Here's the word-association game my mind plays when I encounter crabapples: sour, tart, sour, tart, and did I mention sour? Which is why, at first glance, I avoided the Centennial crabapples at the Cedar Grove Orchard stand, despite a sign that read, "A taste treat -- try one." Co-owner Helen Bolstorff continued the sales job. "It's a good eating apple," she said, and while I was slightly skeptical -- come on, it's a crabapple, after all -- she was right. The flavor was slightly sweet and the bite was crisp and juicy, not at all what I was expecting from a small-scaled, golden-skinned fruit that's jinxed with a misleading name. (It was a huge hit on a cheese plate later that day at a friend's cabin.) Bolstorff and her husband, Doug, were busy selling an impressive early-season array of Beacons, State Fairs, Paula Reds and Zestars, picked the previous day at their orchard in Lansing, Minn., near Austin. Theirs is a true division of labor, Helen explained with a laugh. "I'm the apple seller," she said. "He's the apple picker. I let him do the hard work." The Bolstorffs' orchard counts 31 apple varieties from 1,500 trees on land that has been in Doug's family since the 1860s. The best seller? The upcoming Honeycrisps, by a mile, although I think that if someone dropped the "crab" and its negative connotations from the Centennial, which was developed by the University of Minnesota in the 1950s, it could be a contender.
RICK NELSON
Cedar Grove Orchard at the St. Paul Farmers Market, 290 E. 5th St., St. Paul, www.stpaulfarmersmarket.com. Open 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday. For a listing of this weekend's farmers market events, go to startribune.com/tabletalk. For a map of Twin Cities metro-area farmers markets, go to www.startribune.com/taste.
