Roxbury Russett Blossoms

In late spring we’re rushing to finish bottling while caring for an orchard awake far too early, but the Phoebe is good for a smile—I anthropomorphise her antics, imagine her extreme case of OCD then fret that the blacksnake will find her low vulnerable nest. But this determined little bird reminds me of a paradox I frequently encounter in the wine and cider market.

Last week I called on a prospect, a charming restaurant with the motto “Fresh. Local. Good.” The menu names the provenance of every ingredient, most sourced within a few hundred miles…Guilford Mills, Goat Lady Dairy, Snow Creek Family Farm and more. I see passion in every dish, from “Very Good Deviled Eggs” to an honest burger with grass fed beef. This is a place I’d eat twice a week, if it were located in the wilds of Southwest Virginia.

The beverage list is another matter. Here the Factory Farm rules with cheap imported wines, “Big Box” California options and six pack ciders. There is nothing artisan or local about the beverage side of the “Fresh. Local. Good.” claim at this restaurant or at many others. This focused chef likely drives extra miles to purchase heirloom tomatoes and certainly pays more for grass fed local beef. So why is it that so many chefs and owners often lose their focus when it comes to the beverage list?

Foggy Ridge is lucky to partner with several retailers that carry through on their promise to sell something other than Factory Wine. In Durham, Wine Authorities’ Craig Heffley offers artisan made estate wine from around the world, with an emphasis on small family farms. Craig offers well run and informative tastings, with real education about the “farm” side of winemaking, and I always find an interesting new wine I can’t resist when I drop off cider. Charlottesville’s Feast has long championed local food, and extends this focus to Virginia wine and cider. Their well edited wine rack is an ideal companion to their over the top cheese counter. Foggy Ridge Cider’s SC and AL distributor, Grassroots Wine, boasts “Farms, Not Factories” and “Tractors, Not Tankers” as its mottoes. You can see this passion—and focus—in their portfolio with its excellent selection of grower champagnes. Again, all hard to resist.

If retailers can focus on Farmer Wine, so can restaurants. Here’s my challenge to the many talented chefs out there who focus on produce and meat from local family farms: peruse your wine list and add a few Farmer Wines to the beverage side of the equation! Take a moment and consider your focus on farming…and think over my replies to your most common objections:

Cost

“Local wine—which in a good part of our market area is Virginia wine—is too expensive.” Too expensive compared to what? Compared to cheap imports made from mechanically harvested grapes, sweetened with concentrate and made in enormous quantities, yes local wine and cider is more expensive. But aren’t your heirloom beans and tomatoes more expensive than produce from Sysco? Frank Morgan writes eloquently about the value of Virginia wine on his DrinkWhatYouLike blog. Try judging beverages on quality and value the same way you judge ingredients for your dinner menu and I’ll bet you find a few farmer wines or ciders to add to your list, if not from Virginia, perhaps from a farmer-winemaker in another corner of the world.

Quality

“Local wine is not very good.” Granted, I hear this more in NC and SC than in VA, but there is a lingering perception that no good wine (or cider) can be made in this region. Think again. It was not too long ago that restaurants were famous for flying in New Zealand lamb. Smart chefs now offer lamb from Border Springs Farm and look closer to home for compelling produce that captures their imagination and palates. Taste again and learn about beverages made with care and skill by some of the top ranked wineries and award winning cideries in the country. Virginia wine—and cider—more than holds its own. If you think otherwise, you haven’t tasted lately.

Comfort

“Customers want to drink something they know they’ll like.” I just don’t buy this one—Foggy Ridge Cider’s restaurant customers offer inventive menus full of snout to tail meats, uncommon herbs and the latest heirloom vegetables. Pickled ramps, Sea Island Red Peas, Candied Bacon and even Head Cheese are everyday ingredients for most chef driven spots on our customer list. And customers line up for the latest from these talented chefs. Why not offer the same surprise and delight on the beverage list? Charlie Berg of the late Town House restaurant in Chilhowie, VA, did an amazing job of pairing John Shields’ highly inventive food with a wide range of beverages from big Barolos to Virginia Viognier to Sake to Foggy Ridge Cider. In Rogue 24′stasting menu I see similar creativity in the match ups between RJ Cooper’s delightful dishes and the perfect beverage, often an uncommon one (cider again!). And Jay Pierce at Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen pairs Skilled Fried Chicken (fried in lard of course) with Foggy Ridge Handmade for his famous Tuesday suppers.

