All these comments have been interesting and a couple of old apple varieties mentioned that I hadn't heard of in years - Empire for one. However here on the west coast of Canada I'm fortunate to have three apple trees - a Gravenstein, a Spartan and a winter apple whose name is lost but whose apples are VERY hard and go off to be made into cider! The gravenstein is an old early variety and makes wonderful applesauce and delicious pies although it does get mushy. Spartans are a cross between a Macintosh and Red Delicious and are good for everything. Very crisp and juicy right off the tree. Lucky us! I use either for pies with a lard pastry and we enjoy them, mushy or not! Thanks for all the excellent apple pie info.

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