Once upon a time for about five years, in another life I sometimes hardly believe I lived, my office was a car, and my place of work, a couple thousand square miles of Appalachia in portions of West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Imagine the joy a fall aficionado like me experienced driving daily through such eye-worthy terrain. I think my idea of home will always be set in a place with forested mountains that turn vivid colors in Autumn, valleys and hollers tucked between hills, and winding roads through green pastures and woods. I drove from stop to stop in such a place, plying my trade as a pharmaceutical sales representative.
Besides the rich daily beauty, particularly in fall, of that dear terrain, another gift that place gave me was apples. Many of the roads I traveled took me through the heart of West Virginia apple country. It was simple to stop and pick up a peck or more of fresh, crisp, perfect fall apples. Apples and me go back a long way. It’s hardly fall if I don’t eat and also pick those juicy-sweet joys of September and October.
I like ritual. I value a liturgy not just at church but in life. Moments and milestones, seasons and holidays accrue certain actions. Particular behaviors are associated with particular days like giving a gift on a birthday or hanging a wreath on the door in December. The actions give or maybe showcase a certain element of the season. All this lofty talk to include, with apples and leaves and fall displays, setting out a bowl of candy corn as one of my fall rituals. I don’t eat handfuls (it’s not exactly health food…though neither are the pretzels which these days I seldom purchase), but a candy dish full of the stuff is another part of what you have in Autumn.
I don’t remember how I concocted this tripartite Autumn taste treat. Each ingredient, an apple, a hard, thick sourdough pretzel, and some candy corn had to be in the same place at the same time for me to make this momentous discovery. Imagine me sitting in the car, my office, eating an apple from the bag full I’d just purchased from an orchard’s roadside stand. That first bite is so important, so suspenseful. Will this one be crisp enough? Will it be sweet? What if it’s mushy? I love tart, but not too sour, one that’s under ripe or picked too soon. Maybe one day, I didn’t finish my lunch, eating the sandwich and only half of the pretzel. And I’d been doling out the candy corn to make it last. It may be because of the large Mennonite and Amish communities near where we used to live, but chocolate covered pretzels were plentiful, sold everywhere. Maybe they inspired me to crunch a bite of pretzel and pop in a piece of candy corn. Being the apple guy I am, I chased it with a chomp of apple and a new dessert was born.
The combination of the three is a little like a bite of some creamy apple pie or maybe a mouthful of cobbler that the ice cream has melted into. The soft candy corn is the perfect foil for the crunchy pretzel, and the combination of sweet and salty is just right. The apple’s juice and flavor add just the right something to make this one of my favorite fall snacks. Their colors: earth brown, orange and yellow, and green/red also suit this season. You could set out a bowl of each at a fall or a Halloween party and it would look just right.
Christmas has its fruitcake and cookies, Thanksgiving its pumpkin pie, Valentines Day has chocolates and what’s the Fourth of July without a big cherry pie? I say, celebrate Autumn and October with this three-way delight: candy corn, pretzels and apples.
Post Script: I was about to call this essay finished when it dawned on me, lover of words I am, that this combo needs a name. I’m going to think it over and come up with a list of ideas of what to call this dessert. Feel free to suggest some yourself and add them in the Leave a Reply box (below).
