Paula Red apples are an early-season apple with red-blushed skin over yellow-green, crisp white flesh, and a sprightly sweet-tart flavor with a faint hint of strawberry. They are among the first apples of the year, picked in late summer weeks before the main fall harvest. The variety began as a chance seedling found near McIntosh trees in Sparta, Michigan, where grower Louis Arends propagated it in 1960 and named it for his wife, Pauline. Eat them fresh while they are crisp, since Paula Reds soften sooner than storage apples, and cook the rest into applesauce, where they collapse into a smooth, rosy sauce that often needs no added sugar. They pair especially well with sharp cheddar, cinnamon, and pork.