Cider Loves Dessert

Even Peter Brett at DC’s Blue Duck Tavern combined 5 of his special desserts quite creatively with 5 Foggy Ridge ciders, proving that customers want to be delighted not bored.

Back at Foggy Ridge, bird song surrounds me in the spring orchard. Jack’s bees visit thousands of blooms a day; I dig ramps and find a new fox den. This season is full of distractions from late frost to the first asparagus. I don’t know about you, but I’m taking a lesson from the resourceful, determined little Phoebe who sits contentedly on her nest even while I pressure wash the crush pad—I’m doing my best to keep my focus.

PS…Remember that restaurant with the “Fresh. Local. Good.” motto? They just placed an order for Foggy Ridge Cider.

Collaboration of all sorts fuels my creativity. One of the best perks of cidermaking is the many opportunities to work with and be inspired by scores of talented people. So before we all get too serious about crossing names off our holiday lists, indulge me as I digress from this season of buying and selling by shining a light on a few collaborations that light my fire.

The many talented chefs who create dishes showcasing the subtleties of craft cider are top on my list—Collin Donnelly at the Red Hen in Lexington, VA, has a mean butcher knife and amazing charcuterie to match. His Cider Dinner Menu was a perfect marriage of cider, cured meat and pork in every course (dessert included). At JuJuBe restaurant in Chapel Hill, Charlie Deal takes another tack with his “almost Asian” approach to pairing heat and fruit. A room full of adventuresome eaters was awed by his eight course meal, paired with our four ciders. And Jay Pierce, at the Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen helm, always inspires. His mid course Margarita shook up the Lucky 32 Cider Dinner and sent everyone home with a smile.

John Shields and his over-the-top team at Town House in Chilhowie, VA, never fails to rock my world. Sommelier Charlie Berg’s favorite cider pairing is Foggy Ridge Sweet Stayman with Chilled Vegetable Minestrone—hardly your grandma’s soup. I can’t wait to try our newest cider, Foggy Ridge Handmade, with Wellfleet Oysters, ground cherries, black butter and butter whey. See the Town House website for photos taht are sure to make you dream…and drool.

I prefer “Handmade Libations” to the term “Mixology”—it just sounds more earthy. But regardless of nomenclature, the bar mavens out there who create glasses of deliciousness constantly amaze. Helen at Single Brothers Bar in Winston Salem whipped up a Ginger Fog with fresh Newtown Pippin juice from our last pressing, ginger liqueur and a slash of Foggy Ridge Serious Cider. Bistro Bethem in Fredericksburg served a Dugspur Fizz this fall with Foggy Ridge Handmade and stewed cranberries. And nearby Local Roots in Roanoke offers a Foggy Side Car on their winter menu.

Some collaborators inspire just by doing what they do—I always leave my friends at Full Steam Brewery in Durham with my head turned around and spinning with new ideas. Their Beer Biscuits are savory cookies that pair well with brews like Belgian Ale with Paw Paws and a rich dark beer aged in bourbon barrels that felt like velvet. Stay tuned for the magic Brewmaster Chris will work with Foggy Ridge apple pommace from our last pressing of Newtown Pippin apples. We visited Ashley Christiansen’s new spots in Raleigh this month, Beasely’s Chicken + Honey and Chuck’s, and left with smiles and wishes that these two warm and inventive restaurants were closer to Foggy Ridge—I’d be at both weekly for the best burgers and chicken I’ve had in years. Jason Alley blew me away at his new Richmond spot, Pasture, with tiny plates of gorgeous and delicious food. Lamb from Border Springs Farm was voted “best dish” at our table. Though I frequently cook Craig Rogers’ lamb at home, when I see “Border Springs” on a menu I can’t resist. Craig is a thoughtful writer, skilled shepherd and generous soul and I’m happy he and Joan live close to Foggy Ridge.

