Hollenbeck's Cider Mill

Two weekends ago, Boo says to me:  let's take a little drive out to Hollenbeck's.

Her mother has been staying with us and the plan was for her to come along, too...

For a brief moment, I thought about staying home to get some now non-existent quiet "me" time, 

and I almost said, "Why don't two just go and bring me back some cider and a donut?"

Thank goodness I came to my senses and said no such thing!

I had never been to Hollenbeck's before.

It's an unassuming little place in Virgil, NY.

An easy trip from our part of Ithaca, it's on the way to Greek Peak.

Family owned, and apparently still run by the son of the founder.

I love this sign.

They have sooooooo many apples in soooo many gigantic crates.  

I'm sure many a child has wanted to crawl into them and play, 

as if the apples were the balls in the ball pits at Chuck E. Cheese. 

And a nice reference sheet of many of the typical varieties 

... might be helpful while you're selecting your apples and daydreaming 

about what you might do with them...  

Boo was on a mission and got a bunch of Honeycrisps to make caramel apples, 

a treat she makes once a year now, and every year she's getting a little bit better 

at getting the caramel to stick to the apple 

and not slide all the way down to the bottom in a big glump.

Glump or no glump, they're always mind-blowingly delicious.

It takes great skill to successfully bite into one of these babies,

and the caramel and nuts are so thick, you're unlikely to get any apple in your first bite.

So, we usually cut them into slices so we don't dislocate our jaws.

Some of us (ahem) also like to eat the caramel-nut topping off.

Bad girl. 

You know who you are.
Tsssk, Tssssk.

So the heart of Hollenbeck's is this beautiful hand hewn mill.

It's over 100 years old.  

The wooden beams are massively impressive and so gorgeous, 

and the moving parts are just as beautiful.

My first visit there we saw the pressing taking place and it was SO FUN to watch!

Mr. Hollenbeck himself was back there shooting apple mash onto the trays.

Unfortunately this past weekend when I went with my camera, 

they weren't geared up for pressing just yet.  

Next time I'll take a video of it.

They take sheets of either canvas or wool... I couldn't tell... as a base...

and with the support of a tray 'form,' shoot in a layer of apple mash...

Remove the form, place down some more fabric, and repeat...  

Layer upon layer... I think I counted 10.  Each layer starts out several inches thick.

Even before the press is mechanically engaged,

each additional layer starts pressing the apples on the lower levels with their weight.

The just-pressed cider drops from one stainless steel tray to another

(if you're there during pressing time and wait until they've loaded the last tray of apples, they give samples to anyone who wants one...  they just dip a little cup down into stream of cider and fill it right up.  I know that sounds so simplistic, but there's something about it that

reminds me of when I was a kid, taking my cup down to the spring to drink.

Very gratifying.

I wasn't 100% clear on how the apples got mashed,

but this area had something to do with apples 

coming down a chute maybe? and going up a conveyer belt...

Then they traveled up into a masher of sorts.

  As the apple mash is getting pressed, and that stainless vat is filling up, 

there seems to be a continuous suction of the fresh cider into this doohickie

which could be the UV flash pasteurizer...

By law, I think all cider sold has to be pasteurized in some way.

I've heard that UV flash pasteurization is the least invasive and retains the most flavor.

Many of our local apple farms use this method.

Then there's another tube that sends the cider out to the front room,

where it looks like the bottling up takes place.

  

Everything is super fresh at Hollenbeck's. 

Literally apple to bottle in a short period of time, and sold out before you know it.

 Tucked behind the pressing area is this other fascinating piece of equipment.

A lady told me this area prepped apples for all of the pies they make.

And wow, they make a lot of pies.

 

 

 The apples get peeled and cored (and maybe sliced, too, but I don't remember)...

I was too distracted thinking about...

I have never had such amazing donuts!!!

They're actually nothing like any donut I've ever had before. 

There's no leftover taste of oil or grease at all.  They don't feel fatty.  

They don't make me feel sick or like I should join a gym afterwards. 

They're cakey donuts.  So light and fluffy.

How light they actually are or aren't, I don't care to know.

All I know is they're SO GOOD.

 They have plain, powdered sugar, cinnamon sugar, and sour cream.

Sour cream, I was curious -- a lot like plain, they said, only a touch sweeter.  

