This content was originally published in September 2017 and edited with updated information.
There will be plenty of time throughout the holidays to indulge in all things pumpkin spice, from lattes and baked goods to chewing gum and Pringles, but let's not let that vibrant vegetable overshadow autumn's other star player: the humble and all-American apple.
Now is the time when clear blue skies and still-warm sunshine send us venturing into orchards to harvest among crooked boughs laden with crisp, juicy doctor-deterrents. A staple with applications in baking, bobbing and both hard and simply delicious cider, this fruit crops up all over the Lehigh Valley with so many ways to enjoy.
Pick
Anybody who knows good food knows it only gets so good at a supermarket, especially when it comes to fresh produce. Supermarket apples are often shipped a long way, and to withstand the journey, picked early and firm from the tree, halting the ripening process before they've had a chance to develop their full flavor.
Local farmers' markets can offer you better quality and variety, especially at Emmaus Farmers' Market, held in the bank parking lot at 235 Main Street. One of their vendors is North Star Orchard, a small farm in Cochranville that grows over 350 varieties of apples, both the very newly developed and the heritage varieties of old. A bit over an hour and a half away, you may not opt to venture there to pick your own this year, but thankfully they're right here in Emmaus to try.
Grim's Orchard in Breinigsville boasts almost 20,000 trees and over 20 varieties, which become available in phases through the fall. This month you'll find types like the crunchy, sweet Crimson or Honeycrisp, as well as less-recently developed sorts like the Macoun. If you're closer to Coplay, Gogle Farms is also nearby.
A Couple Tips for Picking Your Own Apples:
Don't go rogue and start grabbing whatever is gleaming at you from between the leaves.
Your farm escort will tell you what's ready and what still needs a few weeks to develop. Instead of pulling away from the branch, grasp the fruit and twist upward, and it'll come off if it's ready.
Eat
Now what are you going to do with all these apples fresh from the sun-soaked orchard? They'll keep for months in cool temperatures, but if there isn't room in the fridge, you can stash them in a basement or pantry. Wrapping them individually in newspaper helps keep one bad apple from spoiling the whole bunch, and be sure to eat bruised apples first, because they're doomed to spoil the quickest. Whether you dose yourself with one a day or convert them into wonderful desserts, they'll be available all winter—while supplies last!
Of course, this may only whet your appetite for still more apple goodness, and there are spots around the Valley to get your sweet cinnamon fix. Scholl's has apple cider doughnuts, Back Door Bakeshop does a mean apple pie and, in autumn, Jumbars offers a rustic apple tart.
Some orchards, like Pappy's in Coopersburg, have a bakery attached and, in this case, they make good use of all the fruit on their farm for breads, cakes, cookies, pies, scones, bars and that delicious cider to wash it all down.
Drink
One of the best flavors on a cold fall night is the taste of hot apple cider with the scent of bonfire smoke in the air. Whether it gets you tipsy or not, the juice of this fruit finds its way into gallons of delicious local drinks.
For the best straight apple cider in the area, many would point you toward the unpasteurized apple cider at Scholl Orchard's shop on Center Street in Bethlehem. South past Coopersburg, Pappy's Orchard offers unpasteurized and hard cider made with over seven varieties of apple, aiming for just the right balance of flavor. These folks have a glorious orchard, but they're way too serious about a perfectly timed harvest to allow the rabble to pick their own. Count on a finely crafted cider here!
Franklin Hill Vineyards started producing hard cider in 2016. Originally sold in a sort of wine-sized bottle that let the effervescence of the cider dissipate too quickly, they switched to cans, which are much easier to take camping, canoeing, to the beach, etc. The eight different apples used for this woman-owned winery's cider are grown on a farm right next to their vineyard, and the 7 percent ABV cider comes in three varieties: Standard, Hopped and cinnamon-spiced “Fire” cider.
Hardball Cider hails from a cidery in Mount Bethel offering the locally sourced cider with names like Splitter and Curveball. With farm-fresh flavors like cranberry, cinnamon and peach, they're taking the cider game to the next level.
The Colony Meadery isn't letting itself get left out of the cider scene. They're serving up two varieties of a drink you may not have known existed, the love child of mead and cider known as cyser. Their Hopped Cyser has a blend of hops lending it a big, bright nose, while Pie-Eyed Granny is imbued with apple pie spices and can be drunk warmed and mulled (added rum is an option, subsequent driving is not). Both are made with local cider from Scholl's.
For powerful cocktails that taste like autumn in a glass, you may venture to try Xplorer Spirits Apple Pie Moonshine from Kilimanjaro Distillery in Allentown. Made with vodka, whiskey, apples and Tanzanian cinnamon, it packs a wallop at 80 proof.
Still more adventurous is the prospect of making cider at home, which doesn't seem so far-fetched for a world in which everyone seems to be craft brewing, pickling and fermenting at breakneck speed. The lost arts of the homestead have been very much found, and that might include visiting Keystone Home Brew to get a few gallons of cider and all the necessary implements to get a batch started for yourself.
Celebrate
Get your apple-loving friends and family together and strike out into the confetti of drifting leaves, the hint of wood smoke on the air, the snug touch of the scarf girding you for autumn adventure. The following festivals feature this versatile fruit and offer activities for everyone.
The IronPigs will once again host the Lehigh Valley Food, Wine and Cider Festival at Coca-Cola Park in October. Tickets tend to sell like hot cakes, so if you would like to frolic from wine tasting to cider tasting to fantastic food trucks all in the area of a baseball field on a fine fall day, pin your spot down ASAP. Many of the cideries mentioned, as well as local and regional wineries, are represented, along with food trucks of every flavor for endless pairing potential.
A less-alcoholic event takes place at the Rodale Institute in Kutztown also in October: Fall on the Farm. This free event is a good bet for family fun, with organic apple picking, sunflower picking, live music and wagon tours of the farm.
