|
|
 |
|
Mother Nature dealt a hard blow to this year's apple crop, but all hope is not lost
• by By Pat Eby Photos by Lisa Wigoda
|
 |
|
|
Oh, the crisp bite and sweet tang of a just-picked Jonathan. Or the mellow spiciness of a Golden Delicious right from the tree. Fall is nirvana for apple-lovers, but 2007 will be different. The roller coaster of last spring's thaw-freeze and a subsequent mid-summer drought drastically reduced local apple crops. Fewer apples and varieties will be sold at local farmers' markets this season.
But if you take a trip to Eckert's, you'll find Jonathans and Golden Delicious. Both pick-your-own as well as bagged apples are for sale at the Grafton, Belleville and Millstadt orchards in Illinois. Honeycrisps, an early-maturing variety, were already being picked in Belleville in August. In early October, limited quantities of Fuji will also be offered for picking; more will be available in bags. For details, call ahead or check the harvest hotline at www.eckerts.com.
"The crop that suffered most was our Red Delicious," said Angie Eckert, vice president of retail operations for Eckert's. "We won't sell pick-your-own, but customers can buy them at our stores." Red Delicious were my least-favorite apple, though I was only familiar with the grocery store variety. My first locally grown, tree-ripened Red Delicious changed my mind. Definitely good eating.
Centennial Farms will reserve the few Jonathans that survived the freeze for schoolchildren who visit the farm on educational field trips. For the rest of us, owner Ellen Knoernschild will offer two late-maturing varieties at the Tower Grove Farmers' Market and at the Maplewood Farmers' Market. "Gold Rush is a late, very tart apple ripening in October," Knoernschild said. "We should have Winesaps as well." She said Centennial's apple production is only about 2 percent of what it would be in a typical year.
At Blue Heron Orchard in Canton, Mo., owner Dan Kelly lost his entire apple crop. "Once the freeze happened, I quit doing anything in the orchard," he said. He practices good soil maintenance like cover cropping, but his trees, normally loaded with apples, are bare. Kelly seems to take the long view: His trees are healthy, and the soil in his orchards retains moisture well, a good thing in this year of drought. "It's windblown glacial dust called loess," he explained. "Great soil." When the silt-rich soil in an orchard dates from the ice age, a year must seem no more than a second.
Still, shoppers won't be able to enjoy Blue Heron's organic and heirloom varieties like Winesap, Empire or Blushing Golden this year. Or the Cortland apples I bought from Kelly last November; Kelly had suggested Cortlands for a crisp, flavorful applesauce that holds a light color -- talk about delicious! I stored his keeping apples in my vegetable crisper for most of the winter, enjoying baked apples and sweet Tatins through January.
Luckily for market regulars, resourceful apple growers have come up with products to help us get our apple fix. I'm looking forward to trying cider syrup; both Centennial Farms and Blue Heron will offer this new-to-me product. Sometimes called boiled cider, the syrup was produced from last year's cider pressing. Cider is boiled to 226 degrees -- "almost to candy," quipped Kelly -- and the result is a tart, viscous syrup with a robust apple flavor.
Kelly named his syrup Pomona's Ambrosia. "Ambrosia works well as a contrast to sweet desserts," he said. "You have the concentrated flavor of the apples and the caramelized sugars. It complements a really good vanilla ice cream or a cheesecake."
Both Knoerschild and Kelly suggested savory uses for boiled cider as well: as a meat marinade, a grill baste for salmon or pork, in salad dressings or as a glaze for vegetables.
Kelly will offer his vinegars this year, including habanero cider vinegar and organic apple cider vinegar, through Local Harvest Grocery in St. Louis. Unlike commercial varieties, Kelly's vinegars ferment naturally, age one to two years and clarify as they age. What salad dressings and sweet-and-sour sauces these vinegars must make.
If you plan to buy apples this year, support local growers and farmers. Try the apple products. How we each spend our food dollars does make a difference.
Seasonal Shopper Archive
View Complete Archive
|
|
 |
 |
|
Although Blue Heron Orchard lost this year's crop in the spring freeze, the orchard's trees are healthy. Blue Heron grows a variety of apples, including the Cortland variety, which makes a crisp, flavorful applesauce.
Apple-glazed Carrots
Courtesy of Pat Eby
8 to 10 servings
2 lbs. carrots
1/2 cups apple cider
2 Tbsp. cider syrup
2 Tbsp. butter
3 Tbsp. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 cup golden raisins (optional)
1/4 cup chopped pecans (optional)
-- Peel, then slice the carrots into �-inch slices.
-- In a 3-quart sauce pan, bring the cider syrup and the apple cider to a low boil.
-- Add the carrots, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes. Taste for desired tenderness and cook longer, if necessary. Drain the carrots and set them aside.
-- Add the butter to the pan and melt it over low heat.
-- Thoroughly mix the brown sugar with the cinnamon and add it to the butter mixture, stirring until the sugar melts.
-- Add the carrots and stir to coat. Cook over low heat 2 to 3 minutes to blend flavors.
-- Remove the pan from the heat, add the raisins and pecans, if desired. Let stand 5 minutes and serve.
Grilled Salmon with Cider Syrup Baste
Suggested by Dan Kelly
4 servings
3 Tbsp. cider syrup
1/2 cup apple cider
2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1/2 tsp. cracked black pepper
4 6- to 8-oz. salmon steaks
-- In a small bowl, whisk together the cider syrup, apple cider, apple cider vinegar, oil and pepper.
-- In a shallow baking dish, arrange the salmon steaks in a single layer.
-- Pour the cider mixture over the steaks, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour, turning the steaks once.
-- Preheat the grill and oil it for grilling the steaks (or use a fish basket). Remove the steaks to a platter.
-- Pour the marinade into a small saucepan and bring it to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat and cook until the glaze reduces by half.
-- Brush one side of the steaks with the glaze. Place the steaks on the grill, glazed side down, and grill them for 5 to 6 minutes.
-- Brush more glaze on top of each steak. Turn the steaks and grill them for 5 to 6 more minutes.
|
 |
|
|
