Cooking Vales Emerald potatoes by boiling has become disappointing.
The Vales Emerald grown in the garden cooked well when they were small and new. They remained firm and bright when boiled.
Vales Emerald are a cross between Maris Peer and Charlotte. Charlotte scores 4 on the waxy / floury scale, staying firm when cooked, making it an excellent salad potato. Charlotte can also be very successfully sauted and even roasted in its skin for a firm ‘roast’ potato. So it seems that Vales Emerald inherits the cooking qualites of Charlotte when young.
However, as the Vales Emerald grow older & bigger, these cooking qualities seem to disappear, and the potatoes break up when boiled, almost getting lost in the cooking water.
Has anyone else had problems cooking Vales Emerald potatoes?
The Bramley apple bicentenary is in 2009, because the first Bramley tree was grown from pips planted by a young girl, Mary Ann Brailsford, in her garden in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, England in about 1809.
Bramley-apples
In 1846 the local butcher, Matthew Bramley, bought the cottage and garden. In 1856 a local nurseryman, Henry Merryweather, was so impressed with the apples that he asked Mr Bramley if he could take cuttings from the tree and start to sell the apple. Bramley agreed, but insisted the apple should bear his name – hence ‘Bramley’s Seedling’.
Bramley-apple-harvest
Henry Merryweather’s book of accounts on 31 October 1862, records that he sold “three Bramley apples for 2/- to Mr Geo Cooper of Upton Hall”.
Click the link to read about the many events have been arranged to celebrate the Bramley Apple Bicentenary in 2009.
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Bramley Apple Week (3-10 February 2008) celebrates the Bramley Apple which is the best of all cooking apples.
Bramley apples:
- are only grown in Britain
- are versatile, used in savoury & sweet dishes
- retain their flavour throughout the cooking process
- produce a light, airy, moist texture, with a ‘melt in the mouth’ consistency
- count towards your five a day
The Bramley Apple site lists the Health Benefits of Bramley Apples:
powerful source of antioxidants, including polyphenols, flavonoids, and vitamin C, as well as a good source of fibre, and potassium.
high in fibre which reduces the risk of developing heart disease.
The antioxidant content of apples has been linked to the prevention of lung cancer, improved pulmonary (lung) function, and the prevention of type II diabetes.
The vitamin A helps maintain vision and keeps your immune system healthy. Iron prevents anaemia and potassium keeps up muscle function.
Apples contain flavonoids called quercetin, which has been shown in numerous studies to have anti-cancer properties.
Bramley apples are the best cooking apples because they produce a light, airy, moist texture when cooked and retain their flavour.
Comment:
I love apples! Obviously, we don’t have Bramleys here in the Annapolis Valley (the Apple Capital of Nova Scotia, if not the country), but we have Gravensteins (a Slowfood International Food now), Cox Orange Pippins, Russets, (these are two of my favourites) and of course a slew of others that are fairly well known: Gala, Honeycrisp (vastly overrated) Jonagold, Spigold, Golden and Red Delicious, McIntosh (ick!) among many, many others. I like apples with a real snap to them and lots of flavour; usually we have two or three different cultivars here in the house, since there are lots of fruit growers locally.
Comment by jodi – February 8, 2008 2:51 am
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apple-basket
It is time to pick Bramley apples before they are damaged by frosts and birds
or blown off the tree by strong winds.
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