Virginia wine—and cider—makers collaborate too. Sarah Gorman from Cardinal Point Winery will join Foggy Ridge at the Charleston Food & Wine Show in March 2012, representing Virginia at a hot after-party at Husk restaurant, named 2011 Best New Restaurant by Bon Appetit. And our local wine trail, with new members Attimo Winery and Stanburn Winery plans two joint events for 2012. Many wine trails just say “hey, we make wine near each other” but our Mountain Road Wine Experience actually collaborates on tasting tours and more.

There is one orchard job I can never do alone—in late August we shake the golf ball size Virginia Crabapples onto blue tarps laid on the orchard floor. This small apple is a bear to pick, and since we press it promptly, we always shake the ripe fruit from the tree, an English cider apple tradition. When the plastic tarp is covered with fruit, four of us grab a corner and heave the striped red and yellow apples into a bin. I always call out, “all together now”…and always mean every word.

But it is “appetite” in the larger sense that grabs my attention these days—our appetite for learning, friendship and experience that informs and enriches life. The Southern Foodways Alliance Symposium in Oxford, MS offered the perfect platform for exploring appetites of all kinds. From Chef Linton Hopkins’ State of the Nation opening remarks, Michael McFee’s poetry and Shirley Sherrod’s moving story, to a closing opera on collards, this year’s SFA was a feast for the heart, soul and stomach.

First, you have to love an organization with a food letter called The Gravy, Potlikker Film Fests and an Order of the Okra. Incoming SFA president, Linton Hopkins, chef and co-owner of Atlanta’s Restaurant Eugene and Holeman & Finch Public House, said that growing and producing food (and beverages) is “a life not a lifestyle”. The advice, “know who’s making your meal; food tastes better when you know the cook”, applies to meals, meats, wine and cider.

Poet Michael McFee began his remarks with the University of North Carolina’s Writing Program’s motto—”fun wants us to have it”, a generous theme for dining well on food, beverage and life. My husband, Chuck, slaughters a pig a year for our home use so we laughed especially hard at Michael’s poetic description of pig skin—”the apotheosis of the epidermis”. Poets do “recalibrate things”, and I can’t help but think that wine and cidermaking are better with a little poetry on the side.

Even if you cringe when you think of Tosca, don’t miss the 25 minute podcast of Leaves of Greens, a Southern Oratorio in Three Parts, commissioned by the SFA for this year’s Symposium. Every good opera is full of appetites—love, lust, revenge and drama. You’ll laugh and cry at this touching tribute to well lived lives and, of course, collards. Expect poetry from Fred Chappell, James Applewhite and a rousing finale by Cicely C. Browne:

“Yes, keep your cordon bleu—By Gollard!/I’d trade it all for one big collard!”

In early October, New York’s New Amsterdam Market overflowed with late fall produce, artisan bread and cider. Brooklyn’s Marlow & Sons  satisfied appetites at their Cider Bar with snacks and cider including Foggy Ridge, and our friends at Farnum Hill, Slyboro Cider and Bellweather Cider. Andrew Tarlow and his team served oysters from Virginia’s Rappahannock River Oysters—Travis Croxton grows plump briny oysters for top chefs around the US and they are the very best. For me, there’s nothing like a naked oyster to stimulate appetite, and the RRO oysters sold out early. Seek out Travis and his cousin Ryan, generous young men whose vision and drive has created a new version of a 100 year old family business, and garnered a 2005 Food & Wine Tastemaker’s Award for top talents who’ve changed the world of food and wine by age 35.

For chefs, “more is more”, so NY cider enthusiasts dined on house cured meat, head-on shrimp, eggs and anchovies, while drinking prodigious amounts of Foggy Ridge Sweet Stayman, Slyboro Hidden Star and Farnum Hill Dooryard ciders.

