Pink Lady®: Tangy, Tart, And Titillating

by Judy Sobeloff, from the September 2003 newsletter

Q. Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest apple of them all?
A. Hint: It’s not Granny Smith.

I had a housemate in college, a runner named Stu, who ate five apples a day: core, stem, seeds, and all. But I’m just not that way, so a few months back when Sara in the produce department said, “Pssst! Wanna try a great new apple?” I was skeptical. I took one look at the Pink Lady’s® (yes, this is a registered brand) almost surreal magenta blush, though—just one look, as the Hollies used to sing, that’s all it took—and I was hooked. I found the Pink Lady not only pinker but tarter-sweeter-juicier than the average apple, a sort of spunky Über apple.

Turns out Sara and I aren’t the only ones who feel this way. A Web search revealed Pink Lady fan clubs in both the U.K. and U.S., offering recipes of the month, promotions, crop information, nutrition facts, even a male model contest. When I clicked on the U.K. site and saw women in tight T-shirts, and a heart-shaped logo, I wondered whether I was in the wrong place, and tried to remember if “pink lady” was a euphemism for anything. But no. The Pink Lady promoters, as they call themselves, want to pitch their apple’s image this way, declaring right up front that “Pink Lady apples mean Fun, Fitness, and Flirtation!” They appear to be a fiercely loyal lot, and any of us who feels so called is invited to join them. In the U.K. they’ve raised money for breast cancer awareness; in the U.S. they state that “if a club member can’t find Pink Lady® apples in the supermarket, it will be beneficial if they seek out the produce manager with a request to make them available.”

Developed almost 30 years ago in Western Australia, Pink Lady® apples are relatively new to the U.S. One of hundreds of crosses between Golden Delicious and Lady William apples, the Pink Lady® has a longer growing season than other apples, its distinctive blush caused by its longer exposure to the sun. Interestingly enough, once picked, the Pink Lady’s flavor depends on near-constant refrigeration.

Despite hearing again and again that the Pink Lady® makes the best apple pies, I decided to make the U.K. Web site recipe from March: Chicken Curry (but without the chicken).

Fred, my husband, found the Pink Lady® vegetable curry “super good.” He mused, “It makes a difference having a good apple…It’s funny—you’d have thought the apple would be buried in the spice, but you can really taste it.”

The leftover curry was great cold, too. My 17-month-old daughter, Jonna, gobbled it up along with the leftover cold rice. She chewed matter-of-factly, apparently indifferent to the fact that this was her first brush with curry. I scanned her face for her reaction to the curry-coated Pink Lady® in particular, but she continued to chew doggedly, remaining inscrutable. Finally, able to bear the suspense no longer, I asked, “Jonna, do you like the apple?”

She repeated the word “apple” several times, but when pressed to be more specific, she looked out the window and said, “Bird.” The best indication of her deeper feelings came moments later, when she examined her now orange-stained fingers and said, “More.”

I gave her a few spoonfuls more, as much as she wanted. I looked out the window at the bird. I knew that if we sat there with our curry long enough we’d get to see a squirrel, one of the best treats of all.

Pink Lady® Apple Easy Vegetable Curry (Adapted from the Pink Lady U.K. Web site)

1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 red onion, peeled and chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 zucchini, sliced
1 large Pink Lady apple, cored and roughly chopped
8 Tbsp. prepared mild curry paste, such as Patak’s
8 oz. tomato juice
7 oz coconut milk
2 Tbsp. freshly chopped coriander, if available

OPTIONAL GARNISH: toasted almond flakes, sprigs of coriander. Can also be served with a mixture of: 1 Tbsp. chopped coriander; 1 Tbsp. finely chopped mint; 1 cup plain yogurt; 1 Pink Lady apple, cored and chopped.

1. If you want to serve this with rice, start the rice cooking first.
2. Heat the oil in a large pan, then sauté the onion for 5 minutes until softened. Add green pepper and zucchini and continue to sauté another 3-4 minutes.
3. Add the chopped apples, curry paste, tomato juice, and coconut milk. Bring to a boil, stirring.
4. Simmer gently for 10 minutes, covered.
5. Stir in coriander and optional almonds, if desired, and serve immediately with rice and optional yogurt mixture.

REFERENCES
http://www.pinkladyapples.co.uk/
http://www.pinkladyusa.com/pinkconsum.htm

Copyright: Copyright on articles, recipes and images are jointly held by the Moscow Food Co-op and the respective contributors, except were otherwise noted.

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