Category Archives: Seasonal

Apple Gifts

December 2, 2011 – 3:05 am
Sheep's Nose, or Black Gilliflower

Sheep's Nose, or Black Gilliflower, from the 2012 New England Apples wall calendar

WHAT COULD BE MORE DELICIOUSLY BOLD than a gift of New England apples this holiday season? Imagine the pleasure of receiving a box of fragrant, fresh apples, a jar of creamy smooth apple butter, a bottle of our region’s finest apple wine or hard cider, or a stunning wall calendar packed with photographs and descriptions of many of the apples that flourish on our soils?

If you are feeling especially generous, you could package one or more of these apple items with something rarer still: the gift of your time, and the thoughtful care that goes into baking an apple pie, cake, or bread.

Many New England orchards offer locally grown apples, gift baskets, and homemade apple products through their websites. Just visit New England Apples and link to Orchards By State or Find An Orchard for ideas, or to find that special apple you are looking for. Maybe it is one of our classic New England varieties like McIntosh or Cortland, coveted but impossible to find in many parts of the country. Maybe it’s the sensational Honeycrisp, one of the newest and juiciest of apples. Or perhaps a box of gift-wrapped box heirloom varieties with histories as rich as their flavors, like Calville Blanc d’Hiver, Lady, or Cox’s Orange Pippin.

New England has a thriving cider business, and many of the new generation of hard ciders approach the quality and complexity of fine wines. Similarly, why settle for bland, generic apple preserves, salsa, or butter, when you can choose from among the many made here in New England with our distinctive varieties?

* * *

OUR 2012 NEW ENGLAND APPLES CALENDAR looks good enough to eat. The 12”x12” wall calendar features orchard photographs from throughout the region, and different apple varieties each month, with extended descriptions. Among the pictured apples are heirlooms like Esopus Spitzenburg, Orleans Reinette, and Roxbury Russet, newer varieties like Crispin (Mutsu), Honeycrisp, and Spencer, and classics like McIntosh, Empire, and Macoun.

The inside back cover lists New England orchards by state, and how to contact them.

The cover photograph of a Sheep’s Nose doubles as December’s featured apple. Named for its distinguishing conical shape, which resembles a sheep’s snout, it is a beautiful apple, sometimes solid red, sometimes with green streaks.

The color can run to a deep reddish purple, which gave the variety its original name of Black Gilliflower (in addition to this apple, “gilliflower,” a variant of “gillyflower,” has been used to describe several plant species, primarily carnation and dame’s violet, since the mid-16th century).

Opinions of Sheep’s Nose as a fresh-eating apple are mixed (some consider its flesh to be too dry, especially over time). But in addition to its beauty and novel shape, it is an aromatic apple that works well in sauces, and it stores well. It was discovered in Connecticut in the 1700s.

To order your 2012 New England Apples calendar, send $12.95 each ($9.95 plus $3 for shipping) to: New England Apples, P. O. Box 41, Hatfield, MA 01038. Make checks payable to New England Apple Association. Calendars will be shipped on the day your order is received.

* * *

IF YOU WANT TO MAKE A BIG IMPRESSION on a special someone, here is a recipe that came to us from someone who referred to it in reverential terms. She has made it more than once and served it to appreciative guests.

The inspiration for the recipe is The Gift of Southern Cooking by Edna Lewis and Scott Peacock. We substituted walnuts for pecans. It didn’t matter; apples and caramel go well together, no matter how you slice it.


Apple Caramel Cake

Cake

1 c brown sugar, packed

1/2 c sugar

1-1/2 c canola oil

3 eggs

2 c all-purpose flour

1 c whole wheat flour

1 t baking soda

1 t cinnamon

1/2 t nutmeg

1/2 t salt

5  New England apples, such as Empire or Cortland, cored and cut into 1-inch pieces

1-1/4 c chopped pecans or walnuts

2-1/2 t vanilla

Caramel glaze

4 T butter

1/4 c sugar

1/4 c brown sugar

1/2 c heavy cream

Preheat oven to 325°.
 Butter a 9”x13” baking dish. Blend together sugars and oil in a large mixing bowl. Beat in eggs one at a time. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt, and gradually add to the batter, mixing just until well blended.

Stir in apples, nuts, and vanilla, and pour into baking dish. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, around 70 minutes (begin checking after an hour). Remove from oven and cool in dish while preparing glaze.

To make glaze, melt butter in a saucepan. Add sugars, and stir until blended. Cook over medium heat for 2 minutes. Slowly pour in cream, and bring to a boil. Continue cooking for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

Using a fork, poke holes in the surface of the cake and pour warm glaze on top. Serve cake warm or at room temperature.

*            *            *

ALL THE APPLES HAVE BEEN HARVESTED. Those that are not sold right away are rushed into cold storage. Between now and next summer, the apples will be packed and sold in a variety of ways. Watch this video to see how the apple gets from tree to grocery store.

By russellpowell | Also posted in New England apple varieties, Recipes | Comments (2)

New England Apple Cider Days

November 4, 2011 – 2:23 am
Wickson apples

Crabapple-sized Wicksons ready for pressing at Poverty Lane Orchards in Lebanon, New Hampshire

APPLE CIDER IS AS VARIED AND VERSATILE as the fruit from which it is pressed. It can be frozen or fermented, guzzled fresh or used in cooking, pasteurized (or not), made from almost any apple variety (usually a blend), in almost any condition (dings and dents welcome). Cider was America’s drink from Colonial days until well into mid-19th century, when it fell victim to several factors, including the migration to cities and the rise in popularity of beer.

But cider is experiencing a revival, from large commercial producers to small orchards and cider mills that make unique blends, to people who are experimenting with small batches made in their homes. There are a number of ciders, from the sweet, unfermented drink we commonly know now, to several types (and strengths) of “hard,” or alcoholic, cider, which can be as strong as wine. Distilled further, cider can be made into applejack or apple brandy.

Many orchards press their own cider, and there are a growing number of cider mills and passionate artisan cider makers that are reviving the art of finding and pressing rare apples that are virtually inedible, but lend a richness and complexity to their cider.

You could write a book about cider. In fact, several people have. Two that we recommend are Cider, Hard and Sweet, by Ben Watson, and Cider: Making, Using & Enjoying Sweet & Hard Cider, by Lew Nichols and Annie Proulx, author of the acclaimed novel Shipping News. Both give detailed instruction on cider-making; Watson’s book includes a global history of cider, fun facts, and descriptions of varieties favored by seasoned makers.

We are often asked the difference between apple juice and cider. Both drinks are made from apples, but apple juice is clear, invariably sweet, and keeps longer than cider. The primary reason is filtration; all of the pulp found in cider is strained out of the juice, giving it a lighter color and extending its shelf life.

While making true hard cider requires some special equipment and a number of steps, fermenting cider into something fizzy and slightly alcoholic couldn’t be easier. Just take a jug of cider and leave it alone, and once past the expiration date the fermentation begins.

Be careful, though; we heard last week of a woman who carefully cleaned her refrigerator and then, against her better judgment, put back in an old jug of cider that her husband was saving. The cider had begun to ferment, and soon the resulting gases built up so much pressure on the plastic cap that there was an explosion.

We are happy to report that her husband at least cleaned up after his own mess.

About freezing cider: it is a perfectly good way to store cider for the long-term if you don’t want it to get fizzy in the fridge. Just remember to remove a little liquid first (at least one-quarter cup for a gallon jug), or it will pop the cap as it expands.

* * *

AN EARLY, HEAVY SNOW blankets much of New England. It’s hard to think that just one month ago we were cleaning our sticky booth at the Big E (the Eastern States Exposition), closing it up for another year. The occasional cider spill is inevitable, but this year it was coupled with smoothie spills. More on that in a minute.

First, think back to a post last month on Dings and Dents. We gave that a lot of thought at the fair because the apples with small blemishes didn’t seem to sell as fast. We got to putting these slightly imperfect apples into the door of the fridge, saving them for smoothies.

With the help of a commercial-grade blender, a few Macs from the Ding & Dent Department, fresh cider, and a little spice, we produced our very own Apple Pie Smoothie that we’d like to share with you, just in time for Franklin County CiderDays this weekend.

It’s quick and easy, inexpensive, healthy (sugar-free), and delicious!

Apple Pie Smoothie

Apple Pie Smoothie

Apple Pie Smoothie

Add to your blender:

1 New England apple, like McIntosh or Cortland, cored and chopped

1-1/4 c fresh cider

1/2 t apple pie spice (or 1/4 t cinnamon, a pinch of nutmeg and allspice)

Blend until the apple peel is in small flecks. Garnish with a cinnamon stick (optional). Then enjoy your apple-a-day the easy way!

Quick cleanup: refill carafe part way with hot, soapy water, and blend for 15 seconds. Rinse and dry.

* * *

Ben Watson will be one of the featured cider aficionados from throughout the Northeast at this weekend’s 17th Annual Franklin County CiderDays. Some of the events are free, others require fees and reservations, but the two-day event offers a wide range of cider-related activities and workshops in the towns of Colrain, Deerfield, Greenfield, and Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts.  A schedule can be downloaded from the CiderDays website.

* * *

Here is a video about how sweet cider is made by one of New England’s largest commercial producers, Carlson Orchards in Harvard, Massachusetts:

By russellpowell | Also posted in Recipes | Comments (0)

Early New England Apples: Ginger Gold and Jersey Mac

August 17, 2011 – 2:38 pm
Ginger Gold

Ginger Gold

IF YOU ARE HANKERING FOR AN EARLY SEASON APPLE, your ship has come in. Two of the earliest varieties, Ginger Gold and Jersey Mac, can now be found at many orchards and farmstands. They are harbingers of the fall crop to come — and it looks like a good apple year for most of New England’s orchards — best eaten fresh, offering tantalizing flavors of things to come.

Ginger Gold apples are sweet, tangy, and juicy. Their shape ranges from round to conical, and they have a smooth, green-yellow skin, often with a light pink blush. Ginger Golds are a good apple for both cooking and fresh eating, and are especially enjoyed in salads, as their crisp, white flesh browns slowly when sliced.

Ginger Golds are a relatively new apple, discovered in a Virginia orchard in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the late 1960s. Their parentage is not certain, but Ginger Golds likely are a cross between Golden Delicious and Newtown (Albemarle) Pippin.

Jersey Mac

Jersey Mac

Jersey Macs have a tough, dark-red skin with green and red patches, and they are noted for their sweet, strawberry-like flavor and bright white flesh. They don’t store well, but this early season apple can be used for both cooking and fresh eating. As one grower puts it, “Jersey Mac is a good choice for McIntosh lovers who are getting impatient waiting for the Macs to ripen.”

Jersey Macs were developed at the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station of Rutgers University in 1956 (hence the name), and were introduced commercially in 1971.

* * *

Baked apples are an easy and flavorful dessert to make, and their flavor can be altered and enhanced by experimenting with a number of optional ingredients. Baked apples can be served alone warm or topped with a dollop of whipped cream or ice cream.

Some say baked apples are even better eaten cold at breakfast the next day. Either way, they keep in the refrigerator for several days, and can be reheated if that’s your preference.

Here’s a good recipe for baking apples using either Ginger Gold, Jersey Mac, or the later varieties when they arrive.

Cranberry Baked Apples

6 Ginger Gold or Jersey Mac apples, or a mix

1 c dried cranberries

1/2 c golden raisins

1/2 c sugar

1/2 c apple cider (apple juice or water can be substituted in a pinch)

1 t lemon zest

Preheat oven to 375°. Wash and core apples, and place snugly in a glass baking dish. Toss cranberries, raisins, sugar, and zest together in a bowl and fill apple cores when fully mixed. Pour cider in bottom of baking dish, and cook for 25-30 minutes, until apples are soft. If there is any liquid left, drizzle over apples before serving.

Mo Tougas, Apple Grower of the Year

CONGRATULATIONS TO MO TOUGAS, named the 2011 Apple Grower of the Year by American/Western Fruit Grower Magazine, one of the nation’s leading agricultural publications. Mo, who operates Tougas Family Farm in Northborough, Massachusetts, with his wife, Phyllis, and son, Andre, has long been admired in the region for his business savvy and entrepreneurial style, but first and foremost, he grows a great apple. He never stops trying to innovate and improve his horticultural skills, and this national recognition is well deserved.

Read Mo’s story and learn about some of his innovations by following this link: Mo Tougas, 2011 Apple Grower of the Year

Mo, who serves as vice chair of the board of directors of the New England Apple Association, will be honored at the USApple Outlook Conference in Chicago this week. To learn more about New England apples (and to see video programs featuring Mo on methods for grafting and pruning apple trees), visit New England Apples.

By russellpowell | Also posted in New England apple varieties, Recipes | Comments (0)

Pollination and Spring Apple Bloom

May 4, 2011 – 1:17 pm
New England apple blossoms

New England apple blossoms

NEW ENGLAND’S APPLE ORCHARDS ARE ABOUT TO BLOSSOM. After last year’s early bloom — two or three weeks in some places, the result of a mid-April heat wave — this spring will be more typical, with full bloom expected most places over the next seven to ten days.

