Only a half dozen vendors braved the torrential weather at last Saturday’s market in Portsmouth, and one of them was the apple guy. Mark Hiza of Nottingham Orchards was peddling McIntosh, Cortland and Winesap Apples, just three of the seven varieties he and wife Katy grow in their orchard.

A chemistry and physics professor at Phillips Exeter Academy, Hiza says that an apple orchard wasn’t on the list of prerequisites when he and Katy were house hunting seven years ago. “We knew we wanted an old house with a barn and some land,” he says. They managed to find what they were looking for, plus an orchard. The current owners had been running it for 25 or 30 years as just a small operation with a farm stand and a cider press, and the Hizas decided to continue the tradition.

Although they’re not able to offer cider at the farmers’ market (what they make sells out at the farm stand), Mark was offering plenty of helpful and fun information to go along with the apples he was selling.

He’ll tell you which apples are best for baking, which are best for sauce, and which are best for just eating out of hand. This week’s winner for best baking apple was the Cortland—Hiza says it’s firm enough to hold its shape when sliced up and baked in a pie, though still plenty delicious to eat out of hand—while the Winesaps and Macouns are better for eating out of hand or for cooking down into sauce.

Customers asking for McIntosh apples were disappointed to find out that they have already come and gone—they are the first to arrive, says Hiza—but pleased to learn that there are three more varieties on the way. The Winesaps and Macouns will still be available for the next week or two, followed by Red Delicious (these will be nothing like the mealy, mushy Red Delicious apples of grocery store infamy), Baldwin (a rare, old apple that is great for baking or for cider and stores particularly well), and Northern Spy (a crisp, juicy, all-purpose apple).

Regardless of the variety, my advice is to run, don’t walk, to the nearest farm stand or market and get them while you can. These locally grown apples are indescribably delicious, so fresh that they snap when you bite in, oh-so-juicy and full of flavor.

Buy plenty to keep in the fridge for snacking, but don’t forget to make a pie or a crisp, too. Crisps are great for those who want to forgo the dreaded pie crust, which seems to be the bane of many a home cook’s existence, though really they’re not so difficult. Below are recipes for both apple pie and apple crisp. The filling for the pie calls for twice as much sugar as the crisp, which has plenty of sugar in the topping, but for both recipes, use your own discretion and use more or less sugar, as desired. The filling for the pie also calls for more flour because a crisp, which has no bottom crust, can be a bit more juicy on the bottom.

apple crisp
yield: about 9 servings

for the topping:
1 cup flour
1 cup brown sugar
pinch salt
pinch cinnamon
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1/2 cup rolled oats

for the filling:
10-12 assorted baking apples (Cortland, Baldwin, Northern Spy, etc.)
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-inch-square baking dish. In the workbowl of a food processor, combine1 cup flour, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon. Pulse the mixture until well combined. Add the butter and pulse once or twice, for only a second at a time, until the mixture is crumbly and chunky. Add the oatmeal and pulse just to combine. The mixture should remain crumbly and chunky. Set aside.
Peel, core and slice the apples, making sure to snack on a few of the slices as you work. Toss the slices in a bowl with the sugar and flour. Transfer to the prepared baking dish. Cover evenly with topping and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until bubbly and crisp.  While still warm, scoop into serving dishes and serve with ice cream or whipped cream.

apple pie
yield: about 8 servings

for the crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
12 Tbsp. (1 1/2 sticks) cold butter, cut into pea-sized chunks
½ cup very cold water

for the filling:
8-10 assorted baking apples (Cortland, Baldwin, Northern Spy, etc.)
1/4 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. flour
pinch cinnamon
2 Tbsp. butter, cut into pea-sized chunks

for assembly:
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 egg, whisked with 1 Tbsp. water to form an egg wash

In the workbowl of a food processor, combine 2 cups flour and the salt. Pulse to combine. Add 12 Tbsp. butter and pulse a couple of times, for only a second at a time, until the mixture is grainy and crumbly. The butter should be pretty evenly distributed, with a few pea-sized chunks remaining. The flour should have a bit of a greasy feel, but should still be fairly fluffy. It should not feel packed down or compressed.

Add the water and pulse the mixture once or twice, until it starts to come together but is still a bit crumbly. Remove to a work surface and, using the palms of your hands, press the mixture into a ball. Knead the dough like bread dough, but don’t knead so much that it is completely smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour before continuing with recipe.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Peel, core and slice the apples. Toss the slices in a bowl with 1/4 cup sugar, 3 Tbsp. flour and cinnamon. Set aside.

Divide the dough into two pieces, one slightly bigger than the other. Roll the bigger piece 1/4-inch thick, into a circle big enough to cover the bottom of a 9-inch pie pan. Roll the smaller piece 1/4-inch thick into a circle big enough to cover the pie. Fill the bottom crust with the prepared filling. Sprinkle the 2 Tbsp. of cubed butter over the filling. Brush edges of the bottom crust with egg wash. Place top crust over the filling and press down all around the edge of the pie. Fold any overhanging dough under and crimp the edges. Brush the pie with egg wash and sprinkle with 2 Tbsp. sugar. Using a pairing knife, slash several small vents in the top crust.

Place in preheated oven and bake for 1 hour, or until golden brown. Look for a little bubbling through the vents. Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream.