As October slowly draws to a close, so too does apple picking season – for most orchards. One farm reigns supreme in season longevity, Rocky Brook Orchard in Middletown, and the secret has to do with species.
Greg and Katy Ostheimer, owners of Rocky Brook Orchard, bought the Middletown property about twenty-five years ago, in the late nineties. The land was a farm and orchard then, but it was not a pick-your-own (PYO), and the farm business there had had ceased operations. The Ostheimers rehabilitated the property and reopened what is now Rocky Brook Orchard as a PYO circa 2001. They established a niche in the apple business by planting more and more varieties as new apple types were released. Macoun, Cortland, Red Delicious, and Granny Smith are staple apples that seemingly every orchard has. Meanwhile, not every orchard has Ludicrisp, Mutsu, Zestar!, and Cameos, and not every apple-picker has heard of them.
Combining new and old varieties expanded their business twofold: Rocky Brook offers classics, new, and even hard-to-come-by varieties, which draws in curious customers, and the new apple types also helped to expand the picking season; twenty-five years ago, many of the classic apple types were mostly “mid-season” varieties, meaning they ripened in late September through early October. Now, all of these different varieties of apples have different ripening periods, extending the picking season from the end of August through late October, even into November.
To make it easy for customers to keep track of the type of apples in the orchard (as they are not planted in neat, sequestered segments based on species) and when they ripen, the Ostheimers created a color system. Each tree has a small wooden tag with the name of the apple carved into it that hangs near the bottom of the trunk. Below that is a painted spool, with colors ranging from red (first to ripen in early September) down the rainbow to blue (last to ripen, mid-October into November). Each year Rocky Brook officially opens on Labor Day weekend, and their season can extend into the first couple weeks of November, though customers should check their Facebook page of updates.
Greg Ostheimer’s success with apple varieties comes from extensive research. He reads apple publications like First Grower and university press magazines, publications from different nurseries, and listens to hearsay from other orchard managers, growers, and apple-enthusiasts to get the inside scoop on things like optimal growing conditions for the trees and, most importantly, taste. When the Honeycrisp apple debuted, it was a big deal, Ostheimer recounts. It introduced the “open-cell texture” that a lot of people love.
Ever since the wild success of Honeycrisp, it seems that new varieties are constantly hitting the market. The number of species belies the amount of work that goes into creating a new apple variety. Ostheimer describes how plant breeders work in closed environments, and use Q-tips to take the pollen from one tree, and use it to fertilize another, like, for example, a Honeycrisp tree. That Honeycrisp tree will still produce a Honeycrisp apple, but the seeds will have encased the mixed DNA. Then the experimental growers have to plant the new seeds and wait about five years for the trees to mature enough to bear fruit. Most of the new trees produce duds, what Ostheimer calls “spitters.” Sometimes, as in the case with the Honeycrisp, these growers pluck the metaphorical golden apple.
To have grown over 80 types of apples in his orchard is no small feat. Ostheimer’s diligence in keeping up in the apple world has made him a sort of trendsetter for other local orchards; he has heard stories of customers going back to orchards that are closer to home and asking their growers to plant more trees and more varieties – varieties they have discovered at Rocky Brook.
The breadth of apples at Rocky Brook isn’t the only thing that makes it unique. The orchard grows only pome fruits, the most common of which are apples, pears, and quince. The latter is a specialty at the orchard.
Many people are not familiar with quince (pronounced KWINS), though it is an especially popular fruit in other parts of the world like Iran and Turkey. Those that do know of it usually use it to make jams and jellies, as quince should not be eaten raw due to its particularly woody texture and sour, tannin-y taste. Cooking quince, however, brings out its sweet, fragrant flavor – like a cross between and apple and a pear – and transforms its flesh into a soft, velvety texture. As such, quince can act as an apple substitute for most every cooked apple dish, and they shine especially well as an ingredient in pies, purees, or in pork or lamb tagines.
Ostheimer has a dedicated following for his quince (though they tend to be underappreciated compared to his apples), and for customers who are curious about the fruit and are looking for recipe ideas, he recommends the self-dubbed Queen of Quince’s, Portsmouth resident Barbara Ghazarian’s, book “Simply Quince.” As for himself, Ostheimer says quince goes smashingly with cheese, and, rather unconventionally, even suggests setting out a bowl of quince to act as a room freshener; quinces are in the rose family, and once picked and left alone, they give off a super aromatic and wonderful smell. Choosing for himself, Ostheimer’s favorite apple or quince dish is a tarte Tatin.
Being unfamiliar with this particular pome fruit, I chose to seek recipe inspiration from the parts of the world where quince is native. I followed a recipe by Lorraine Elliott from Not Quite Nigella for Spicy, Sweet, Rosy-Cheeked Turkish Quinces, but made a couple of minor adjustments along the way (as reflected in the recipe below). This dish is a spiced poached quince dessert, topped with sweetened mascarpone cheese. It’s very hands-off cooking, and the plated quince are simply gorgeous, turning a dusty pink after being cooked. As a bonus to this recipe, chefs can save the quince syrup by-product from the poaching to use in cocktails.
Rosy Turkish Poached Quince Recipe:
3 large quinces and their cores
1 lemon
3 c. water
1 ½ c. sugar
3 cinnamon sticks
14 cloves
2 Tbsp. butter
½ c. mascarpone cheese
4 Tbsp. icing or confectioners’ sugar
4 Tbsp. chopped pistachios (optional, to serve)
Instructions:
- Wash and peel the quinces, discarding the skin. Then, cut them in half and core them, but retain the cores. Peel a lemon and set the zest aside, then squeeze the lemon juice over the naked quince. Keep the lemon seeds if they squirt out.
- In a large pot (big enough to fit all of the quince halves), bring together the water, sugar, cinnamon sticks, cloves, and lemon zest. This will be the base of the quince syrup. Bring it to a boil and add in the quinces, quince cores, and lemon seeds. If there is any lemon flesh that is easily squeezed out of the lemon rinds, add that to the pot as well. Simmer for 40 minutes, then turn the quinces over and simmer for another 30 minutes until tender. As the quinces cook on this back half, pre-heat the oven to 380 degrees.
- Carefully remove the quinces from the syrup and set aside into an oven-safe baking dish. If you choose to reserve the quince syrup, drain the mixture through a colander or fine-meshed sieve into a jar or other airtight container. In a small pot, brown the butter, then pour it over the quince halves. Bake them in the oven for about 10 minutes.
- In the meantime, mix the mascarpone and sugar in a small bowl until smooth. When the quinces are done baking in the oven, put a generous dollop of the sweetened cheese where the cores would be, and sprinkle the tops with chopped pistachios.