That’s good news for the region’s apple growers, many of whom lost some or all of their 2010 crop due to frost damage last May, when temperatures turned seasonably cool. Apple blossoms can withstand a light frost, down to 28 or 29 degrees, but a hard frost will kill them, and that’s exactly what happened in parts of New England last spring.

Even in a normal year like this one, growers won’t be able to relax for the next few weeks, until the danger of frost has passed. Traditionally, that date is as late as Memorial Day weekend in northern New England.

But the critical factor now that will impact the size and quality of the crop is pollination, without which fruit does not form. Honeybees are on their way to New England orchards at this moment (if they haven’t already arrived), from as far away as Florida and California. Hives are placed in the orchard late at night, when the bees are sluggish, at intervals of about one per acre. The imported bees stay just long enough to pollinate the apple crop, and then they are on their way to some other farm.

(Incidentally, Colony Collapse Disorder, the mysterious disease that has wiped out honeybee populations in some parts of the country, thankfully has not yet posed a major problem in New England, either with native bees or imported ones.)

The itinerant hives supplement the local population of honeybees, bumblebees, and other wild bees to ensure good pollination. Even with plentiful bees, though, the pollination period requires good weather. Without the sun, the bees stay close to their hive rather than visit the blossoms.

This happened across the region about a decade ago, when cool, cloudy, or rainy weather persisted for the entire bloom period, with only a smattering of sunshine. The resulting crop was the smallest in years, and it put a number of small orchards, already operating on the thinnest of margins at the time, over the edge.

That should not be the case this year, as the ten-day forecast throughout the region shows plenty of sunshine, and the outlook for the apple industry is healthier than it has been for some time. Visit an orchard this weekend to see the bloom in its full splendor.

* * *

THIS APPLE LEMON CAKE IS FAST GAINING STATURE as a birthday cake in my circles. Adapted from Olwen Woodier’s classic 1984 Apple Cookbook, this version is rich in flavor and elegant enough to serve at a special occasion.

Apple Lemon Cake

Preheat oven to 350o. Grease and flour a 9×13-inch pan or a 10-inch tube pan.

Grate the zest of 1 lemon, reserving 1 t for the glaze. Juice the lemon, reserving 3 T for the glaze.

In large bowl, mix together:

1 c butter, melted

½ c canola oil

3 eggs

2 c sugar

3 t lemon zest

1½ c white flour

1½ c whole wheat flour

1 t baking soda

1 t baking powder

1 c pecans, chopped

3 New England apples, chopped

all but 3 T juice of lemon

Pour batter in pan. Bake 1 hour 20 minutes. Cool 10 minutes. Prick top of cake with fork tines.

Spread glaze over the warm cake:

1 c confectioners sugar

2 T butter, softened

3 T reserved juice of lemon

1 t lemon zest

1 T honey

* * *

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT POLLINATION, view this four-minute video program featuring Frank Carlson of Carlson Orchards in Harvard, Massachusetts.

By russellpowell | Also posted in Recipes | Comments (0)

New England Apple Cider

December 22, 2010 – 1:23 am

Hot mulled cider simmers on the stove.

ONE OF THE VIRTUES OF APPLE CIDER — and there are many — is its versatility. Like the fruit from which it is made, cider can have a place at virtually every meal, at every course, at any time of year.

Start with the unalloyed pleasure of cider as a drink, bursting with the flavors of apples, thick in complexity, in shades of translucent, coppery brown. It quenches thirst over ice in the summer, and is ideal spiced and heated in the dead of winter, or hardened to a gentle fizz that can produce an equally gentle buzz.

Cider requires no added sugars or other ingredients — just apples, squeezed for their thick, sweet juice. You can substitute cider for water in any apple recipe where liquid is called for, from applesauce to apple crisp. Cider is also used in a number of soup recipes. You can even freeze it for later use — just remove half a cup from a gallon to allow for expansion before you do it.

Most cider sold commercially these days has been pasteurized, and there are people who insist they can tell the difference between fresh-pressed cider and cider that has been heated. I’m not one of them. We served Carlson Orchard’s cider at the Big E in the fall, a blend of Cortland, Gala, McIntosh, and Eastern Red Delicious that is flash-heated for 14 seconds, and it was delicious, winning over even the few skeptics (to see how Carlson’s makes its cider, see the video below). Other varieties are blended into cider over the course of the year, and Frank Carlson even includes apples of a single variety like McIntosh from several orchards to account for subtle variations in flavor from one climate and soil to another.

