All Fruit, All the Time - Except for the Lollipops

Please to go over to DietsInReview - I have a kickin' article up on breakfast cereal (discussing how my mom was RIGHT all those years ago!)  childhood health, and there is a great wonderful giveaway for a grocery list makeover going on. Go on, click - I'll wait!

HoneyCrisp apples are available. Do you hear me, people - should I send you a text - HoneyCrisp apples are in stores now. I love, love love these apples - they are a hybrid and the best apples out there, I think. Every year I scour the stores, hunting for the precious fruits and hoarding them from the kids.

Yes, yes I hoard them from my kids. I'm a terrible person. I don't mind admitting it - at just shy of $3 a pound,I'm not giving up an apple that someone will eat a ring of flesh from the middle and toss on the floor. Yes, I rescue said apples and slice them up, and then they get eaten, but I find my kids to be happy with Pink Lady, McIntosh, Empire or Braeburn at half the price. Oddly enough, no one in my family likes the Red or Golden Delicious variety - the texture is too mealy and the flavor off. 

So I realized about ten days ago that it was finally time for my beloved apples - I'll eat two or three a day, sometimes - and I got busy with the phone, trying to locate a store that had them. I found them at a chi-chi grocery in my area and decided that after I'd brought the kids home from school, I'd make a trip. The store isn't close to my house, but it was easily accessible and I was leaving for New York in a few days, so I thought I'd be practical - read cheap - and toss a few apples in my bag to eat instead of buying a meal.

This upscale store is beautiful, and the food is displayed in such a stunning manner that one could spend hours and hours looking at the cheeses, the meats, the breads and the sumptuous chocolate and coffee displays. It's also not a store that fits in my daily budget. I coached my kids before we even went in,"Now, listen, guys - we are going for apples for Mommy. That's it. Don't ask for other things, we won't be getting them.This store is kind of expensive." Three pairs of eyes met mine, three heads nodded in solemn acceptance. I planned to be in the store just long enough to get my apples and get out.

We walked in and made a beeline for the apples. My kids were enchanted by the displays, and my new reader called out the names, Courtland! Pink Lady! Granny Smith! and then it started. My son gave me the puppy dog look and sighed. "I just love apples so much, Mom", he said. I know, he really does - he could eat as many apples as I can, several a day. We didn't have any at home, so I nodded and said, "Ok, you can pick two."

He whooped and shouted and got right down to the business of selecting just the right apple. My daughter pulled on my sleeve and whispered something I couldn't hear, and I leaned down. "I need an apple for school for Johnny Appleseed day," she told me, and I remembered the email for the event, scheduled while I was away. I nodded at her and, looking at my third, still mostly silent child, I said, "You can each pick two." Shouts of delight were heard, and I picked my apples in peace as they contemplated the many varieties offered and weighed the merits of each version. My fussy eater looked longingly at the oranges that she had just discovered were not, in fact, full of poison and said, "Mommy, when we go to a cheaper store, can we get oranges? They were so yummy at soccer." I sighed and said, "Pick two."

The huge hug I got made it - almost- worth it, and her sister gave me a pleading look, and I acquiesced. Ok. I had my apples, and they had, between the three of them, six apples and four oranges. We looked at the other fresh offerings, while my son tried to convince me that he has, indeed, eaten artichokes and loved them - which, no, he hasn't, since he never eats without me or a food that I've made him due to his allergies - and my girls professed love for butternut squash and broccoli. Correct on both accounts. They were so, so happy with their fruit choices and we talked for a minute about the different vitamins in different foods and why fruits and vegetables are so good for a person. We made a mental shopping list of fresh produce that we'd buy on our next trip.

As we walked off, an older woman tapped me on the shoulder and I turned to speak with her. "I've been watching you with your kids, and I just wanted to tell you that I think you are amazing. So patient with your kids, and I loved listening to you talk to them as if they were adults. And I was so happy to see how much they love fruit and vegetables. So nice to see, when most kids are eating their weight in sugar." Embarrassed but proud, I stuttered my thanks and looked for my kids...

who were found in front of the giant, head-sized lollipops on display, arguing bitterly over who was going to get which one.

Oh well, feeling like a good parent was fun while it lasted.

Comments

[amy]

Carmen
Check out Gould Farm in Contoocook NH on Facebook.....I don't know if they ship or not but I bought a peck of perfect honey crisp last week! Delicious! Thought of you when I saw them because we share the love ;)

[Headless Mom]

You ARE amazing. Don't doubt it for a minute!

