I've Gots to Have My Honeycrisps!

It's a beautiful, beautiful autumn day here in Connecticut. A perfect day for picking apples and pumpkins. I got this great idea yesterday as I made chicken soup.

It turns out, everyone else in Connecticut had the same idea.

Lyman's was incredibly crowded today. So crowded they needed at least three or four cops to direct traffic around the Apple Barrel and the Corn Maze. (Photos coming soon of last week's trip to the Corn Maze, I promise!)

I knew that it was late in the season for apple picking, but I didn't count on many of the trees being picked clean. Well, there were plenty of apples near the tops of the trees, but I am only five feet tall, and that's not a good thing.

I managed to pick decent amounts of mitsu crispin and golden delicious apples for applesauce, but one particular variety eluded me, and I had to go to the Apple Barrel to purchase it.

The honeycrisp.

What is a honeycrisp apple, you ask? It's only the most delicious variety of apple ever created, EVER!!! According to the Lyman's website, honeycrisps are "honey-sweet and amazingly crisp! Developed in 1991." They are also "an excellent eating apple; good for sauce, baking, and pies. Excellent eating fresh out of hand; super-crisp."

Lyman's honeycrisp trees are still fairly new; in fact, they're still growing against stakes.

I knew that the pick your own honeycrisp wouldn't be available, but I saw a ten-pound bag when I was at the Apple Barrel last week, so I took my chances, weaved my way through the hundreds (yes, hundreds) of vehicles parked around the Apple Barrel, and went inside.

They were sold out of honeycrisps.

I wanted to cry.

One woman in line at the pick your own, however, said she saw honeycrisps at Stop and Shop for $2.49 a pound. Pricey, yes, but since honeycrisps are still a newish variety, there aren't that many trees in this part of the country just yet.

So once again, I took my chances and drove to Stop and Shop in Middletown to find this apple. I beelined towards the produce section. No honeycrisps in the totes! So I went to the bag your own area, and saw:

HONEY CRISP APPLES: $2.49/POUND

I dove right in and bought almost seven pounds. I didn't care how expensive it was!!! I was feeling like that little gremlin in the old commercials for Honey Comb cereal, only instead of saying, "I've gots to have my Honey Comb!" I was shrieking, "I've gots to have my honeycrisps!"

Words cannot describe the succulent, sweet, amazing flavor of a honeycrisp. It's very sweet, sugary, and the texture is ever so crisp and firm.

If you can find them in your area, get them before they're gone! They have a short growing season. You won't regret it!