The sour cream seems to deepen the flavor a tad.  

It looks like they sometimes offer two additional flavors... 

What could they be?

Maybe one flavor, oh please, I hope, is chocolate!

 I'll have to call them up and see what the two mystery flavors are.

 Standing in line behind me was this boy, maybe in 4th grade, 

who was adamant with his family, that the plain are the absolute best. 

 His mother said things like, "but don't you want some sugar? or cinnamon sugar?" 

and the kid was like "NO!  THE PLAIN ARE THE BEST!"

So, I trusted the 4th grade boy but I also got some cinnamon sugars 

just because they looked so good.

And I tell ya, the boy was spot on.

Those plain donuts just do not disappoint.

Especially when they're wafting their warm soft cakey delightfulness from the bag,

and you pop a portion into your mouth and it literally melts in a pool of bliss.

(and the bag, by the way, I was told to leave OPEN 

or the heat from the donuts would cause them to get all mushy).  

Close the bag at your own peril, people.

 I was perfectly swooning to have a decadent treat later in the afternoon

 of cider I had let get fizzy from the week before, and a Hollenbeck's donut.

If I haven't convinced you yet, check out the texture:

Yeah.

Oh, and the sugar high doesn't stop there.  

I nearly forgot that they also make the best fudge I've ever had in my life, too.

(well besides my grandmother's, which is nostalgically the best fudge ever...)

but Hollenbeck's sea salt caramel fudge is in a whole new galaxy of good:

 There are tidal pools of caramel, drips of sea salt...

Almost too beautiful to eat, but someone's gotta do it.

 

 So, wanna go?

They're open 7 days a week from the first apple until sometime in February, 

but be forewarned that donuts are only on the weekends...

(and they only make donuts for a little bit past Halloween.)

pesto pasta

I managed to catch up on reading my backlog of food magazines this summer...

The recipe that captivated me more than any other was this pesto alla genovese recipe 

from La Cucina Italiana.

I have never seen a pesto that was so silky or so... verdant... so... light green.

 Apparently Paola Laboa, the creator of this recipe, 

has won top honors at the Genova World Pesto Competition.

So, if I did nothing else this summer I knew I had to try making it...!

Luckily my friend Sarah called me up and offered me some basil from her garden,

just as I had decided it was time to make it. (thanks again, Sarah!)

This is how:

First you pop your blender in the freezer.

(the recipe calls for glass, which luckily we have).

Prep 6 loosely packed cups of basil leaves.

(preferably Sweet Genovese)

While your blender is chilling out in the freezer, this is the deal with the basil:

You soak it in cold water. 

You do this 3x for 5 minutes each time, changing the water and rinsing the bowl each time 

and lifting the basil up gently by hand at each change-out.

Then you soak the basil the last time for 15 minutes in cold water.

(the idea behind this is not just to clean the leaves, but to pull out any bitterness, etc.)

 get your chilly blender out

 add 1/3 cup of pine nuts 

(go for real Italian for authenticity and health reasons... 

NOT the Chinese ones... read up on "pine nut mouth" and "pine nut syndrome" 

and you'll be happy to pay more per pound).

and 1/3 of a clove of garlic

cover with 1/3 cup high quality extra-virgin olive oil

then puree

and then add 1 teaspoon of flakey salt

beautiful flakes

Lucky us, we even have a local salt around here...!

This is mined from salt veins deep beneath Seneca Lake.

Now, the basil:

Lift a handful of basil, shake off excess water and place it in your blender.

The directions call for a few short pulses to puree, 

but I found that my blender just didn't cut it for this.

It wasn't incorporating the basil well at all, so I had to blend much longer. 

After you've incorporated all of the basil, then it's time for the cheese.

 The recipe calls for 1/3 cup each 

(have you noticed a theme here, most things are in thirds...)

of freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano

AND fiore sardo OR pecorino toscano

(It cautions against pecorino romano, which is too salty.)

I couldn't find any fiore sardo or pecorino toscano, 

so I went with a nice grana padano from our local Wegmans.

Puree just enough to combine.

Bellissimo!!!

Making the pesto made me want pasta right away.

I had never had chitarra, and it really turned out to be a GREAT companion to the pesto.  

Not too big, not too small.  Just right.

It's a Goldilocks moment. 

Love it.