[Brandy]

I've never heard of Honey crisp apples before. I'll have to give them a trial. My kids love apples, too. But my Daughter prefers Granny Smith and my Son gala, which are my favorites as well.
And you ARE a good Mom, never doubt it!

[Jessica]

Yes you and your family are amazing!! That sure goes a long way!

[Jennifer I.]

oh, those are my favorite too! The fancy grocery store across from my house sells them too and I jump for joy when I see them!
They are totally worth it!

[KG]

Is this store at Hilltop perchance? I just need to try one in person before I order a bushel online... lol

[Bobbie]

I so miss biting into a fresh apple! Unfortunately I've developed an allergy to most raw fruit and veggies (apples, peaches, carrots). My hands break out just peeling potatoes.

I'll have to make myself an apple pie!

[Debby Pucci]

I'm going to have to try the Honey Crisp.
I usually get Granny Smiths. I do need to get to the store and get some fruit in this house! Wish I wasn't so lazy!!!

[Lisa @ All That and a Box of Rocks]

Well, it felt good while it lasted, right?!?!

So, how do these Honey crisp apples compare to a Braeburn or a Gala? Since I discovered these versions (over Granny Smith and Red Del) I am a huge apple fan!

[Pam]

I love honeycrisp too and I think I first ever heard about them on your site. So, thanks!

We are huge Gala fans. Honey crisp are even sweeter (I think) than those, which are pretty sweet and honey crisp are more crisp than Galas. I would liken it to a sweeter version of a Fuji apple, which I always thought were pretty crisp. Having grown up on Red Delicious and HATING apples, I couldn't believe it when my husband introduced me to Fuji and Gala. I didn't know an apple could be so good. Red delicious are "mealy". Yuck!

Our local Kroger gets honey crisp in but they are expensive, so I only buy a couple and enjoy it! Enjoy! Some things are worth splurging on once or twice a year!

[Megan]

I was thinking as I read this how wonderful it is that your kids love fruits and veggies. Even if they did also go for the lollipops. I really like fruit, especially good apples, but I cannot imagine getting as excited about them as I do about, say, pizza from the really good local place.

I also have to confess that I tried honey crisp apples a couple of weeks ago. I saw them at Kroger, and I actually remembered you writing before about how good they were. And I was, um, not that impressed. They were good, but I still like Fuji better, especially local Fuji. But maybe I got them a little too early in the season.

[Crisanne]

Should you have the opportunity to go to a pick your own apple place-there are tons in VA, but don't know how close to you-it will give you a whole new opinion of red delicious. They don't even look the same and those nasty ones in the stores.

[Mama Cas]

Hey...you have to take and savor those "Mommy of the Year" moments whenever you can get them (and no matter how briefly they last). Go ahead and pat yourself on the back!

My son (probably around 2 at the time) threw a total fit in the store once because I tried to tell him he couldn't eat the bananas until AFTER I had paid for them. I gave in and just had the cashier weigh one banana twice.

[MJ]

Carmen

You'll just have to come visit me in Minnesota! We are the brilliant state that developed the honeycrisp -- okay okay it really was the university of minnesota lol! I bet they are cheaper here though, I havent looked lately!

Enjoy your apples!

[Janelle]

I live in Minnesota too. I just bought a bag of Honey Crisp for $1.49 a pound. Getting them cheaper is a small bonus for putting up with this cold weather! :) They are the best apples ever. I hope you enjoy yours!

[kyooty]

I love me Apples, but my new "treat" is nectarines from Ontario! oh they are YUMMY! Great parenting

[Heidibide]

Please stop telling people about my beloved Honeycrisps...... if everyone knows about their wonderful deliciosity, there won't be enough for meeeeeeee!

[Clarity]

I just discovered the pure WONDERFULNESS of Honeycrisps (sounds like a cereal doesn't it?) yesterday at an apple tasting for my 1st graders class, and OMG, why has no one told me this before? I don't even LIKE apples and I ate and ate until the teacher politely took my plate away before I got sick. I'm officially on the prowl for more now, and unless the price is in gold bullion I'm buying the biggest bag I can find. YUM!!!

[Michele D]

Oh thank you Carmen! You got me hooked on Honeycrisps last year. And now they are back! Woo! I will have to make a special trip to the grocery store tomorrow. YUM!

My kids love the way fruits and veggies look and could look at them all the time, but when it comes to eating them...well now. They aren't bad, but they are far from great veggie eaters.
But they better keep their mitts off MY honeycrisps. Humph.