Crunch Time!

Ellie Wilson, MS, RDN Senior Nutritionist

Apples are amazing – sweet, tart, crunchy and crave-worthy! This is apple season, and we have the benefit of enjoying local apples and apple cider, especially the super crunchy, super juicy Snapdragon® born and raised in New York! Sweet and spicy, with hints of vanilla, it is a variety that has the bonus of being the product of a cross with the super popular Honey Crisp – YUM! Fun fact – New York ranks second in the U.S. for apple production, with more than 1 billion pounds grown each year! Apples are an important part of New York agriculture: Learn more at applesfromny.com. Apples bring a lot of health benefits to your family – high in soluble and insoluble fiber, they support weight loss, heart and digestive health. Science is uncovering more about their antioxidant powers, too – quercetin, catechin and chlorogenic acid add to the health properties of apples. Check out all of the great varieties we have at your local store, and don’t forget to try the Washington State star, the Piñata from Stemilt! This is a cross of 3 heirloom varieties that resulted in a classic crunchy, juicy apple, with a surprisingly tropical flavor twist! Great in salads, sandwiches, baking and snacking – learn more and find delicious recipes at https://www.stemilt.com/fruits/apples/pinata-apples/. #eatmoreapples!       Visit a Local Orchard or Cider Mill This Season! Written by Jon Waiksnoris, Marketing Intern   It’s fall in the Northeast, and apple flavors are back in popular taste! Now that the weather has finally cooled down, enjoying a beautiful day at the orchard picking apples and tasting cider is the perfect way to celebrate the season. At Price Chopper & Market 32 we love this time of year, because we team up with a variety of local farms who supply our stores with home.grown. apples and cider every fall. Rulfs Orchard in Peru, NY has been a local partner of ours for over 20 years! Originally a dairy farmer, Robert Rulfs added a cider mill to his farm in 1983 and never looked back. Today, the orchard offers many different types of produce, apples, and berries. Featuring pick-your-own Macintosh apples, a corn maze and fresh baked goods, Rulfs Orchard is definitely worth a visit this fall! Established in 1911, Beak & Skiff Apple Orchard is the result of onion farmer George Skiff and dairy farmer Andrew Beak, joining forces to enter the apple business. Located in Lafayette, NY, Beak & Skiff offers a variety of apples for picking. They also produce delicious cider in their mill using fresh apples exclusively grown on their orchard! Cold Hollow Cider Mill is a Vermont cider mill we’ve partnered with for more than 20 years! In 1974, Eric and Francine Chittenden began making apple cider for friends, soon after, they realized they should open up a business. They wanted to make cider to distribute to supermarkets, and become a Vermont tourist attraction in the meantime. Today, through their own old-fashioned style, Cold Hollow Cider Mill is both one of New England’s top producers and one of Vermont’s biggest tourist attractions. Located in Altamont, NY, Altamont Orchards has been a family operated farm in the Capital Region for over 49 years! Dating all the way back to 1792, the farm has been leased and sold numerous times. However, in 1967 the Abbruzzese family became the first family to work and live on the farm. They still own the farm today, promising to raise and produce only the finest products for their community and customers. Be sure to check out their farm market featuring, apples, apple cider donuts, pies, breads, pastries, and more! Check out the info below to find out more about our local apple partners and what they have to offer!

Rulfs Orchard: 531 Bear Swamp Rd, Peru, NY / http://www.rulfsorchard.com/ Walhowdon Farm & Orchards: 33 Walhowdon Way, Lebanon, NH Hudson River Fruit: 65 Old Indian Rd, Milton, NY / https://www.hudsonriverfruit.com/ Sunrise Orchards: 1287 N Bingham St, Cornwall, VT / https://sunriseorchards.com/ Crunch Time Apple Growers: Wolcott, NY / http://www.crunchtimeapplegrowers.com/ Jaeschke’s Orchard: 23 Gould Rd, Adams. MA / http://jaeschkesorchard.com/ Brace’s Orchard: 444 Brace Rd, Dallas, PA Beak & Skiff: 2708 Lords Hill Rd, Lafayette, NY / http://beakandskiff.com/ Breezelands Orchards: 1791 Southbridge Rd, Warren, MA / http://www.breezelandsorchards.com/ Mayer Brothers Cider Mill: 1540 Seneca Creek Rd, Buffalo, NY / http://mayerbrothers.com/cider-mill-store/ Fowler Farms: 10273 Lummisville Rd, Wolcott, NY / http://www.fowlerfarms.com/ Rogers Orchard: 336 Long Bottom Rd, Southington, CT / http://www.rogersorchards.com/default.aspx Cold Hollow Cider Mill: 3600 Waterbury Stowe Rd, Waterbury Center, VT / http://www.coldhollow.com Altamont Orchards: 6654 Dunnsville Rd, Altamont, NY / http://altamontorchards.com/

(more…) Written by Molly Zingler, New York Apple Association With so many great-tasting apple varieties available this time of year, it is possible to snack on a different flavor every day for weeks – if not months!  New York growers produce more apple varieties than any other state, so when you’ve had your fill of fresh fruit then start baking with them. You turned off your oven for the summer, so now that fall is here let’s ease back into baking gently. First, here are our tips to lay the foundation – crust, if you will – for the best baking experience:

• Make the right choice: All apple varieties are not created equally. Choose varieties that are recommended for baking. Which means never choosing Red Delicious.
• Make the hard choice: Select apples that are firm to the touch and aren’t bruised. Handle them gently to prevent blemishes.
• Just say no to the fruit bowl: Refrigerated apples last much longer than room-temperature ones.
• Pucker up to prevent browning: To keep apple slices and dices from browning before baking, bathe them in a mixture of half lemon juice, half water – or 100 percent apple juice fortified with vitamin C. (Lemon juice = citric acid = vitamin C.)
• Get mixed up: When making a pie, crisp, slump, betty, crumble, or any other baked goodie that calls for sliced or diced apples, use a blend of sweet and tart apple varieties for balanced flavor.
• Dress for success: Most of the apple’s health benefits are in the peel, so leave it on.

