I was listening to an interview with Danny Meyer, famed restaurateur from St. Louis, discussing the inspiration for his menus. He said that the farmer’s market tells us what we need to cook—and will for as long as we have changing seasons.
Well, October is a month when this fruit is at its peak season. They’re in abundance, and they happen to be Halloween’s favorite fruit. It’s apple season!
Yes, pumpkins get a lot of love and recognition during Halloween, but the apple is at the core of numerous Halloween traditions. Halloween’s origin dates to the ancient Celtic festival of Sahmhain (sow-in), in what is now Ireland and Scotland, where they celebrated the new year on November 1, marking the end of summer and the harvest.
On October 31, the night before the new year, they believed that the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred, and the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. But there were no pumpkins there. They were not around until the 16th century at the earliest and not actually in use until the 19th century. Apples, however, were everywhere.
Originally from Central Asia, apples have many names and varieties – about 7,500 varieties - with Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Honey Crisp, and McIntosh among the most popular in North America.
In 1800s Ireland, Halloween was known as "Snap Apple Night,” which refers to a game played at Halloween parties. I think the game went something like this: there was a stick with an apple at one end and a burning candle at the other. The stick was hung on a string from the ceiling and then let go. As the spinning stick came down, the goal was to catch and remove the apple with only your mouth—no hands allowed—without getting burned by the candle and hot wax.
During the 20th century, Halloween celebrations of the apple became safer, thank goodness, and bobbing for apples became popular—that’s where you try to remove one of the floating apples from a large tub filled with water with only your mouth and, again, no hands allowed.
That century also brought us apple cider, a popular Halloween drink. Served cold or warm, cider is associated with casual foods like doughnuts and popcorn, as well as bonfires and hayrides.
Somewhere along the way, candied and caramel apples became Halloween classics and trick-or-treaters' delights. Candied apples, whole apples covered in a sugar candy coating, and caramel apples, created in the 1950s by a Kraft Foods employee who melted leftover Halloween caramels and used them to dip apples, became popular at parties and for trick-or-treaters.
By the way, the Halloween tradition of trick-or-treating dates to the early All Souls’ Day parades in England where poor citizens would beg for food and families would give them pastries called “soul cakes” in return for their promise to pray for the family’s dead relatives and not perform tricks on the family. The practice was called “going a-souling.”
So, how are you having an apple? Apple sauce? Apple butter? Overnight oats with apples? Apples with pork chops or sausages? Are you having it in a pie or simply enjoying each bite of your favorite variety? Are you scenting your home with the smell of apples and spices to welcome in fall and Halloween?
Apparently, there is something to the "apple a day keeps the doctor away" saying. They’re a good source of fiber and antioxidants, which may reduce the risk of chronic diseases, and they contain vitamin K and magnesium and improve brain health. So, there’s that.
I’m having an apple donut with a pumpkin spiced latte for breakfast. Sounds like the perfect combination, doesn’t it?
Happy Apple Halloween!
