Fall's changing colours mean its apple season. Celebrate by heading to your local orchard to pick your own or stop by the grocery store to stock up.

According to The Best Way to Store Apples, the fruit like to be stored in a cold area, so the fridge is an okay spot for them to stay if you have the room in your crisper. However, you can also store apples (alone, they don't do well with other produce) in your cold cellar, basement or even porch. Apples freeze at a slowly lower temperature than water, so it's okay to store them in an unheated place. Key to apple storage is humidity, if they're stored in an area that's too dry, they will wrinkle.

What to Cook:

Apples don't have to just mean pie. Try an appetizer like Caramelized Onion-Apple Bites or Cheddar, Apple and Pancetta Wrapped in Puff Pastry.

Main dishes could include Chicken Calvados or Pork Tenderloin with Caramelized Apple.

Dessert is where apples truly shine. Serve up flaky and crispy Apple Walnut Palmiers to British chef Gordon Ramsey's recipe for Calvados-Glazed Apples. Or try Apple Cake with Coffee Glaze or a harvest time dessert from Peller Estates, a Plum, Apple & Mint Upside Down Tart.

Don't forget breakfast either! These Mini Apple Spiced Glazed Donuts are crave-worthy.

What to Drink:

Apples make for tasty drinks — and we're not just talking about juice boxes. According to the Association of Canadian Distillers, sales of hard cider grew by 55% to 22 million litres since 2005. There are plenty of local cideries to choose from in Canada. Some favourites are County Cider Company and Estate Winery and Thornbury Cider in Ontario, Merridale Estate Cidery and Tree Brewing Company in British Columbia and Cidrerie St-Nicolas in Quebec. Domaine Pinnacle and La Face Cachée de la Pomme are also popular choice for their remarkable ice cider.

There are also many people who make apple-based fruit wines to great success, including Archibald Orchards and Estate Winery and Sunnybrook Farm Estate Winery in Ontario and Forbidden Fruit Winery and Spiller Estate Winery in British Columbia.

If apple cocktails are more your thing, check out a Harvest Icebreaker. It's an appley cocktail made with vodka and apple cider. Or if you're serving a crowd, Honey Crisp Apple Sangria is perfect for autumnal entertaining.

Finally, Calvados may be the king of apple brandies, but Canada is making apple brandy of its own. Read more about these intoxicating beverages, complete with tasting notes.

Lead photo by bee-side(s)