GREENWICH, N.Y. — Have you noticed something changing in the air? The daylight is fading a little sooner than expected, while the wind is blowing a little cooler. Not cold, yet, but a small whisper of things to come. Yes, it’s fall. And while it’s a bit sad to let all that summer fun fade away, fall brings its own unique delights – like apple picking season!
For as long as I can remember, my family has always headed out to a local orchard to load up on our favorite fall fruit. Perhaps it’s where we live? There are hundreds of apple orchards dotted across New York, many with gates open wide to visitors hungry and ready to pick their trees clean. New York is also the second-largest producer of apples. So growing up, we always had several “u-pick” orchards to choose from – my favorite were the old orchards that let you climb on the trees to snag the apples way up in the branches. “Catch, dad!” I’d call down, until our bags were full.
And, oh! The cider and donuts. As much as I loved the apples and all the pies and crumbles on the horizon, there’s nothing that quite compares to a fresh cider donut. Still scorching hot from the fryers, those donuts would be just the thing to warm up our hands, cold from early-morning picking. At least a dozen would always end up on the checkout counter, but there was never a full dozen that would make it home to the kitchen counter.
Once the apples made it home, that was when the baking began. I’d sit at the counter, peeler in hand and try to get the peels off in one go (still not great at that, I have to admit!). My grandmother’s apple pies were always the gold standard, even if she’d always be her own worst critic. You’d walk into her house and she’d insist her latest pie “just wasn’t quite right,” for one reason or another. I could never tell, so I was always happy to eat up the failures! So would everyone else – her pies would never hang around for long. What I wouldn’t give for one of those “failures” today. Some recipes really do come from the heart. They just don’t taste quite the same as in our memories.
Even after I branched out on my own, I always tried to make it home for a weekend of apple-picking with family. It became an important part of marking the transition from summer to fall, even more than the start of school. I’ve had the good fortune of making many years of memories against the backdrop of apple picking, and hopefully, there are many more years to come. I’ll be sure to attempt another pie of my own… and although it may not come out “quite right” in my book, I’m sure it’ll be gobbled up all the same!
Happy Fall!
Brittany Jenks
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