Sunday, November 12, 2006

A Trip to the Farm

Yesterday Daiku and I drove to some local farms and orchards. First stop, Elderberry Pond, an organic farm, food market, and restaurant in Auburn, New York. There, we had the pleasure of tasting and buying a wide variety of organic heirloom apples.

Here are some of the varieties we found:



Golden Russets were crisp and tangy, with brown skin resembling a potato and a very intriguing texture. How have I lived so long without tasting this old variety of apple? I remember Martha Stewart talking about these on her show once. It is so great that these old varietals are being kept alive-for biodiversity and preserving history, but they taste so good too!



Enterprise is a newer variety that is great for organic growing, since its thick skin is naturally pest and disease resistant. These are big and tasty apples.



Criterion- another variety I'd never tasted before. Reminiscent of a golden delicious, with a more perfumey, assertive flavor.



Macouns- I'd had these before, and they are great. Tangy, crisp, perfect size for snacking.



We also bought some Corola potatoes, an heirloom variety of potato that is said to have a creamy yellow interior. (We haven't tried these yet)

In addition, we bought some fat leeks, some asian pears, and these wonderful radishes that were pink and purple in addition to the usual red.



Next, it was on to Beak & Skiff apple orchard, which is a large farm and food store. They even make apple wines! Their apples are not organic, even though they are experimenting with growing some organic apple trees. Here, we bought pounds and pounds of Empire apples (perfect for snacking) and some seconds for cooking and baking with.



As you can see, the apple trees are all bare, but the orchards are open for a couple of weeks more. Daiku and I were giddy inside the store, sampling apple butter, applesauce, apple jam, hot spiced cider, granola, and many varieties of apples. So fun!



We drove through Skaneateles on our way home. This time, the lake was grey and a foggy mist covered it. That didn't stop people from enjoying the view, though. We are so lucky and surprised that we have not had any snow yet. I don't think I'm ready!


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12 comments:

Ruthie said...

Bazu ~

Thank you for the comment on my post. I did rethink my rethinking and decided to keep on with the gluten-free thing. Maybe I was detoxing.. I will look that up. :)

I LOVE your pictures! I wish it wasn't a frozen wasteland here and I could go pick apples. OK OK It's not a frozen wasteland. It's beautiful. Just.. COLD! :) I also love your lake picture! How serene. I have to admit I was just scrolling through your blog trying to ID the apples until I saw the potato. I said "WEIRD APPLE!" :) But in French... potatoes are called pommes de terre. Apples of the Earth. Right?! :) Enjoy your pommes!

bazu said...

Ruthie, we think alike, because as I was sticking the potatoes in there, I thought, pomme, pomme de terre, what's the difference? Ha ha!

Amey said...

Hi Bazu,
That looks like such a nice outing... There is such a solid, grounding feeling to buying the food from the farm. It closes the loop; we know where it came from and where it's been and where it's going. So settling.

I love the pix of all the apple varieties. We also tasted Golden Russets at the Harvest Festival we went to about a month ago, I really liked them. There were about 20 other apples there too, but I don't recognize the other names.

Thanks for sharing the pretty pictures.

:) Amey

madeinalaska said...

Looks like you had a great day! Beautiful pictures.

Anonymous said...

What a great day you had. Marty & I tried on Saturday to find an open farm here so we could get more apples - yes, we've gone through 2 bushels in a month! Whew! Unfortunately, all the local farms are out. Out of apples. There are like 15 of them and they are all out. Out!!! WTF??? Ok, I was kind of mad but I'm getting over it.

Crystal said...

Looks like some good food finds. I love tasting apples - yum!

-Crystal

aTxVegn said...

I've only heard of one of those varieties of apples. I am apple ignorant!

The outdoor shots are so pretty. The tasting in the orchard shop would have been my favorite part of the day. I've often thought about making a dinner with "everything apple" or "everything cranberry" but I would probably be the only one who found that fun.

Anonymous said...

really love to see all the apples and vegetables, so much to learn for me! love the out door photos.

Jackie said...

What an interesting day out. The apples and veggies look great and will be great as they will be so fresh.

I would love hot spiced cider, probably like I had when I visited Devon, England. Ours is so commercial I doubt it ever saw and apple.

village mama said...

thanks for taking me along on your lovely day with Daiku. Love those fancy apple names!

wheresmymind said...

I LOVE Asian Pears :D

Candi said...

I'm so envious that you can still find such great produce! Our local market closed for the winter. :( I did find MacIntosh apples (my favorites!) recently though, and bought a bunch! Who knew there were so many kinds of apples! I love how you labeled them! Do you have a favorite?

I can just imagine you two testing all the apple products! Lol! Very cute!

That's a great shot of the water! I love the tree branches framing it!