Arkansas Black Apple

The other day while I was buying pumpkins I visited with the nice lady that was selling them and she pointed out to me the apples she had for sale.  To be honest they weren't the most beautiful apples I'd ever seen.  But I listened to her story.   She called it an Arkansas Blackjack apple.  They are rather small and she said they were good baking apples but not good for eating just yet.  She said that when they are good for eating they'll be very dark almost black in appearance.  She said they have a long shelf life after you've picked them.
Being an Arkansas person, I'd never heard of them so I asked her where these had come from.  She said Benton County.  They'd been around since the time of early settlers but a freeze killed them out around the 1940's.  She said that whole orchards of them died.  But a few years ago someone discovered one of these trees was still producing fruit so they propagated the tree and now they are sold locally.

Those of you who know me well, know I ran home and googled this apple. :)  It's just how I am.  And darned if her story wasn't true!  I figured it was, but I just love history and had to read about it for myself.

The internet calls these black apples.  And I'm not a big baker and rarely make cakes but I thought I should try these little apples out. So tonight I'm going to make an apple upside down cake.  Surely I can't screw that up!

Wish me luck!!!

P.S.  to read the article I read (if your a dork like me) follow this link:
http://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=2100