Cider once was the New England drink, and was key to John Chapman’s (aka Johnny Appleseed) success spreading apples westward through Pennsylvania and Ohio. For the early European settlers, cider was the main reason for growing apples, and nearly everyone had a small orchard. Cider was cheap, sweet (before the arrival of cane sugar), intoxicating, and it stored well. In some cases, it was even a safer choice than water.

Everyone drank it, even children. It was only at the end of the 19th century that the temperance movement took cider down a notch in popularity, and the apple industry reinvented itself as a fruit for fresh eating. In recent years apple cider has made a comeback in all its forms: sweet and fresh, year-round, without preservatives; or hard, as the Colonists knew it.

You can buy ready-made hard cider from a number of sources now, but it’s easy to make on your own, too. Roger Yepsen includes simple, straightforward instructions for hard cider in his beautiful book Apples (W.W. Norton). At the end of the first stage, “It’s still a family drink,” he writes. But “allowed to gestate a little longer, the cider enters a second, more vigorous fermentation. The jug begins to hiss and buzz angrily, and cider and foam dribble over the top.”

He goes on to describe options for finishing off the drink, or taking it to the next stage — hard liquor, as applejack.

Now that the holidays and cold weather have arrived, it’s the perfect time for hot mulled cider.

Hot Mulled Cider

2 qt cider

¼ c maple syrup or brown sugar

2 t cinnamon

½ t allspice

6 whole cloves

¼ t nutmeg

1 cinnamon stick

Slowly heat to a simmer. Allow flavors to blend for at least 20-30 minutes before serving.

By russellpowell | Also posted in Recipes | Comments (0)

Entering Apple Pie Zone

November 20, 2010 – 1:24 am

REV UP YOUR KITCHENS, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! We have now officially entered the year’s biggest apple pie-making zone: Thanksgiving week. These next few days are your last chance to experiment with a new apple pie or practice your favorite recipe one final time before you make your pièce de résistance this Thursday.

Make sure you make enough to have some left over for breakfast Friday morning, but remember a pie’s greatest strength and weakness: it must be eaten straight away. For tips about how to take your pie from crust to oven, view the accompanying video featuring Andrea Darrow, Green Mountain Orchards, Putney, Vermont.

McIntosh

 

 

“If you bake one apple pie a week, or two a month, that’s 25 or 50 pies you will make in the coming year. At the end of the year, I guarantee you’ll be the best apple pie maker on your block — and you’ll have more friends than you’ll know what to do with.”

— Ken Haedrich, author of Apple Pie Perfect (Harvard Common Press, 2002)

* * *

AT THE EASTERN STATES EXPOSITION (“The Big E”) this September, we staffed our New England Apples booth for the entire 17-day fair, succeeding in selling bushels of five-inch apple pies, sometimes at the rate of 135 a day! As you may guess, we fielded a myriad of apple pie making-questions, especially on the apple varieties that produce the best results.

Imagine my excitement, then, when a self-proclaimed expert pie maker stopped by to “talk shop.” I was dough in his hands as he related his secret tips for a flaky pastry crust, a perfect mix of sweet and tart apples to use, and, most exciting of all, an answer to an all-consuming question of mine: What is your favorite apple pie?

He answered without hesitation and with the enthusiastic support of his entire extended family: “Blackberry-Apple Pie.” So, here goes, as best as I can remember it.

Blackberry-Apple Pie

1 2-crust pastry shell

2 c blackberries

1/4 c sugar

2 T fresh-squeezed lemon juice

*6 c New England apples, peeled, cored, and sliced

2-3 T cornstarch

2 T sugar

1 t cinnamon

pinch of nutmeg

In large bowl, mash together blackberries, sugar, and lemon juice. Add apples and toss. In small bowl, combine cornstarch, 2 T sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Stir this into fruit mixture. Assemble pie as usual and bake at 400º for 30 minutes; reduce temperature to 375º and continue baking for 40 more minutes or until pie juice bubbles thickly out the steam vents.

*His apple choices:  2 McIntosh, 2 Northern Spy, and 1 Baldwin. In addition to his, my favorites include: Jonathan, Macoun, Cortland, Rome, Gravenstein, Winesap, and, if you can find them, Rhode Island Greening.

* * *

Empire

 

 

“The best pie apple is a matter of personal preference and a reflection of the quality of a given apple at a given time of year. And it’s a moving target. The Northern Spy apples in your neck of the woods might be super one year, the Jonathan apples a little better the following year. The Golden Delicious apples you find in your supermarket could be great one week, not so great a month from now.”

