What would you do on a day off with your Mom? We chose a trip to the Apple orchard (what else would you expect from Washingtonians), a trip to a cheese factory (we are in Wisconsin you know), and an evening processing the apples into applesauce. And just to keep use even busier we decided to try a new vegetarian meal "South American Squash and Vegetable Ragout" from the new Vegetarian Times magazine.
We went to an orchard called Eplegaarden in Fitchburg. The Norwegian theme is a bit much, but the people were really great and able to give recommendations about which varieties are best for applesauce and storing. They have a corral of red wagons to carry your apples and pre-sell bags for "Selv Plukk." There is a list of rules to follow, but the main ones were no climbing the trees, don't throw apples on the ground and leave your cellphones off...pretty easy to follow!
The orchard has many different varieties: Paulared, Zestar, Gingergold, Golden Supreme, Gala, Honeycrisp, Redmax, Macspur, Redcourt, Cortland, Spartan, Empire, Haralson, Smoothee, Sturdeespur, Redchief, Jonafree, Jonnee, Jonagold, Melrose, N. Spy, Fuji and Braeburn. Most of the apples were already done for the season, but there were still a few varieties left to be picked. We were pointed in the direction of the Jonafree and Melrose apples and set off to fill our bags.
Originally I had thought this apple adventure would take all morning based on my previous experience with picking raspberries, however it really was just an hour from start to finish. In the car Mom mentioned a desire to take some cheese home and so we took a spontaneous trip to the Cedar Groove Cheese factory in Plain, WI. It was a pretty cool operation that even boasts a living machine for management of their grey water (All the more reason to prioritize buying cheese from them at Willy St. Co-op). There was way too many choices, but after much deliberation about the cheese tastes of my family at home we were able to make our cheese purchases. The two highlights of the trip were the squeaky cheese curds and the Jalapeno and Basil Jack Cheese spread. Upon getting home we found the cheese spread accompanied slices of apples very nicely!
Nick normally stays clear of the kitchen when we undertake these adventures, but I do have to spotlight his awesome invention to make up for the faulty tool we previously had. The store bought version of the lid grabber was constantly loosing its magnet and so my ever resourceful husband made us a new one out of an old Sonicare toothbrush magnet and floss. Its not the most attractive kitchen tool, but works so much better!
Unsure how to pick the appropriate apples, we fell back on the taste test method. I believe one of the many rules was that you may eat A apple in the field, but we extended this to 4-5 in order to best decide which apples we wanted. We started with an apple that wasn't on the recommended list...Empire...but it was so good that we filled a bag of those (25 pounds of the yummy red apples). Then we got to the business of procuring applesauce apples. We never found the Melrose or Jonafree, but were quite pleased with the taste of the Jonagold and so filled our second bag with those.
Originally I had thought this apple adventure would take all morning based on my previous experience with picking raspberries, however it really was just an hour from start to finish. In the car Mom mentioned a desire to take some cheese home and so we took a spontaneous trip to the Cedar Groove Cheese factory in Plain, WI. It was a pretty cool operation that even boasts a living machine for management of their grey water (All the more reason to prioritize buying cheese from them at Willy St. Co-op). There was way too many choices, but after much deliberation about the cheese tastes of my family at home we were able to make our cheese purchases. The two highlights of the trip were the squeaky cheese curds and the Jalapeno and Basil Jack Cheese spread. Upon getting home we found the cheese spread accompanied slices of apples very nicely!
Sadie came into the picture at this point once she got home from work. I was starting to lose a little steam, but she was able to get us going on peeling and chopping the apples to be cooked. Our individual personalities came out at this point, where I wanted to be very precise and Sadie was all about getting the task finished! It makes for a good partnership as we can find a great balance in our cooking. I do have to say that I was feeling a little out numbered though as I had two "Recipes are a suggestion" cooks to my one "Follow the recipe exactly" :) We were able to cook down the apples (no sugar needed as they were so fresh and sweet on their own!), wash the jars and hot pack them.
Nick normally stays clear of the kitchen when we undertake these adventures, but I do have to spotlight his awesome invention to make up for the faulty tool we previously had. The store bought version of the lid grabber was constantly loosing its magnet and so my ever resourceful husband made us a new one out of an old Sonicare toothbrush magnet and floss. Its not the most attractive kitchen tool, but works so much better!Finally we were able to get the jars in the water bath, process them and call it a night. Mom was able to multitask the whole time and dinner was finished about the time the applesauce went into the water bath. Perfect timing!
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