New England Apples

Hill Orchards, Johnston, Rhode Island (photographs by Russell Steven Powell)

Rocky Brook Orchard, Middletown, Rhode Island

IT IS APPLE BLOSSOM TIME in New England’s orchards. The bloom is about on schedule for a typical year, with varieties like McIntosh in full bloom in some places, especially in southern areas like Rhode Island, where most of these photographs were taken yesterday.

Growers are cautiously optimistic after getting through early spring without an extreme weather event like last year’s March heat wave, which left the fragile blossoms vulnerable to damage from frost and resulted in a smaller crop.

Pippin Apple Orchard, Cranston, Rhode Island

New England’s orchards produced about 30 percent fewer apples than normal in 2012, yet fared well compared to the rest of the Northeast. Michigan, the third-largest apple growing state behind New York and Washington, suffered historic losses, with frost damage destroying more than 80 percent of the crop. New York lost about half of its usual crop.

Most years consumers can purchase New England apples throughout the year, but this spring local apples are scarcer than usual. But Appleland Orchard in Greenville, Rhode Island, was packing giant, crisp Mutsus yesterday, so 2012 New England apples are still available in some places.

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Barden Family Orchard, North Scituate, Rhode Island

Elwood Orchard, Glocester, Rhode Island

The USDA released a report earlier this month about the threat to our honeybee population, which has been in decline since the 1980s. The situation has worsened considerably since 2006, when what eventually came to be known as Colony Collapse Disorder was first reported by beekeepers. Hives were suddenly abandoned except for a live queen (and sometimes honey and immature brood). Beekeepers in 36 states in the United States and parts of Europe, Brazil, and India soon were affected, experiencing losses of up to 90 percent of their hives.

Bee pollination is responsible for $30 billion in added value for crops like almonds and other nuts, berries, fruits, and vegetables, according to a May 2 article about the USDA study by Seth Borenstein of the Associated Press. Yet the number of managed honeybee colonies has dropped from five million in the 1940s to about half that amount today, even though the need continues to climb.

The USDA report lists a number of factors impacting honeybee health, though none stand out as a single cause of the decline. Virulent pathogens and pests like varroa and tracheal mites top the list. Frequent and extensive travel, and increased exposure to other bees (and the diseases they might be carrying) may be contributing factors.

In many parts of the country, notably California’s vast almond orchards, monoculture has stripped the environment of a year-round food source for bees, and some pesticides may be having negative effects on honeybees.

New England’s diverse flora in and around the apple orchard may be a hedge against honeybee stress and encourage the native bee population. Growers are also experimenting with other pollinators like native bumble and blue orchard bees, and Japanese orchard bees, which have been used to pollinate orchards in Japan for more than 50 years. More than 100 species of wild bees visit United States apple orchards.

To learn more about the critical role honeybees play in pollinating the apple crop, view the short video program below.

Appleland Orchard, Greenville, Rhode Island

Rocky Brook Orchard, Middletown, Rhode Island

Foppema’s Farm, Sutton, Massachusetts

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WE ARE ALWAYS INTERESTED in books about apples, and four titles published between 1993 and 2012 have recently come our way:

A Basket of Apples (Harmony Books, 1993) by Val Archer is a worthy addition to our collection for the author’s watercolor illustrations alone. Every page and every recipe is accompanied by a beautiful painting, and there is a section with thumbnail images of dozens of apple varieties. The book has a distinctly English flavor (Archer is a native and studied at the Royal College of Art). We have yet to try her recipes, so we cannot vouch for them, but there are some intriguing titles like “Apple and Stilton Strudel” and “Wilted Spinach Salad with Apple and Feta,” plus standards like apple pie and muffins.

Apples (Applewood Books, 2009) is chock full of apple images in painting, photography, and advertising. It is a picture book that provides a good overview of how apples have been grown and sold over the past century. A small, thin volume, it is entertaining through a combination of nostalgia and contemporary images.

Apples, Apples and More (Ineda Publishing, third edition, 2006) by McGarvey Summers is at the other end of the spectrum from Apples: a no-frills cookbook without illustration. The book opens with this warning: “These recipes are not low fat, low sugar, or low carbohydrate!! They were put together by old-timey cooks and bakers for enjoyment! They are not for those on a diet, or for those who don’t like good food.”

Despite this, honey replaces or reduces white sugar in many of the recipes, and a number of recipes include healthy ingredients like whole wheat flour. Some of the recipes are simple to prepare with processed foods among the ingredients, and there are some not-so-subtle advertisements for certain brands. But there are some interesting choices, too. Recipes that caught our eye include “Apple Rhubarb Pie,” “Baked Apple Charlotte,” “Cranberry Apple Cobbler,” and “Applesauce Pudding.”

John P. Bunker’s self-published Not Far From the Tree: A Brief History of the Apples and the Orchards of Palermo, Maine (third printing, 2012) contains a wealth of information about heirlooms and apple growing, lavishly illustrated with black-and-white drawings, many by the author. While his jumping off point is narrow, as the title suggests, and there is lots of local history, Bunker covers a lot of ground in his detailed, first-person descriptions of varieties and horticulture. Bunker’s interest in apples extends more than three decades as a founder of Fedco Trees, a source for many heirloom apple varieties.

