honeycrisp. Eating fresh.

Idared. Pies.

Jonagold. Eating fresh and all cooking.

Jonathan. Eating fresh, pies, cider.

McIntosh. Eating fresh, applesauce.

Mutsu. Eating fresh, applesauce and cider.

Red Delicious. Eating fresh.

Rome Beauty. Applesauce, pies.

Stayman Winesap. Cooking and long storage.

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GOOD TO KNOW

1 pound of apples is usually 4 small, 3 medium or 2 large. Yield: 3 to 4 cups chopped or sliced fresh apple.

For a pie: You'll need 2 to 2 ˝ pounds, or 4-5 large, 6 or 7 medium or 8 to 10 small apples.

For applesauce: 1 pound of apples makes about 1 ˝ cups applesauce.

To store apples for more than a few days, keep in a plastic bag in the refrigerator.

If you don't have a food dehydrator, apples can also be dried in an oven. Peel and core the apples, then cut into rings about Ľ- to ˝-inch thick. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, nonstick foil or a silicone baking mat. Place in a very low oven (170 on most home ovens) for 8 hours or overnight, until leathery but still a little soft. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

CIDER RULES

There are two kinds of cider.

Fresh cider: Squeezed from fresh apples. It's very perishable and needs to be kept cold or frozen. Many fresh ciders now are pasteurized. Only buy unpasteurized cider from a maker who doesn't use windfall apples, which can be contaminated by bacteria.

Hard cider: Fermented cider. It tastes like sweet, fizzy beer. Although it was hard to find for many years, it is slowly returning to the market, made by artisan producers. Look for good hard ciders in some specialty wine stores.

WANT TO GO?

For directions and hours at Sky Top Orchards, go to www.skytoporchard.com.

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EASY APPLE TURNOVERS

From "The Cook's Country Cookbook" (America's Test Kitchen, 2008).

ľ cup sugar, divided

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 tart medium-sized apples, such as Granny Smith, peeled, cored and chopped coarsely

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1/8 teaspoon salt

˝ cup applesauce

2 (9 by 9 ˝-inch) sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed in refrigerator overnight

ADJUST oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine Ľ cup sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside.

PULSE the apples, remaining ˝ cup sugar, lemon juice and salt in a food processor until the apples are chopped into pieces no larger than ˝ inch. Allow to sit for 5 minutes. Place a fine-mesh strainer over a bowl and drain the apple mixture, saving the juice. Transfer apples to a bowl and stir in the applesauce.

UNFOLD 1 sheet of puff pastry on a lightly floured work surface and roll into a 10-inch square, flattening any seams. Cut into 4 (5-inch) squares.

PLACE 2 tablespoons apple mixture in the middle of each square. Brush the edges with some of the reserved apple juice, then fold over into a triangle, matching up edges, and crimp closed with fork tines. Place the four turnovers on a plate and freeze until firm, about 15 minutes. Repeat with remaining sheet of pastry. (Turnovers can be made to this point and frozen up to 1 minute. Thaw at room temperature about 20 minutes before proceeding.)

LINE 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick foil. Brush turnovers with more of the reserved juice and sprinkle well with cinnamon sugar. (You probably won't use all of the cinnamon sugar.)

ARRANGE on baking sheets and bake 20 to 26 minutes, until well-browned, switching and rotating sheets halfway through.

COOL slightly on a wire rack and serve warm or at room temperature.

Yield:8 servings.

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FLIP-OVER APPLE CAKE

Adapted from "Dishing Up Vermont, 145 Authentic Recipes From the Green Mountain State," by Tracey Medeiros (Storey, 2008). This is very similar to a pineapple upside down cake _ and it's simple to whip up.

˝ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for the pan

3 small to medium apples (about 1 pound), such as Golden Delicious or Jonagold

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar, divided

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 ˝ cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans

Whipped cream or ice cream for serving (optional)

PREHEAT oven to 350 degrees. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9-inch round cake pan with butter and set aside.

MELT ˝ cup butter in a small saucepan over medium heat or microwave 1 minute. Set aside to cool.

PEEL, core and cut the apples into Ľ-inch-thick wedges. Combine 1 tablespoon sugar and cinnamon in a bowl, add the apple slices and toss to coat.

ARRANGE the apple wedges in the pan in concentric circles, topping with a second layer.

WHISK the remaining sugar and flour together in a mixing bowl. Whisk in the egg and melted butter until just combined. (Make sure all the flour is mixed in, but don't overmix.) Fold in the walnuts or pecans and continue stirring until smooth. (The batter may be stiff). Spread the batter over the apples, smoothing the top.

BAKE until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

COOL in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the edge to loosen the cake. Place a plate on top and invert the pan. Remove the pan and replace any apple slides that are still in the pan.

SERVE warm or at room temperature, topped with whipped cream or ice cream if desired.

Yield: 1 (9-inch) cake, about 8 servings.

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BAKED APPLES

From "The River Cottage Family Cookbook," by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Fizz Carr (Ten Speed, 2008).

1 medium apple per person, such as Granny Smith, Golden Delicious or Jonagold

Butter

Light brown sugar

Cream

PREHEAT oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter an ovenproof dish that's large to hold all the apples in a single layer

CORE the apples all the way through. Use a vegetable peeler to take off a "belt" of peeling around the middle, but leave the rest of the peel on.

PLACE each apple in the dish and pour sugar into the hole in each right up to the top. Place a pat of butter on top of the sugar and place 1 tablespoon of water per apple in the dish.

BAKE for 30 minutes, or until the apples are puffy and tender when tested with a knife. Place each apple in a bowl and spoon the syrup from the baking dish around each. Top with a little cream and serve hot.

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CIDER APPLESAUCE

Adapted from "In Praise of Apples," by Mark Rosenstein (Lark Books, 1996). Applesauce is easy to make and you can make it as sweet (or not sweet) as you like.

8 to 10 medium apples, peeled (see note), cored and chopped

ľ to 1 ˝ cups fresh apple cider (or apple juice without added sugar)

1 to 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (optional)

˝ cup brown or white sugar, or to taste

1 to 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon, or to taste

PLACE the apples in a large saucepan or pot. Add ľ cup cider or apple juice. Bring to a simmer over medium heat.

REDUCE heat to medium-low and cook, stirring regularly, for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until apples are starting to fall apart. Add more cider or juice if the pan starts to get dry. Stir in sugar and cinnamon; add lemon juice if the apples seem bland.

REMOVE from heat and cool slightly. Process through a food mill or press through a colander, pushing on the apples with a wooden spoon. (If you peeled the apples, you can pulse in a food processor.) Taste; if the sauce needs more sugar or spices, return to the pot, stir in a little more and heat until sugar is dissolved.

COOL and refrigerate up to a week, or pack into freezer containers and freeze. Or process in sterilized pint jars in a boiling water canner for 15 minutes.

NOTE: You can peel the apples or leave the peel on for more color and flavor. If you press the cooked apples through a colander, the peels will be left behind. If you use a food mill, some of the peel may get ground up with the apples, but most will be left behind.

Yield: Makes 4 to 5 cups.

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© 2008, The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.).