Growers in the nation's southernmost commercial apple-producing region are fighting a change in crop insurance law, which they claim could wipe out a 200-year-old industry.
Henderson County, N.C. -- a stretch of Southern Appalachia where the first apple trees were planted by a Loyalist on the run from the Revolutionary Army -- today generates about $24 million in annual apple revenue, representing 85 percent of the state's apple crop. But the region's 150-plus growers have been hard hit in recent years by calamities including frost, wind and hail.
Owings credits the Federal Crop Insurance Program, which reimburses growers for lost apples at a rate of $9.25 a bushel, with keeping area orchards solvent. He's worried a new proposal to significantly lower disaster payouts for lesser-grade apples could prove devastating.
These visibly sweet and sticky Glazed Apple Bars reinterpret the traditional apple pie in hand-held form. Crispy and crumbly, they taste delicious savored on their own or indulgently paired with vanilla-bean ice cream and topped with caramel, as blogger Sweetnicks relished them.
And the best part? The recipe uses only pantry staples, requiring but a few apples, flour, butter, vanilla, sugar, salt and cinnamon. So get baking, and celebrate fall with this luscious seasonal recipe.
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It's Apple pickin' season. So what to do with the orchard's abundance of apples? Simplify the iconic apple pie by making an apple crisp -- it's the flavor of fall without the fuss. We rounded up a few of the best apple crisp recipes spied elsewhere on the Web..
Good Morning America offers a recipe for slow-cooked apple crisp in a crock pot. "America's Test Kitchen" Host Chris Kimball upgrades this fall fruit favorite.
This apple crisp via The New York Times is topped with tortoni and macaroons.
The Washington Post dishes up lunchbox-friendly apple-crisps -- the "s" makes all the difference in interpretation.
Ever the apex of comfort, we love how this darling apple pie truly wears its heart on its sleeve. The rustic imperfections of a home-baked pie only add to the appeal, especially with efforts made so lovingly -- and rightfully so, to blogger/baker Whitney in Chicago, who put this together for her boyfriend on their anniversary. Because really, what could possibly be more comforting than gooey apple pie?
Although everyone enjoys a white-tablecloth dinner celebration now and then, we'd like to know what you prefer: a relaxed, home-cooked meal or dinner at the nearest fancy restaurant? Argue your case in the comments. We might be tempted to kick off our shoes and indulge in a night in, if presented with options as visually appealing as this one.
Become a member of the Slashfood Flickr pool to get a shot at having your photos featured in Feast Your Eyes.
A few of the best stories spied elsewhere on the Web this week:
Grillwalkers are the newest street-food trend in Germany. Vendors with propane canisters strapped to their backs and grills suspended from their necks sell freshly grilled sausages to passersby.
U.K. man finds an apple that's perfectly split, half green and half red. Experts say that the odds of finding an apple with such perfect symmetry are more than 1 million to one.
Nationwide, restaurants participate in Share Our Strength's Great American Dine Out to benefit child hunger through Sep. 27.
Someone left a bacon bookmark in a U.K. library book; it was found by a librarian/artist who added it to his collection of quirky items left in returned books.
September might be halfway over and autumn imminent, but that doesn't mean the fall food fun has to end. Here's a selection of September food fests across the country.
Nappanee Apple Festival, Nappanee, Ind., Sept. 17-20: Apple season is upon us. Many are headed to pick-your-own orchards. This festival includes an apple-peeling contest, apple bake-off, pie-eating contest and the world's largest baked apple pie, weighing in at 600 pounds and a whopping 7 feet across. There's a daily lumberjack show, too.
The Houston Hot Sauce Festival, Houston, Sept. 19-20: Hot sauce festivals are on fire! Nationwide, they're popular, chilehead blow-outs. Attendees can sample and purchase a plethora of sauces, chiles and dry rubs. Don't forget to vote in the People's Choice for the Hottest Hot Sauce at this ninth annual festival.
Over the weekend, I ate the best pancakes of my life. I headed to CT with friends, and we had pancakes BOTH mornings. Sunday morning, I tasted the most delicious blueberry pancakes that you can imagine -- the taste and fluffiness were beyond what I thought a pancake could achieve. So I was already on a pancake high when I returned to the internet Sunday night to find TWO WHOLE blog posts on fruit pancakes. It made me even more excited to start experimenting with these types of recipes at home. Here are some from around the web that look particularly tasty:
It's a common question: How can I turn my iPhone into a virtual glass of beer that I can fake drink to impress my slightly moronic, non-iPhone owning friends?
Until recently, there were two answers. Last year, magician Steve Sheraton began selling just such an application called iBeer from his own website. So imagine his rage when, after the launch of official iPhone App Store in July of this year, he discovered that Coors was offering a similar simulated beer drinking experience to iPhone users for free to promote their Carling brand.
Looks like the Coors app, called iPint, is being called an iKnock-Off, as Hottrix (who owns the rights to Sheraton's program) is suing Coors for a whopping $12.5 million dollars... or approximately 2.5 million "real" beers.
If that figure seems excessive, keep in mind the accusers say that iPint has been downloaded over 6 million times since its launch and both programs ranked in the top 10 of their respective categories of either free or paid app downloads.
I have an idea, guys. Why don't we all just sit down and settle this like men over a real beer?
