Since I was 2 years old, it has been a tradition for me to pluck the ripe apples off of the fruit trees at Kuipers Family Farm. At this point, I could become a professional apple picker with the amount of time I have spent in solitary at the apple orchard. Yes, I go with my brothers and parents, but throughout the time among the apples, we eventually drift to find our own path, our own apple row, leaving me in solitary to look up at the apples and the bright sun.

During these seasons (August-September), I would walk through the rows of apples: Honeycrisp, Fuji, Empire, Jonagold, and too many more to name. I have had years to taste test almost every apple in the orchard, gaining the knowledge of the texture, the crisp, and the taste of each apple in order to create a perfect ranking. Keep in mind, none of the apples ranked on this list consist of the disgusting soft texture of the apples they serve at school or Panera, so if that’s what your preference for apples are, this is no place for you. So without further ado, I present to you the top 5 apples served at Kuipers Family Farm:

5. Golden Delicious

Up first, coming in last place on the list (definitely not least), are the Golden Delicious Apples. These apples take after their name extremely well: they’re golden, and delicious. If you like apples that are less tart, this is the perfect apple for you. When ripe, they are extremely sweet and have comparatively little acidity. What makes it even better is the honey, sweet, pear-like aroma that can make almost anyone fall in love with any pie, salad, or sauce you make. Another benefit from these apples is that when making pies or sauces, you can add less sugar because of the natural sweetness!

Personally, Golden Delicious apples are decent for what they are, but if you are like me, I prefer the apples that are crisper, more tart, and are full of flavor.

4. Empire

Next up we have Empire apples. Developed at Cornell University, we know these apples must have some sort of excellency. From personal experience, these apples are best when eaten straight from the tree since they have the right combination of sweet and tart with a very crisp, creamy white flesh. With their beautiful deep red skin, they are extremely versatile and are perfect for apple pies in the fall. Definitely one of the ideal sizes to bring for school lunches.

3. Sweetango

SweeTango, also known as Minneiska, was developed through cross pollination research at the University of Minnesota. With parents of Honeycrisp and Zestar, the apple consists of a sweet apple taste with a slight touch of citrus, honey, and spice, and can ultimately make a delicious cider. Renowned for its strong flavor, Sweetango apples are perfect for cheese boards to make the perfect, most delicious, charcuterie board.

To me, these apples are one of my favorites to pluck off the trees and eat fresh, and can quintessentially satisfy any apple cravings.

2. Pink Lady

Let me say one thing: these apples are gorgeous. Glossy, red, and smooth. They almost blush on the tree. In my opinion, they have the best aftertaste, and what makes it even better, is that these apples have the slowest oxidation rate. Meaning, it takes them a while to turn that icky brown color. These apples also seem to have the longest life of them all: always the first to blossom and last to be harvested. They tend to fall towards the tart side on the apple scale, making them much more refreshing. 

1. Honeycrisp

And of course, the one everyone’s been waiting for, at number 1: the Honeycrisp apples! However, unfortunately, Kuipers took honeycrisp off of their apple picking menu since too many people would hound over them destroying the paths and trees in the process because they were just THAT GOOD. It’s just a known fact that honeycrisp apples are the number one because of their crisp, their flavor, and their juiciness. The flesh of the apple has the perfect crisp that isn’t too dense along with the ultimate flavor combination of sweetness and a trace of tartness.

These Honeycrisp apples are both a personal favorite and a worldwide favorite, and when dipped in caramel, this is what true perfection tastes like.

With over 7,000 apple varieties, choosing the top 5 was an extraneous task. So whether you’re searching the store for apples, trying to grow your own, or even better, actually at an apple orchard, keep these favorites in mind and you’ll be especially happy with your results.

The parrots wear goggles, the bats wear socks, and the lions only wear striped gloves- but were they really animals? Or were they humans? Or were they humans in animal form?

I truly don’t understand how I didn’t think these types of books were completely absurd as a child. There isn’t an exact number, but I was at that stage of life where I wasn’t able to read or talk in full sentences, yet I wasn’t completely incapacitated in the skill of reading individual words. Every night somewhere between kindergarten and second grade, my mom would sit my brother and I down in one of our rooms and just read. Any book we desired. It would be after brushing my teeth, when we were on the brink of sleep. My brother and I would each choose a short story- preferably one with pictures- and walk to the gray futon where I kept my stuffed animals, right at the foot of my bed. I would hand a book to my mom, and take my seat on the soft carpet next to her.

Normally, I would choose a typical bedtime story. “Are You My Mother,” “Stellaluna,” and “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” are among the honorary mentions. They were simple, straightforward, and easy for me to fall asleep to.

However, one night, I decided to dig a little deeper into my bookshelf. Explore a bit deeper. I fingered through the books one by one until I stumbled upon a certain book. Colorful, short, and full of pictures. Perfect. I ended up choosing a book of words and pictures of a variety of animals (most were pictures). Even today, the title of the book still eludes me, however, each page in the book would contain a cartoonist drawing of an animal, and next to it, a sentence or two with a catchy rhyme. Something like “one, two buckle my shoe” but with animals. Yet the animals were not just the regular lion, or tiger, or bear, this book contained these animals, but would include them with a clothing item or accessory.

Each time my mom flipped a page, I shouted a name. A name of a teacher, a camp counselor, a neighbor, anyone that came to mind when seeing that animal. Some comparisons made absolutely no sense, but as a 6 year old who could barely pronounce my “r’s,” I considered myself pretty talented.

Mr. Ben was a bear, Ms. Dana the hippo with glasses, and Mrs. T the giraffe. How I made these connections was pretty simple: Mr. Ben had as much hair as a bear on his arms, Ms. Dana had glasses, and Mrs. T was the tallest in preschool (she was the teacher).

Yet for me, I enjoyed this. I enjoyed sitting down, flipping through the pages, and shouting out names. I was delighted, knowing I was able to accomplish something so great. I loved to connect the unfamiliar characters to the people I knew in reality. It gave me a sense of accomplishment: “I can read!” or “I know who this is!” I was capable of thinking of someone every single time. And I was proud.

I was never very curious as a child, and at this age, I didn’t completely understand the concept of self-confidence or self-esteem. I was always uncomfortable meeting new people, talking to adults, and going to new places. I was the type of child to hide behind their parents when seeing a peer, even if I had known and been in the same class as them. I despised the unknown.

Regardless, as soon as my mom started to read, I started to make the animal connections. These connections helped me feel validated. Validated knowing that although I couldn’t read on my own, I still had some expertise to share with those around me. Validated knowing that every animal symbolized a person in my life. Validated that I could apply the book to reality. I was no longer in the unknown, I was in a recognizable place, and felt comfortable. Making the cartoonist animals a person in my life made me feel secure knowing that this new book wasn’t a complete stranger.

I wanted to feel this comfort, and books enabled this for me. This was the first book that introduced me to connecting the fantasy world with the world that I was familiar with. Even though books may be in some strange, new, society, if I was able to associate them with an important aspect of my life, I would not feel as lost in the unfamiliar world. That these books would automatically verify that the characters in these books weren’t complete strangers. They were someone- or something- I knew, just in a different form: as words on pages.