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The King Family
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Hey there! It’s Megan, Betsy and John’s niece. I’m going to be taking over the blog a little, along with Courtney and a few of the other “fruit stand girls”, so stay tuned to know what’s fresh at King Orchards.
Today is our first day for U-Pick raspberries! I’m definitely excited, they’re one of my favorite fruits to eat here. They look beautiful, and taste great. Bring the family and get out here! Our raspberries should last all summer, with short 1-2 week breaks in between “batches”.
If you’re wondering about when we’re getting our own sweet cherries into the market and u-pick, John says they’ll be in full-swing for the weekend. Until then, we have some delicious cherries from Grand Rapids, MI. Be sure to come in and get them while they’re fresh! -Megan K.
1 comment Betsy | Crop Updates & Orchard Talk, In the Markets
Happy Father’s day! Strawberries over ice cream for everyone! In the market: the strawberries are beautiful and big, great time to put some in the freezer. Asparagus all gone for the season. Sweet cherries from our farmer friends in GR are getting the cherry season started. KO sweets ready maybe this week, keep watching. I found a ripe RASPBERRY!!!!
Today strawberries in the market and last day for asparagus. Lots of call about u-pick. We will keep people posted on the blog each day. Today it looks like we will start some u-pick sweets next week. Keep watching !
David called and reminded me to UPDATE! thanks Dave from GR. He was most interested in apricots. I’m looking for them to ripen towards the end of July. Most of the calls are questions about sweet cherries. We have some in from the Grand Rapids area now. Ours will ripen towards the end of June. It is a small crop so u-pick will be short but I will try my best to find you the fruit when you show up. Raspberries are wonderful and should be starting in the first part of July. The tart cherries are probably the most disappointing but we had a big crop last year and still have lots left in the freezer. Peaches early Aug very nice and apples to start with Gingergolds around Labor day. It will be a great season.
Message for Betsy – Hi, it’s Meredith, Nan’s Los Angeles daughter. Just wanted you to know I stopped in yesterday on the way to the airport and grabbed a big bag of asparagus and some preserves to take home. The asparagus survived the flight quite well! This morning I enjoyed a huge helping of it sliced up in an egg white omelette with olive oil, mozzarella cheese, tomatoes and fresh jalapeno peppers. Delicious. I’m going to try the soup recipe you put on the website. Thanks for the best asparagus in the country!
Ingredients:
8 oz. Vernor’s ginger ale
1 scoop vanilla ice cream
1 tsp. tart cherry juice concentrate
Blend well and serve in a tall glass with a straw.
While selling our first of 2010 asparagus crop Norma and I decided that after cutting the asparagus to the right size for canning in her jars that the ends were so tender she would have to make soup! Here is my favorite!
Asparagus Soup
(Wolfgang Puck)
~2 lbs. Fresh asparagus cleaned and cut into 1” pieces
~4 C. chicken stock (or broth)
~1 sm. White onion, peeled and cut into chunks
~Salt and pepper
~1 pinch sugar
~1 c. heavy cream
~4 T. butter
Sauté onion in butter 1 minute. Add stock and asparagus, cover and cook just until tender, not mushy. Put portions into a blender with cream and blend until smooth. Adjust seasonings to taste.
Tart cherry bloom has come early this year! If you are thinking about a drive to northern Michigan to witness the spectacular tart cherry blossoms, don’t hesitate to make it this weekend.
Here’s a quick pic of the Montmorency cherry block from outside the office door this morning. Won’t be long before peak bloom!
Slideshow of Tuesday morning tour of King Orchards. (Click on the pictures for a larger view.)
1 comment admin | Crop Updates & Orchard Talk, Family, Tart Cherry News
Andy Ross of the Wooster Square Cherry Blossom Festival shares his personal size cherry pie recipe featuring King Orchards IQF Montmorency tart cherries.
This recipe makes six personal size cherry pies. (5 inch pie tins)
Filling
5 C of fresh frozen unsweetened cherries or three 15 oz cans of tart. I use cherries fresh frozen from King Orchards brand or their canned tart cherries.
1 Tbls of organic tapioca starch or corn starch
3 C of superfine sugar.
1 Tbls lemon juice
1 tsp almond extract
Bottom Crust
1 C of crushed gram cracker crumbs plus some for dusting pans. I prefer Nabisco.
4 Tbls unsalted butter
Upper crust
1 box of prepared crust from either Pillsbury of store brand such as Stop & Shop.
1/8 C of extra virgin light olive oil
1/8 C of superfine sugar
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375. Thaw the cherries and drain them well. Reserve the cherry juice for shakes or mixing with seltzer. Mix the cherries with 2 cups of the sugar, let sit and drain again. Mix in the tapioca or corn starch, almond extract and lemon juice and the balance of sugar to taste. Let them sit for 15 minutes while you prepare your crust and gram cracker crust bottom.
Take your small tin pans and spray them with butter flavored Pam or grease them with butter. Then dust the sides and bottom of the tins with gram cracker crumbs.
Melt the butter and mix it with 1 cup gram cracker crumbs. Take the dusted pans and place the gram cracker mixture on the bottom about 1/8 thick. Press the gram cracker mixture with a spoon until compacted. Place in freezer for 15 minutes to chill before filling.
Roll out you prepared pie crust and use one of the tins as a template cutting out a circle. You should be able to cut out three upper crusts per roll. Take your cherry mixture and scoop it out with a slotted spoon to leave any excess liquid behind and fill the tin piled a little high but not too high. Place the crust over the tin. Use fork tines to press down the edges of the upper crust against the tins. Carefully cut an x-shaped slit in the upper crust using a sharp knife.
Mix the olive oil with super fine sugar so you have a thick mixture. Brush the tops of the pies with the mixture using a pastry brush..
Bake the pies on a cookie sheet or directly on the rack for 35-40 minutes. The crusts should look golden brown not soggy.
0 comments admin | Canned Cherries Recipes, Frozen Cherry Recipes, King Orchards Cherry Products