You know that stuff you drink in fall that's made of apples? What IS that stuff? Cider? Juice? What's the difference? Ah, welcome, my friend, to the wonderful and wacky world of history, the English language, and modern technology.
Every school child learns the romanticized story of Johnny Appleseed. Every adult (should) know the real story of Johnny Appleseed. That all those seeds he planted were for pressing cider, not eating fresh out-of-hand, and of course, that cider was the hard, alcoholic stuff.
So, back in the day, "cider" meant an alcoholic beverage (there's your truncated history). And in many countries of the world today (here's where the English language comes in), "cider" still means an alcoholic beverage. Which is why we get some mighty interesting questions from time to time from foreigners when they visit our stand and purchase our cider.
As summer begins to wind down, a local native fruit is only just beginning to show signs of ripening. You may not have ever heard of our somewhat obscure resident fruit tree, Asimina Triloba. It’s a fruit that goes by many names: Banango, Asimoya, Indian Banana, Poor Man’s Banana, Prairie Banana, Hoosier Banana, Hillbilly Mango, Quaker Delight, and (most commonly) Pawpaw.
You are in for a real treat as you discover (or re-discover) the Sansa apple. Don't let the smaller and unassuming appearance of this gem fool you. It is not commercially ‘pretty’, perhaps, with its non-solid pinkishyellowish/lightly russet-y color scheme, so remember the old adage, 'Don't judge a book by its cover'. Here at North Star, you are wise to do likewise with fruit appearance.
There may not be much more to be said about Gold Rush that you don’t know already, but we’ll give it a try with a bit of interesting apple history...
Just when you were thinking "Darn it, there's no fun holiday on the horizon until Halloween...", here's some great news: THIS SATURDAY (September 18th) is International Eat An Apple Day! Yes...it is a 