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A FIFTH BOOK CELEBRATING APPLES was previously known to us, but deserves special mention as it celebrates its 35th anniversary in 2013. The Apple Orchard Cookbook (Countryman Press, second edition, 2010) by Janet M. Christensen and Betty Bergman Levin resulted from an apple-cooking contest held on WCVB-TV’s former “Good Day!” program, which Levin wrote and produced. She suggested that a proposed cooking contest feature apples because of their accessibility, affordability, and, she says, “their extraordinary versatility and delectable taste!”

Three recipes were chosen from each New England state. The top selection from each state held a “cook-off” on the air in the studio “where I was able to get an oven manufacturer to provide six ovens and get them to the studio,” says Levin.

One recipe that Christensen and Levin included in the book’s second edition was from a cousin of Levin’s from South Africa, who made and served it at her grandson’s Bar Mitzvah. “It’s a recipe I’ve never seen elsewhere and was surprisingly good when I tasted it,” Levin says.

Julia’s Danish Herring

1 12 oz. jar marinated herring with onions

1/4 c vegetable oil

1/4 c tomato paste

1/2 c chopped apple (tart like Granny Smith or Rhode Island Greening)

1/4 c brown sugar

Cut herring into 1/2-inch squares or bits. Mix all ingredients. Refrigerate for 24 hours. Serve with crisp crackers or round of rye or pumpernickel bread.

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OF COURSE, when it comes to apple books, there is also America’s Apple (Brook Hollow Press, 2012) by Russell Steven Powell (with photographs by Bar Lois Weeks), a comprehensive book about apple growing in the United States, with nearly 50 full-color photographs and a photographic index of 120 varieties grown in America. America’s Apple includes chapters on heirlooms and cooking with apples, as well as such topics as horticulture, food safety, and John Chapman, aka Johnny Appleseed.

Russell will be a guest on the radio program “What’s Cooking with Luca Paris” this Thursday, February 21, from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m., to talk about cooking with apples.

The program will air on WKBK 104.1 FM, or 1290 AM. Those of you beyond the listening area can tune in online, as the program will stream live on wkbkradio.com.

Host Gianluca “Luca” Paris is the owner and chef at Luca’s Mediterranean Café, The Market at Luca’s, and Culinary Journey Productions, in Keene, New Hampshire.

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 TO LEARN MORE about New England apples, visit our website, New England Apples.

AMERICA’S APPLE provides an in-depth look at how apples are grown, eaten, and marketed in America. Author Russell Steven Powell served as executive director of the New England Apple Association from 1996 to 2011.

1: Sex and graft (the art of growing apples)

2: The real John Chapman (aka Johnny Appleseed)

3: In search of heirlooms (and other apples)

4: A multitude of flavors

5: A multitude of juices

6: How safe are our apples?

7: The attack of the leaf-rollers (and other orchard plagues)

8: Who will pick our apples?

9: The race for the next Super Apple

10: Apple futures

America’s Apple features nearly 50 full-color photographs by Bar Lois Weeks, plus an illustrated index of 120 apple varieties grown in the United States.

$45.95

Available online at Silver Street Media and Amazon.com. For quantity discounts, email americasapple@comcast.net.

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THE 2013 NEW ENGLAND APPLES WALL CALENDAR has more beautiful images from the region’s orchards by Russell Powell and Bar Lois Weeks.  A different apple variety is pictured and described each month, and the calendar has listings for orchards throughout the six New England states.

$14.95 (price includes shipping)

To purchase a calendar, email quantity and mailing address to brookhollowpress@comcast.net.

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FRESH APPLES AND APPLE PRODUCTS  from New England’s orchards are a treat to receive at any time of year, and many of the region’s orchards have gift packs that can be shipped anywhere. Visit New England orchards for detailed listings and links to the best New England has to offer!

A sampling of pies at the 3rd Great New England Apple Pie Contest

MORE THAN 60 pies from around New England graced the tables at the 3rd Annual Great New England Pie Contest on Saturday, October 20, at the 29th Annual AppleFest at Mount Wachusett in Princeton, Massachusetts. Both winners, Patricia Kuhn Bonita of Winthrop, Massachusetts, in the “Apple Only” category, and Denise Gokey of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, in the “Apple and Other” category, featured multiple varieties of apples in their pies, but both included Cortland and Honeycrisp.

Judges were “Wachusett Pie Taster” Burt Gendron; Rick Leblanc, director of marketing for Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources; Rick Patrick, assistant director of Wachusett Mountain Ski School; Russell Steven Powell, author of America’s Apple; chef Juan Sebastian of Puerta Vallarta, Mexico, and Red Apple Farm; and Bar Weeks, executive director of New England Apple Association.

Pies were rated on the basis of flavor, texture, crust, appearance, and presentation. It was the second straight year that Cortlands were used in both winning pies.