Going apple picking with friends is one of the many reasons I look forward to the fall. Choosing the right apple is easy and involves knowing some basic facts.
One of the activities that I look forward to the most in the fall is going apple picking. The variety of apples available is extraordinary: Gala, Golden Delicious, Empire, Granny Smith, and many more. Ah, the gorgeous bright colors shine off each fruit! I highly encourage everyone to embrace the fall and go apple picking.
Once you've gone apple picking, you may think that you have more apples than you know what to do with. This is impossible! Besides eating them plain, or dipping them in peanut butter or nutella, or drizzling honey over them, you can also cook them. Below are 8 ways to cook apples:
Anyone who knows my family, knows that this house is a Mac house, so I thought it only fitting that my first post make it clear where my allegiance lies. This cake was made for my brother-in-law's birthday and with this group of apple addicts, I am sure I'll be getting requests to do more.
I started with two layers of French vanilla cake, with a layer of buttercream between them. Then, I went to work on achieving as close to bondi blue as possible which involved buttercream icing, a lot of blue plus a hint of green gel coloring and plenty of stirring. It's not perfect but it's incredibly close to the iMac in our den-- although my husband tells me that's not actually bondi blue either. Oh well, maybe next time.
In order to get a nice, smooth surface on the cake, I iced it and allowed it to sit for a few minutes just until it started to crust. Then I used a Viva paper towel (these seem to work the best since they are smooth) placed on the cake and gently rolled it out smooth with a fondant roller. If the paper towel pulls up with icing, just allow it to crust for another few minutes and try again.
Next it was time for the apple logo, which I wanted to be exactly right. I knew it wasn't possible for me to do it freehand so I pulled the logo off the internet, resized the PDF to the size of the cake and printed it out as a template. Once the white fondant was rolled out, I cut out the apple with an X-acto knife. Then I laid it on the cake, smoothed it out and made sure to get the leaf at just the right angle.
The birthday boy really enjoyed it but I'm not sure if eating this apple every day would keep the doctor away.
Did this just happen? Did Gretchen Noelle over at Canela & Comino seriously just post a recipe on Slashfood's Flickr account that combines two of the world's best known food groups, cake and pie? (Er - and fruit, too).
You'd better believe she did. This pake (cie?) melds the sweet, juicy fruit filling of a pie with a crust that mixes the slight crumbly nature of a pie crust and the soft, buttery notes of cake.
Upon closer inspection, the recipe was taken from Baking From My Home to Yours, and is officially titled the "Russian Grandmothers Apple Pie-Cake."
Gretchen suggests substituting cranberries for raisins if you're not a huge raisin fan. Some walnuts or pecans might be a nice addition, too. I might also add a dash of nutmeg to the filling, just because it tends to bring out the best flavors in dishes like this. Otherwise...muah *kisses fingertips*.
More than once, I've been caught saying nasty things about my 1997 edition of the Joy of Cooking. It's not that there's anything inherently bad about that volume, I just happened to grow up with one printed in the early seventies (white dust jacket, turquoise fabric cover) and love that one totally because it is so deeply familiar to me. However, last night I had to swallow all my heartless words, because the '97 version came through for me big time.
Last week I went apple picking. Scott and I picked a full bushel of apples. I've made apple sauce, apple crisp, apples with yogurt, eaten about 15 out of hand and still the box of apples doesn't seem to be visibly reducing. So I went looking for a recipe for a baked good that uses apples. I was hoping for a quick bread or muffin recipe that was low in fat, used several apples and tasted good. And I found it. The muffins came out light, tender and amazingly delicious (ate two as soon as they were cool enough to touch). This one is getting copied down and is going in the file. The recipe is after the jump.
This weekend I was out on my usual drive along the back country roads here in Maine, stopping at all the farm stands, and I ran across some great produce. Bright jalapenos, small red potatoes, big shallots, just harvested and cured garlic, beautiful bunches of celery with tons of leaves; and big, fat, sweet local onions that were grown from Walla Walla seed.
I had picked up some different meats over the past few weeks at the local town farmers market and stashed them in my freezer until I had time to play with them. One that kept grabbing my attention every time I fought my way through my overstuffed freezer was this great looking pork shank. It was organic, pasture raised, and from a farm that raises and butchers their animals humanely. It was a great looking joint and since the weather had turned almost Autumn cool for a few days, now was a perfect time to make a dish a bit heavier than I usually do in the summer.
I looked around my kitchen to see what might be sitting there eagerly waiting to join the pork shank in my dutch oven. I had some nice farm fresh local butter, a few super ripe local tomatoes, a Gala apple, and a few bottles of wine left over from a tasting the night before. This looked like the makings of a fantastic dish.
Over the weekend, I ate the best pancakes of my life. I headed to CT with friends, and we had pancakes BOTH mornings. Sunday morning, I tasted the most delicious blueberry pancakes that you can imagine -- the taste and fluffiness were beyond what I thought a pancake could achieve. So I was already on a pancake high when I returned to the internet Sunday night to find TWO WHOLE blog posts on fruit pancakes. It made me even more excited to start experimenting with these types of recipes at home. Here are some from around the web that look particularly tasty:
Anyone who knows my family, knows that this house is a Mac house, so I thought it only fitting that my first post make it clear where my allegiance lies. This cake was made for my brother-in-law's birthday and with this group of apple addicts, I am sure I'll be getting requests to do more. 
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