New York’s Cider Week continued at Glynwood in Cold Spring, NY, an education center that hosted Hudson River Valley food producers and visiting French cidermakers. We’d had dinner with the French crowd the night before at Marlow & Sons, so after friendly greetings (three kisses, not two), I wandered around the elegant Glynwood barn sampling rillettes oozing duck fat, the most beautiful bread I’ve ever seen, smoked venison and funky French cider.
The French cidermakers participated in an exchange program with Hudson River Valley cidermakers and food growers—I was struck by the differences in approaches to farming and cidermaking. Many of the French visitors were 4th or 5th generation farmers, growing fruit, pigs and vegetables on land farmed for hundreds of years by relatives. Labor is expensive (13 euros per hour minimum) so they use mechanical harvesting and other approaches we might label “industrial” not “artisan”. The French seemed more tied to tradition—”why do you ferment this way” was often answered by “this is the way it’s done”. But the French side of the Glynwood barn was rich with complex flavors, deep family connections and lots of love.

The Hudson River Valley side brimmed with well made jams and chutneys, slow rise brick oven bread and cider from Dan Wilson and Susan Knapp of Slyboro Cider. Their Ice Cider explodes with fresh apple flavor—you’ll need to wait until next year since they are, no surprise, sold out for now.

On the train ride from Cold Spring to Manhattan I was full—full of ideas, new friends and deep connections. For a moment, my appetite was satisfied. I took a few notes and tried to make sense of the rich stew I’d enjoyed in Cider Week, but mostly watched slanting light on the Hudson River.

Back home I learned my dear friend’s husband had been struck by a car and is in critical condition at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte. Armed with late apples, I drove to NC with the aroma of Arkansas Blacks in my car. Outside Intensive Care, this big loving family was tight with worry, concerned with Robert’s future and full of love for one another. A wide windowsill overflowed with sandwiches, chips and donuts. I sliced the deep burgundy apples into a big pile, and cut sharp cheddar cheese. No one had an appetite—but by the end of the day, the apples were all gone.

My husband and I love to hike on vacation, and our August trip to England was no exception. Public footpaths skirt, and sometimes invade, private property so, voyeur that I am, I had a first hand look at back and front gardens across Oxfordshire. From stately manors to attached houses, we glimpsed the intimate choices of passionate gardeners. Crabapples (the edible version) bordered drives. Pear trees hung over car parks. And apples—apples populated front lawns and back gardens of almost every home we passed.

Backyard Fruit Near Oxford

Sure, southwest England is apple (and cider) territory. But apples, and many other tree fruits, are quite adaptable can be grown from Canada well into the southern US. Lee Calhoun, author of the newly revised Old Southern Apples, identifies many apples that will flourish in our warm corner of the world, even at low elevations. So why don’t Americans plant more fruit trees? Are we short sighted? Addicted to tasteless Red Delicious from Kroger? Enamored of Fujis from cold storage in New Zealand?

I say we’re simple uneducated and underexposed to the myriad flavors and uses of home grown tree fruit. A decade ago we accepted cardboard textured tomatoes in January, but now we know much more about the flavor—and politics—of locally grown seasonal vegetables. It’s not such a leap to understand the market dynamics and flavor nuances of fruit. As a tiny missive in apple education here are a few ways you can break the NIMBY model for fruit:

Enjoy Seasonal Uncommon Apples—Apples are harvested from July through December; long storing varieties like Arkansas Black or Newtown Pippin eat well into early spring. Join a CSA that grows uncommon fruit or seek out apples new to you at local farmer’s markets. Think of apples as a seasonal fruit with a very long season and many uses: summer apples like Lodi and Summer Transparent for applesauce, pie apples like Grimes Golden and Roxbury Russett (always use a mixture of tart and sweet), Rome and Norfolk Beefing for baking apples and Ashmead’s Kernel when you’re feeling especially adventuresome.

