Fried apples are an old timey breakfast treat. Back in Depression days before WWll, fresh oranges and bananas, for instance, were out of reach for most farm families. You made do with what you had. We usually had apples.

I remember picking apples the day before my daughter Elizabeth was born. I was up the ladder picking the nicest ones out of reach of those pickers on the ground. (What a sight that must have been.) I picked a bushel. It was a while before I was able to process them. A C-Section takes a lot out of you. I haven't been up an apple tree since then. I haven't delivered a baby since then, either.

My daughter Anne and I go out to eat about once a month. We have a few favorite places; Olive Garden and Cracker Barrel are two of them. After we order our entrees, Anne orders fried apples. I have told her that those fried apples come out of a #10 can already prepared. We can make the same thing at home, I tell her. No matter. She wants her fried apples every time we go to a sit-down restaurant.

Not any apple will do for fried apples. They must be a cooking apple with a sharp flavor to hold up during their preparation. We buy our apples at the Fruit and Berry Patch Orchard on McCloud Road in Halls. They have good cider, too. I usually get enough apples to dry for an Apple Stack Cake. I might make one during the winter, but usually give it as a gift for someone.

Have you ever canned apples? A firm tart cooking apple makes good canned apples. I use the canned apples to make apple pie during the winter. Sometimes I add it, diced, to my green tomato mincemeat. That makes a good pie, too.

I imagine that most cooks have a favorite Fried Apple recipe. You need to serve it shortly after making it, while it is still warm from the stove. That's when it tastes the best. Try mine and see what you think about it.

FRIED APPLES
4 large, tart, peeled and cored cooking apples sliced ½ inch thick, or
1 pint home canned apples, juice included
¼ cup butter (no margarine)
½ cup cold water
½ teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons or less of cornstarch
½ cup brown sugar
¼ teaspoon salt

In large skillet or saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add apples. Cook, stirring gently, until apples are almost tender, about 6 or 7 minutes. Add brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. (Bring home canned ones to a boil and add seasonings.) Dissolve cornstarch in cold water. Add to apples in skillet, stirring until of desired consistency. Boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and serve warm. Fried apples make a good topping for waffles or ice cream, too.