Now let’s bake something! The pinnacle of baking with apples is the two-crust apple pie, but that can also be daunting for many bakers. If you don’t feel ready to tackle a two-cruster, start with a crostada. This rustic, free-form pastry tastes just as good as its more formal cousin.  We’ve made it even easier by calling for a ready-made crust. When you’re ready to move up to a two-crust pie, find that recipe (and many others) at www.nyapplecountry.com/recipes. For our advice on which varieties are best for baking, visit www.nyapplecountry.com/apple-country-useage-chart. Apple Walnut Crostada

• 1 refrigerated/ready−made piecrust
• cooking spray
• 6 or 7 baking apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/4 cup all−purpose flour
• dash of vanilla extract
• 2 Tbsp. butter, cut into pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray and set aside. Place apple slices, sugar, walnuts, flour and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl and toss well.  Transfer piecrust to baking sheet. Spoon apple mixture into center of piecrust and fold up sides of pastry to capture apples and juices. Dot with butter. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Serves 8. Nutrition Info: Each serving contains 320 calories, 51 g carbohydrate, (4 g fiber), 2 g protein, 14 g fat, (5 g saturated fat), 10 mg cholesterol, and 125 mg sodium. Photo credit: U.S. Apple Association, www.usapple.org. About Molly Zingler Molly comes by her apple props honestly. In addition to being marketing director for New York Apple Association, she grew up in New York Apple Country and recently married a New York state apple grower. About New York Apple Association, Inc. A nonprofit agricultural trade association based in Fishers, N.Y., NYAA represents the state’s commercial apple growers. The association supports profitable growing and marketing of New York apples through increasing demand for apples and apple products, representing the industry at state and federal levels, and serving as the primary information source on New York apple-related matters. For more information, visit www.nyapplecountry.com. Written by Sara Lilkas, Marketing Intern  When people ask about my favorite foods my first instinct is to choose apples. But when I say apples I do not only mean the delicious fruit, I’m also including the multitude of apple flavored baked goods, ciders, and the association they have with fall. Growing up in Upstate New York aka Apple Country, I would probably be considered a social pariah if apples were not high on my list of favorite foods. I couldn’t even tell you why I like apples so much since each variety has its own distinct flavor. If I had to pick my favorite varieties they would have to be golden delicious, granny smith, and honeycrisp (so you can see my taste go from very sweet to very tart.) The real reason that I have apples on my mind is the weather is beginning to cool down so in addition to pulling out the scarves and boots, apples will begin to pop up everywhere again (which is fantastic.) What’s even more fantastic is the amount of apples available from local growers. Even though New York State may be known for apples, I have recently learned they are actually grown throughout the Northeastern United States. There are tons of orchards throughout the Northeast and many of them are still family owned and run. Price Chopper works hard to find the best tasting apples from local growers located in various parts of New York, Connecticut, and Vermont (and that’s only including a few of the growers they purchase from.) In this search for the best apples Price Chopper has developed long term relationships with many growers including Sunrise Orchards in Vermont (20 years!) Sunrise Orchards and Roger’s Orchards in Connecticut take great pride in how their apples are grown. Both orchards are certified as Eco Apples™ and have to adhere to strict growing practices in order to receive this certification. The program focuses on the quality of the soil the apples are grown on, and keeping beneficial insects within the environment. As part of this process having as much information about what is going on in the orchard and the plants surrounding the area is essential. By monitoring insect populations, growing conditions, and other factors that are important to the growing process growers can determine whether it is necessary to treat against any unwanted fungus or pest that may be harmful to the apple crop. The Eco Apple™ certification is not given out to every orchard, every year. In order to receive the certification the orchards have to undergo a review by the IPM Institute of North America, to ensure that the growing conditions have been upheld for the year. As I mentioned earlier I really love ciders. Every once in a while I may indulge in a hard cider (my favorite is Woodchuck!), but the typical nonalcoholic fare is my true favorite. There is nothing better than a beautiful fall day with a glass of apple cider. I’ve recently been experimenting with warming apple cider for those days when the first fingers of winter reach into the air. I’ve found warming up apple cider and adding a pinch of cinnamon does the trick! When it comes to apple baking I love the classics. There is nothing better in my mind then a warm slice of apple pie (or a whole apple pie whatever floats your boat). My best friend has recently been trying to teach me how to bake and we decided to start big with the pie. We used this recipe for an apple pie from scratch, but a pre-made or gluten free crust could easily be substituted! How do you enjoy apples in the fall? Share your apple creations on Instagram with #PriceChopper and #Market32!