Grow Your Own—County Extension Offices, Master Gardeners and enlightened nurseries offer workshops and information on apples suited to your home terroir. In VA and NC, learn from Vintage Virginia Apples, source of over 100 apple varieties plus many heirloom peaches, and Century Farm Orchards near Reidsville, NC for apples and pears. Michael Phillips, author of The Apple Grower: Guide for the Organic Orchardist, can help you avoid unnecessary sprays. Plus you don’t want pristine looking fruit anyway—flavor is the goal!

Save Uncommon Apples—Perhaps the most exciting way to appreciate fine flavored fruit is to “save” some. Foggy Ridge Cider sponsors AppleCorps, a group dedicated to saving uncommon apples through collecting, identifying and grafting fruit in danger of extinction. This virtual collection of apple enthusiasts, with no dues, regular meetings or fund raisers, identifies and propagates important regional apples like Johnson’s Fine Winter, Black Gilliflower, Fallawater and many excellent strains of Virginia Winesap. AppleCorps grafters have made more of the  largest apple tree in Virginia, found on Double Cabin Road in Dugspur by cider lover Brian Kreowski. And grafters insured that a family favorite, Hubbardson Nonesuch, is never lost. At Foggy Ridge’s Fall Open House, Tom Burford, the Apple Whisperer, identified Double Red Delicious (“worth grafting” according to Tom), Grimes Golden Pippin (“not corrupted” according to Tom), Blayx Stayman, Palouse and Lowry, pronounced “Larry’s” by our Southwest Virginia neighbors.

So why not in your backyard? Fruit trees purchased from a nursery can bear delicious complex apples in a year or two. Apples you graft yourself, in three or four. Take the long view.

For inspiration, check out Tom Burford’s  top twenty dessert apples.

Dessert Collection at Brogdale

First the dessert apple collection, “dessert” being apple-speak for eating and cooking apples. In 1978, the Brogdale founders planted over 2000 apple varieties from around the world. In the US we think of the Big Five—Red and Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Gala and Fuji—those ubiquitous and boring yellow, red and green apples tasting only of “tart” and “sweet”. Most Americans don’t know that apples can be orange, burgundy, striped and brown, with complex flavors, aromas and textures. Cox’s Orange Pippin (an ingredient in Foggy Ridge Cider’s First Fruit blend) is aromatic with a spicy finish. Bramley’s Seedling is sharp, with upfront acidity that puckers, then mellows to a complex blend of tart and sweet. Brogdale’s apples ripen from July to early spring—on my August visit boxes of Wheeler’s Russet, Macy, Sans Pareil and Claude Coates were stacked at the end of rows.

Claude Coates Apple

I confess to a severe case of apple envy in the Brogdale cider apple collection. Six long rows of 95 cider apple varieties, most from the West Counties and France, showcase the most famous cider apples in the world. Somerset, Devon, Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire are “cider central” and many apple stars were born in this fertile corner of England. Even if you’ve never tasted the fruit, the names are compelling—Tom Putt, Black Dabinett, Breakwell Seedling, Black Vallis, Cider Lady’s Finger, Ellis Bitter and Morgan Sweet.

Breakwell's Seedling

Black Vallis

The Brogdale property includes a meat market with local produce, heavy on the gooseberries and cherries, and a real butcher shop. I mean real, with actual pigs lounging in a sizable pen just around the corner from apple fed pork chops. These Mangalista pigs, short legged and half the size of an English Spot, produce flavorful meat, darker than factory farmed pork and densely marbled. The local perry and cider was a disappointment with selections dominated by Double Vision Perry from West County and Rough Old Wife cider from Kent.

Back at Foggy Ridge, my feet are on the ground but my head is still in heaven. After all, I just ripped out 60 trees that weren’t producing—maybe I’ll add Tom Putt to the Foggy Ridge cider luminaries and create a Brogdale Blend.

Wheeler's Russett at Brogdale National Fruit Collection

Who knew that apples and cider would connect me to the creative musicians behind Rev Peyton’s Big Damn Band? As a sideline to his Floyd Fest filming, Todd Godbout and MyJoogTV visited Foggy Ridge with Breezy, Cuz and the Rev in tow. We talked about vegetable gardens, hand hewn log homes, Indiana apples and, of course, music.

