Yum! Apple pies and autumn splendour

Cooler evening temperatures, clear, crisp mornings and splendid leaf displays are all signals that autumn is here and the balmy days of summer are past. For some, one of the most memorable autumn activities is heading out to the local orchards. A favourite pastime of schoolchildren, families and apple-lovers, picking apples right off the tree is a Canadian rite of passage. Beginning in late August and continuing through to October, Canadian apple varieties ripen one after another for an abundance of great crunching and baking in waiting.

Apple season is also the time of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, a celebration of the start of the month of Tishrei in the Jewish lunar calendar. Rosh Hashanah traditions are rich and plentiful. One custom is to eat apples and honey, which symbolize the hope of a good and sweet New Year.

Interestingly, it always coincides with the ripening of early McIntosh apples -- their crisp tartness is a perfect foil for sweet honey.

In the Canadian Living Test Kitchen, apple season also signals pie-making season. For the past several years, we have been baking and donating apple pies to Pie In The Sky, a fund-raiser for the Toronto People with AIDS Foundation.

Local chefs, food writers, bakers and food celebrities donate their time and energy to make apple pies, which are auctioned off. The proceeds go to help men and women who are living with AIDS in the Greater Toronto area. Pies are sold the Friday before Thanksgiving to be enjoyed by many a diner.

Here in the Test Kitchen, early in the morning of pie-making day, volunteers from the magazine gather to peel apples. Then pie dough is rolled and an assembly line of pie-making begins. The scent of buttery pastry and caramelized juices fills the kitchen, and as the hours tick by, racks filled with golden sparkling pies fill our counters.

Ah, apple season, so much to look forward to.

So take a trip to the orchards, wade through a pile of crispy leaves, get out your apple recipes (or try ours below) and enjoy our Canadian splendour.

Recipes:
• Better-Than-Ever Apple Pie
• Maple Apple and Blueberry Crisp
• Apple Plum Raisin Strudel
• Apple Cinnamon Pizza