Orchard Talk

Ellie Krieger is a registered dietitian and host of the Food Network’s “Healthy Appetite with Ellie Krieger.”  According to Ellie, creating a routine with foods you like is one of the most successful strategies for a long-term, healthful diet plan. And, with heart disease continuing to be the number one killer in America, being able to incorporate heart-healthy foods like cherries into almost any meal or snacktime makes it easy and enjoyable to protect your heart. Substitute any recipes you currently make with berries, from topping your cereal or salad with dried cherries, baking or making yogurt parfaits with frozen cherries. Or, substitute your regular juice by mixing cherry juice  into a smoothie once a day.”

Here is one of Ellie’s heart-healthy and tasty cherry recipes, courtesy of the Cherry Marketing Institute.  Enjoy!

Cherry Pecan Energy Bars

Ingredients:
1 cup quick-cooking oats
3/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour or regular whole wheat flour
1/4 cup toasted wheat germ
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
¼ cup canola oil
1 large egg, beaten to mix
1 large egg white
3/4 cup chopped dried cherries
½ cup finely chopped pecans
Cooking spray
¼ cup “fruit only” apricot preserves

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, wheat germ, cinnamon and salt.

In another bowl, whisk together the honey, applesauce, oil, egg and egg white until well combined. Stir in the oatmeal mixture until well combined. Add the dried cherries and pecans.

Coat an 8-inch square baking pan with cooking spray. Spread the mixture into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out
clean, 30-35 minutes. Put the preserves in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. As soon as the bars come out of the oven, brush with the preserves. Cool completely and cut into 12 bars, about 4 x 1 ½ inches each. Makes 12 servings

Nutrition Info:
230 calories, 10 g total fat, 1 g sat. fat, 0 g trans fat, 34 g carbohydrate, 20 mg cholesterol, 4 g protein, 3 g fiber, 60 mg sodium

“Ellie Krieger is a registered dietitian specializing in nutrition and health communications, and author of The Foods You Crave: Luscious Recipes for a Healthy Life. She also is the host of the Food Network’s “Healthy Appetite with Ellie Krieger” and is a regular contributor to nutrition columns in major women’s and parenting magazines. Krieger says the homegrown advantage, coupled with powerful health benefits, make cherries “America’s Super Fruit.”

“Cherries offer some of the most important attributes people are seeking in their foods today. While exotic berries may be ‘trendy,’ as a chef and dietitian I choose cherries, an all-American favorite, because they deliver a powerful combination of good nutrition, local sourcing and environmental sustainability.”

I really should title this post, “Dave did my homework.” Last night, Betsy sent me home with a can of tart cherries in water and a simple assignment. I was supposed to make the cherry dumpling recipe from MixingBowl.com, so I could write about it today as part of our “28 Days Powered by Red” Orchard Talk series.  Betsy made it last weekend with great success, and assured me it was super good and easy.

I watched “Julie & Julia” on DVD instead. Oh, the irony!

Neither a baker nor a real writer am I, but I do have one thing in common with both Julie Powell and Julia Child: a great husband.  I left him the can of cherries, a folded up recipe and a camera, and here is what he did.

Dave made the cherry sauce. He said he only used 1/2 cup of sugar, and that he would use even a little less next time, just so he could get the extra “pop” from the tart cherries. The other thing he considered was maybe adding a touch of cherry juice concentrate to the mixture to further enhance both the cherry flavor and the color.

Dave brought the cherry filling to a boil.

Dave then mixed up the ingredients for the dumpling part. We’re out of nutmeg at home, so he used cinnamon instead. Butter. Sugar. Cinnamon. No problem there.

Dave dropped the dumpling mix by spoonfuls over the cherry mixture, then did as instructed.  He covered the pot and let it cook on medium-low heat for 20 minutes without looking. He said that was the hardest part, not lifting the lid.

Dave texted me at 12:48pm. “Omg c u in a minute.” A few moments later, he brought us a pot of “warm cherry goodness,” just as the recipe stated.  We all agreed it was delicious, and that it couldn’t hurt to add an extra can of cherries if like us, you’d like a little more cherry filling. The dumplings totally hold their own and then some, so this is really just a matter of preference.

Dave posed with then-half-eaten-soon-to-be-completely-eaten pot of cherry dumplings.  This 28 days of cherries thing is turning out to be great fun!

Here is the complete recipe, as published by Kim in Pueblo, CO.

