We’re hopeful that we can patronize Northern Orchard again, assuming that they have a sufficient Spy harvest, and hopefully try for a visit again next year. This year, we’d planned to visit in person, but we all know why that’s not happening. I pursued and received the most beautiful Northern Spys not long afterward, allowing our Thanksgiving tradition of “Spys for Pies” to continue without interruption. Cindi and the other wonderful folks at Northern Orchard deserve a plug because last year, when our annual fall trip north was too early for Spys, I did some online research and found that this orchard would ship. Although I’m fond of claiming that the farther north you go, the better the apples are, New York State apples, to be fair, are fabulous. * Northern Orchard, in New York’s Champlain Valley is not technically New England, but it’s just across the lake from Vermont. Meanwhile, stay well, calm, and hopeful as you enjoy “October’s bright blue weather”.** I’ll start simply, with Amy’s grandmother’s crisp, and work up to that pork pie that looks so incredibly different and inviting. Right now, I have about eight recipes from The Apple Lover’s Cookbook bookmarked to try, savory as well as sweet. The recipes are interesting-often a new twist on something very traditional-yet not overly complicated despite their sophistication. ![]() There’s a quick reference guide, too, for when you’re not quite sure of whether an apple is better suited for eating, baking, roasting, or tossing in a salad. The book offers an “in depth” look at 70 apple varieties, each with information about its origin, availability, attributes, and use. Years ago, when I told a new friend about how I’d come to love Northern Spys from the Northern Tier of Pennsylvania, she told me that they were the pie apple of choice in her native Minnesota. The Pacific Northwest is famously known as apple-growing territory. ![]() Of course, the book isn’t just about apples that grow in New England apples grow happily in most of the United States*. One thing is certain-the apples will be wonderful at almost any New England orchard you visit. You can read about our apple-picking adventure here. And guess what-the Northern Spy is her favorite pie apple, too! Several years ago, we picked Northern Spys at Cayford Orchards in Skowhegan, ME, and were also able to sample an apple that the present owner’s family had grown on the same soil some 150 years before. Amy loves the heirloom varieties that abound in New England orchards, many of which have been in the same families for more than a century. The Apple Lover’s Cookbook isn’t just a cookbook-it’s an homage. And apples, of course, since so many apple varieties thrive in a colder climate. Although “eating local” and “farm to table” have been favorite catch phrases in the last five to ten years, much of the New England food supply has always been local, from lobsters to root vegetables to cheese. The family farm or orchard is the norm there. Once you’re north of Boston, New England is sparsely populated you won’t find a frenzied city in Vermont, Maine, or New Hampshire. What I really love about Amy Traverso’s articles and her features on the TV series, which she co-hosts, is her reverence for the foods that New England produces, whether from the sea, the orchards, the vast acres of wild blueberries, or farms large and small. You can read Amy’s Yankee article about the cookbook here, on the magazine site. Amy Traverso is senior food editor for Yankee Magazine perhaps you’ve seen her on Weekends with Yankee (both of which are also obsessions of this extreme brand loyalist, per my previous post). They’re quite good, but as you know, dear readers, I am fairly obsessed, and my apple compass, like my heart of hearts, points north.Įrgo, when I learned of a new edition of Amy Traverso’s The Apple Lover’s Cookbook, I knew I had to have it. In fact, I had a giant Honey Crisp for lunch, from a good supply of South Central Pennsylvania apples, courtesy of our dear friends. ![]() And just for good measure, as the month draws to a close, we get to see those “ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggedy beasties and things that go bump in the night,” per the ancient Celtic prayer.Īs if that embarrassment of riches were not enough, there is the glorious gift of apple season. End-of-harvest vegetables make the best soup of the year. ![]() The air is crisp enough for a sweater and maybe a scarf, but the bone chill is weeks away. Nothing beats the splendor of autumn leaves against a not-just-blue-but-BLUE October sky. If you’ve followed this blog for a while, you know that fall is my favorite time of year, and October my very favorite month.
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