— Ken Haedrich, Apple Pie Perfect

* * *

The mad peeler at work

NEARLY 20 YEARS AGO NOW, CINDY KEATING of Southampton, Massachusetts, and three of her friends got together in Cindy’s kitchen for an afternoon of apple pie-making. They had a great time, the conversation and flour were flying. But the big hit was the corer and peeler Cindy had clamped onto her counter. It was so much fun to use that one of her friends refused to relinquish it, and just kept peeling apple after apple.

No matter. They ended up with four delicious apple pies by the end of the day, and an enduring memory.

Here’s Cindy’s recipe. She can’t recall where she found it, but has made it many times since. The sour cream, she says, coats the apples and suspends them in a delicious, custard-like filling.

Sour cream apple pie

1 9” pie crust

Filling:

2 c New England apples, peeled, cored, and sliced

2 T flour

½ c sugar

¼ t salt

1 c sour cream

1 egg, slightly beaten

1½ t vanilla

Topping:

1/3 c flour

1/3 c sugar

½ t cinnamon

¼ c butter

Blend together with pastry knife or fork.

Place apples in pie shell. Combine flour, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Add sour cream, egg, and vanilla. Beat until smooth, and pour over apples. Bake at 425º for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350º and bake for 20 minutes more.

Increase temperature to 400º. Add topping to pie and bake for 10 minutes more.

* * *

Cortland

 

 

“Making a gorgeous, delicious apple pie is one of the easiest tricks in the home cook’s bag of kitchen skills. Loan me any 10-year-old for a couple of hours, and I’ll teach him to make an apple pie — not because I’m such a great teacher, but because there’s nothing to it: you mix a pastry, roll the pastry, prepare the filling, put it in the pie shell, and bake it. In one session, you can master 90 percent of what you need to know.”

— Ken Haedrich, Apple Pie Perfect

* * *

WE’VE TOPPED THE CENTURY MARK! There are now photographs and descriptions of more than 100 apple varieties on the New England Apples website. You’ll find a wealth of other information about apples and New England orchards, as well.

By russellpowell | Also posted in New England apple varieties, Recipes | Comments (0)

New England Apple Harvest Is Here

September 2, 2010 – 12:54 am

Ripe apples on the tree at Green Mountain Orchards, Putney, Vermont

BARRING A LAST-MINUTE SURPRISE from Hurricane Earl, this should be a delicious holiday weekend for picking apples across New England. The forecast is for sunny weather Saturday, Sunday and Monday, with daytime temperatures in the 70s throughout most of the region.

Depending on your location, you may get to pick the season’s first McIntosh apples. They are running a week to 10 days early in most places, so you can get a head start on New England’s favorite apple, just in time for school lunches. If the Macs aren’t ready for picking at your favorite orchard, there should be plenty of other early varieties to choose from. You can call ahead to find out what’s being picked.

Overall, it is shaping up to be a good New England apple crop. Total volume region-wide is down about 17 percent, the result primarily of frost damage in late spring, particularly in the northern states. But you won’t notice the shortage this fall, if at all. Early reports indicate that New England’s apples are especially flavorful this year and that they are in abundance and of good color and size.

A day in the orchard is a powerful experience. The lush fruit hanging from the tree, the sweet aroma of apples in the air, and the gentle background sounds of honeybees and insects combine to flood the senses. You’ll feel calmer for the experience, and bring home some of the freshest, healthiest, tastiest food you can buy, with the satisfaction of having picked it yourself.

But don’t take our word for it. Discover the pleasure of apple-picking on your own.

*

The 2010 New England fresh apple harvest will be celebrated Friday, September 10, in a daylong event around the region.

In Massachusetts, Commissioner of Agriculture Scott Soares, and Executive Director of New England Apple Association, Russell Powell, will visit  these apple orchards and apple processing facilities:

10 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. J. P. Sullivan, packing house, Ayer

11 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Carlson Orchards, with cider-making, Harvard

1:15 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. Red Apple Farm, Phillipston

Beginning Friday evening through the weekend, the New England Apple Association and Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources will sample apples and give away recipes, brochures, and other educational materials at a booth at the Sterling Fair.

The fair’s hours are Friday, 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.; Saturday hours are 9 a.m. to 11 p.m.; and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Commissioner Soares and Powell will give a presentation on New England apple varieties Sunday at 11 a.m.

Details about events in the other New England states to follow!

By russellpowell | Comments (0)
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