Tags: cherry dumplings, cherry recipes, tart cherries in water

For the month of February (February is National Cherry Month), we will be having a sale on Cherry Juice Concentrate. Instead of 13.99 it will be 12.99 a quart. Also, if you buy a case (12 qts to a case) of Cherry Juice you will receive a free 1lb bag of our deliciously sweet All American dried tart cherries (sweetened with 100% US grown apple juice). They are great, healthy snacks and are also great for baking. If you have any questions, feel free to give us a call at 1-877-937-5464. We’ll be more than happy to answer any questions you have.
Jésus

Tags: cherry juice, cherry juice on sale, Powered by Red, tart cherries

Why February for National Cherry Month? That question has been floating around our office the past few days. I believe that it has to do with George Washington cutting down a cherry tree and since we celebrate his birthday in February … My niece, Meg, pointed out that it is stupid to not have National Cherry Month in July when cherries are fresh and available, but having it in February does have a few advantages and here is how I see them:

1. The foodies of the world need something to get excited about. In Michigan there are no fresh local veggies right now and cherries, “our local state crop,” adds spice to any dish. One just needs to be creative to find great recipes, not just desserts either that use cherries.

2. In Michigan, you have to remember, we have “winter white blindness” and the thought of red cherries is so welcome.

3. February is a great month for cherry farmers to get on board. I’m sure I would not have been able to spend the time in July on marketing that I have here in February.

4. In July, people are already eating cherries. We need people to remember to use cherries in their recipes in a different month like February and March and April.

5. Cherries thickened can top yogurt or oatmeal and add color and zest. What better time to do that then February?

Whatever the reason we have National Cherry Month in February, King Orchards is happy to head the parade reminding everyone to “EAT CHERRIES”. Keep watch as we will have a fresh blog everyday in February.

Tags: cherry juice, michigan cherries, national cherry month, Powered by Red, tart cherries

Join Orchard Talk every day in February as the King Orchards family, crew and guest bloggers will be writing about cherries: growing and harvesting cherries, cherry recipes, cherry juice, and cherry nutrition news.  We’re calling this series “28 Days Powered by Red,” in honor of National Cherry Month and American Heart Health Month.

28 Days Powered by Red: Day 1

We have a gorgeous winter day today. Unfortunately, I won’t be out much since I am trying to wrap up the year end accounting. The preliminary meeting went OK with our accountant but we have some ripples. Glenn Kole has been doing our tax returns for years. He is retired as a MSU farm economist with extension, and he really knows his farm tax landscape. But, now he is retiring from doing tax returns too, so he set us up with an ag accountant with a larger Traverse City firm. The first meeting went well and we have lots to think about. We are now paying the Michigan Business Tax. Purely ag enterprises are exempt but when you sell direct to the public (farm markets), or business to business (b2b mail order cherry juice) then you lose your exemption. We are exploring forming an LLC to put the mail order stuff under so we don’t lose the exemption on the ag side. We all know the state is desperate for the money!

This winter we have a constant buzz going in the shop. Tad Dowker, a long time cherry harvest helper, graduated from MTU (My alma mater!) and was laid off from his engineering job. Tad and Eric Belcher (our capable mechanic) have teamed up in the shop and are putting King Orchards on the right track.

First they took apart the old cherry harvester and replaced rusted and fatigued metal with lots of fabricating and welding. They made numerous improvements over the original design. Next they brought in the newer shaker that we bought in California last summer. They added numerous features which adapt it to our hilly terrain. We hope to take a shaker head from an old Shockwave Shaker which is very gentle on trees and fruit, and install it on a newer Coe shaker which isn’t as sensitive. This will take some planning and lots of fabrication.

Now they have taken our old pickup truck and removed the body to make the first of two forklifts on the schedule. Both Tad and Eric love “mud trucks” so they have brought their expertise on suspensions to the project and this looks like the best shopbuilt forklift ever. Instead of rear springs we use air bags from semi-truck suspensions. This allows a super soft smooth ride for the bins of apples and cherries. These lifts cost a fraction of a new brand name forklift and they actually fit our needs better than anything you can buy (we make them lower and shorter so they slip under the fruit and branches) The beauty of these lifts is that a worker can easily learn to drive them, they scoot quickly and quietly down long rows and back and forth to the farm yard bringing in bins of cherries (2000 lbs) or apples (1000 lbs).

If there is time we will buy several old school bus chassis and strip them down then add a huge fan to make wind machines. I have blogged in the past about wind machines and we think adding 5-6 more will make us feel more protected.

I have to quit blogging now so that I can think of projects to stay ahead of the shop’s dynamic duo!
John

Tags: cherry farming, cherry growing, cherry juice, cherry shakers, Crop Updates & Orchard Talk, Our Websites, Powered by Red