Chitarra is sort of like a square spaghetti.  It's got a bit more substance.  

It's made on a beautiful wooden board with so many strings 

that it looks like an heirloom musical instrument.

This chitarra had great mouth feel and 

al dente, it was gorgeously chewy and a total pleasure to eat.  

Super satisfying.

Music in the mouth.

 I was stumped about how to get it to be so silky like in the photo from the magazine

and the key seems to be at least somewhat in the pasta process.

 When you're boiling your pasta, take out a little bit of the hot water and put it in the bowl

you will toss your pasta in.  Whisk it with your pesto and it becomes really luscious.

 Then marry the two.

 When it was all said and done,

my pesto pasta did not come out anywhere nearly as silky 

as it looked in the magazine photo,

maybe it was because my blender didn't quite do the job 

but whatever, I'm not complaining.  

Delicious is delicious!

maple popcorn

We have a thing about popcorn.

A thing called addiction, really.

We just call it "pop."

Frequent phrases heard around here are:

Will you make some pop tonight?

Mmmmn, I'm in the mood for some pop.  

Let's get our pop on.

We really should just call it crack, since it's that addictive.

Once you start, you just can't stop with the pop.

Sure, there are savory pops.

The simple pop, popped in olive oil and a touch of salt.

Or, jazzed up with a little nutritional yeast

or nori flakes for umami.

But, the "maple pop" is really where it's at.

So, without further ado,

if you want to get your own maple pop on,

here is how it's done:

First, make your pop, however you would make it:

Boots loves to use this Back to Basics stainless steel popper.
She used to make her pop in a big stock pot
but this is more fun and we can count on it for consistent, even pops.

Try not to add too many kernels, though, or you'll end up with some that didn't pop
 (like we did in this particular batch, you'll see at the end).

Get out a super duper big bowl, you'll need it to be extra big for mixing later:

 This is our "pop bowl."  It's legendary.  If anyone ever breaks it, well, God help them is all I can say.
I pray that it won't be me...

A little bit of background is that this bowl was thrown by a potter with one arm.  For reals.
I could have six arms and use my legs, too, and not be able to throw a bowl this big and amazing!

Then again, I never really managed to get centered on the pottery wheel...
I started to convince myself crooked pottery was really cool, but anyway, I digress.

This bowl's sole mission in life is to deliver the most amazing, delicious, addictive pop,
and I think it enjoys it's job.  Occasionally, it takes a side job holding salad at a big gathering,
but we're not here to talk about salad, are we?

Back to pop:



 Oh, if only I could transform ever so briefly into a teeny tiny person
so I could jump up and down and do swan dives inside a bowl of pop like this,
kind of like Chuck E Cheese's ball pit, but edible, and way better.

FYI:  It's really, really fun to try different varieties of popping corns.

We look for heirloom varieties when possible, and always non-GMO.
We don't want any freaky frankenpop!

I highly recommend any pops from Fireworks.

So flavorful!  The variety above is Savannah Gold.

Now that you have your pop in your big bowl, salt it to your taste, 

and then it's time to really get down to business:

In a saucepan, begin heating a stick of butter and about 2 cups total of sweeteners...

Boots eyeballs it, but says she generally prefers a ratio of 

"like 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1 1/2 cups maple syrup."

She balks when I ask for specifics.  People like specifics, I say...

But I get her point.   

Whether you go a little over or a little under, 

it's butter and brown sugar and maple syrup 

and together they will always do beautiful things.

Let all of that beautifulness come to a rolling boil.  

Check periodically with a thermometer -- you really only need to go to 275F.  

That's plenty.

When it gets that high, whisk in 1/2 tsp of baking soda:

It will froth up and spread further on your pop this way.

It's some kind of alchemy.

Now, get ready to make magic happen!

 Pour the sweet elixir all over your pop:

This is prime time to add peanuts or whatever nut you choose...

 and stir it up to spread that ooey gooey sweetness all around! 

(silicone spatulas are excellent for this)

Keep mixing it up, and voila!

oh yeah yeah yeah!!!!

It begins to harden and cool off fast.  You can eat it almost immediately.

Trust me, you will want to.

!!!!!!!!!!

Sasha getting her pop on with us.

And me getting down to the bottom of my bowl.

 ------------------------------

Enjoy!