The Rev’s long time inspiration, Charley Patton, was a topic, as was that rare quality “authenticity”. All you have to do to see Rev Peyton’s authenticity is listen to their music video, Clap Your Hands. That and their latest album, Peyton on Patton, which played at Foggy Ridge all weekend. My dictionary defines “authentic” as “of undisputed origin” or “made or done in the traditional or original way”. The Rev, who owns every recording Patton ever made, spoke eloquently about all aspects of Charley Patton’s life, from his life at Dockery Plantation to his early singing, playing and composing what we now call the Delta Blues, betraying a familiarity that spoke of long study and deep affection. The Rev, Breezy and Cuz live in hand hewn log homes on a remote farm in Indiana, so of course our July conversation covered tomatoes, beans, night skies full of stars and mosquitoes, and other summer rural talk.

It’s always the deep dive that hooks me—the consuming, driving interest that takes one person into all the intimacies of another life or a subject. Charley Patton is that deep interest for The Rev, who spoke as if he’d just finished a set at Floyd Fest with his buddy Charley. Every Patton guitar lick, turn of phrase and technique are as familiar to The Rev as his own instruments piled in the red van in Foggy Ridge’s parking lot.

For me, it’s apples. When I see Pomme Gris ripening in the Old Orchard, the small brown apples pulling limbs close to the ground, I feel the rusty skin in the palm of my hand and taste the crisp spicy flesh. I know this apple, and scores more, because I’m in their life, and they are without a doubt in mine.

So take a break and listen to wisdom from The Rev on MyJoogTV’s interview at Foggy Ridge.

Each August morning, Foggy Ridge earns its name. Mist rises from Rock House Creek below the Old Orchard, cloaking Carrie’s Hill and obscuring our view of Buffalo Mountain. Early morning sun hits the orchard and Chuck’s vegetable garden, but fog lingers on our ridge until breakfast dishes are done. I love to watch the mist float through what our neighbors call the “holler”, then boil over the North Pasture like gray surf.

When the fog disappears, and unfiltered morning sun hits the stone patio, I’m reminded of August’s weight—even at 3000 feet elevation, the late summer air is heavy with moisture. Apples full of sugar pull limbs close to the ground and the tomato trellis strains with buckets of Sun Gold and Brandywine. And then there is zucchini. Twelve pounds this morning alone, and that’s being conservative about harvesting those lovely ridged Costada Romanesca. This squash from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange is a winner, dense and meaty with a delicate squash flavor. I haul cucumbers, purple pole beans and yellow wax beans and to the kitchen, then think about friends who might use this bounty. But all our friends have gardens and in this fecund month they lock the car when visiting, to avoid a spare bushel of something in the back seat.

Just last month our apples were hard and green with white immature seeds. In late August only Hewe’s Crab and Graniwinkle are ripe, but it takes just a glance at bent limbs to see that sugar levels are increasing. Roxbury Russett outside my Cider House office is fat and rusty. Even this stiff branched tree leans toward the orchard floor in August.

Last night a thunderstorm cooled my evening patio time so much that I fetched a sweater. But the August air never lightened, and I breathed summer weight while reading Andrea Reusing’s Cooking in the Moment, a lovely read full of wisdom, joy and creativity. Andrea champions local food, true flavor and we’re happy to say, cider, at her Chapel Hill restaurant, The Lantern. I’ll never forget the pile of burgundy Arkansas Black apples in her restaurant window that greeted my cider delivery last fall.

Andrea's Booksigning at 3Cups in Chapel Hill

But for now, I’ll lighten this heavy month with Andrea’s heirloom tomato salad—she suggests salting tomatoes tomatoes to release their juice and heighten distinctive flavors. Tonight my plate will be a painting with pale yellow Lemon Drop, orange Sun Gold, dark Cherokee Red, yellow Mr. Stripey and nearly pink German Johnson. I’ll drizzle a little olive oil and sop salty tomato juice with a thick slice of bread from Rob at Chicken Bridge Bakery. I feel a cool breeze already.