Here are the winning pie recipes:

Patricia Kuhn Bonita’s Apple Pie

Crust

1 c flour

1/4 t salt

5 T butter

2/3 c shortening

6-8 T water

1 T sugar

Filling

7 New England apples — McIntosh, Cortland, Honeycrisp, Granny Smith

3 T butter

1/2 c brown sugar

1/2 c sugar

3-1/2 T flour

1/2 t cinnamon

1/4 t nutmeg

1 T lemon

Denise’s Crunchy Caramel Apple Pie

Pastry crust for a 10-inch pie

Filling

1/2 c sugar

3 T cinnamon

dash nutmeg

1/8 t salt

6 c sliced New England apples (3 Honeycrisp, 2 Cortland, and 2 Golden Delicious)

In large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients. Add apples and toss to coat. Transfer apples to pie crust. Set aside.

Crumb topping

1 c packed brown sugar

1/2 c flour

1/2 c quick cooking oats

1/2 c butter

1/2 c chopped pecans

1/4 c caramel topping

Stir together brown sugar, flour, and oats. Cut in butter with pastry knife until mixture resembles coarse crumbs (sometimes I have to mix with my hands a bit). Sprinkle crumb topping over apples.

Place pie on a cookie sheet to keep your oven clean. Cover crust edges with foil. Bake 25 minutes. Remove foil and continue baking 25-30 minutes, or until apples are soft when pricked with a fork.

Remove from oven. Sprinkle with pecans and caramel topping. Cool on a wire rack, serve warm or at room temperature. Either way is delicious!

I have been making this pie for years, and it is always requested by my family during apple harvest!

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THERE’S A WHOLE SECTION on apple pies and pie-making in America’s Apple, the new book by Russell Steven Powell, including an account of the 2011 Great New England Apple Pie Contest and a winning recipe.

Powell includes favorite apple recipes in his chapter on food. America’s Apple has chapters on apple drinks and heirloom varieties, plus an illustrated index of 120 varieties by Bar Lois Weeks.

For ordering information, visit americasapple.com.

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LEARN HOW a pro does it!

See New England Apple Association’s three-part apple-pie making video featuring Andrea Darrow, Green Mountain Orchards, Putney, Vermont:

THE DAY BEGAN damp and dreary, but Bolton Orchards in Bolton, Massachusetts, was beautiful nonetheless on Sunday, with a few late-season apples providing stark contrast in a landscape being slowly drained of green. Beneath the clouds and mist, the distant backdrop of fall foliage looked brighter than if the sun had been out.

The clouds dispersed by mid-afternoon, slowly exposing the long views afforded by the orchard’s hilltop location.

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AS WITH THE PARENTAGE of many heirloom apples, the origin of this antique recipe for Hermits is a little cloudy. Most likely the Hermit cookie dates back to 1880 from two sources: Plattsburgh, New York, in the Champlain Valley, and Boston.

The main difference in the two recipes is the New York recipe was made with brown sugar and no eggs, while the New England recipe called for white sugar and 3 eggs. Our version uses 2 eggs and molasses.

The origin of the cookie name “Hermit” is also unclear. Some believe the oblong hermit looks like the brown robe of an ascetic hermit. Others say the cookie’s flavor improves after they are “secluded” for a few days.

Apple Hermit Cookies

1/2 c butter

3/4 c brown sugar

1/4 c molasses

2 eggs

1-3/4 c flour (half whole-grain wheat flour)

1/2 c old-fashioned oats

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 t baking powder

1/2 t cinnamon

1/4 t nutmeg

1/8 t cloves

1/8 t ginger

1/4 t salt

1 c New England apples, chopped

1 c dates, chopped (or try dried cranberries, currants, or raisins)

1/2 c walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 350°F. Cream together butter and brown sugar, then beat in molasses and eggs. Combine and stir in dry ingredients. Add fruit and nuts.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake 12 minutes or until almost no imprint remains when lightly touched. Careful not to overbake!

AMERICA’S APPLE, a new book about apple growing in the United States by Russell Steven Powell, looks at apples as horticulture, food, cultural icons, and agricultural commodity. Powell, who has worked in the apple industry for the past 16 years, visited more than 50 orchards across the country gathering information for the book, and interviewed some of the nation’s leading apple researchers.

The hard-cover volume features nearly 50 full-color photographs by Bar Lois Weeks, plus a photographic index of 120 apple varieties grown in the United States.

To learn more, including how to order, visit America’s Apple.

Upcoming events

THIS WEEKEND the 28^th Annual AppleFest will be held at Mount Wachusett in Princeton, Massachusetts. Red Apple Farm, as always, will have apples, fresh cider, cider donuts, and other baked goods from its Phillipston store and orchard. On Saturday, October 20, Russell and Bar will sign books from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and at 2 p.m. they will serve as judges in the 3^rd Annual New England Apple Pie Contest.

Russell will give a talk about apples at the Goodwin Memorial Library in Hadley, Massachusetts, next Wednesday, October 24, at 6 p.m., and at the Merrick Public Library in Brookfield, Massachusetts, Tuesday, November 13 at 7 p.m.

One of the more imaginative entries from last year’s 2nd Annual New England Apple Pie Contest.