Winter 2011/2012?

Well, it sure hasn't felt like winter in South East Lower Michigan has it? Alex has been busy pruning the trees, making cider and still selling apples and cider at the market on Saturdays. If you get the chance to come down, stop in and say hi. Agnes has been knitting hats for the newest great grand babies! We have so much to be thankful for!

Saturday at the Market!

My husband Steve selling apples at the Ann Arbor Farmer's Market Saturday, October 9th. Thanks to Riley T. Farm from Real Time Farms for the photo!

CIDER!

It's time for cider! Aaah cider. Not just any old cider, not that nasty pasturized stuff. Raw, unpasturized cider! The kind that goes hard after a week and a half in the fridge! (not that it ever lasts that long). Last year I posted my recipe for hot mulled cider. Fresh apple cider lends a nice tangy-sweet flavor to pork roast. Below you'll find a recipe I like to make. If you have a favorite recipe using cider, feel free to post it! We'd love to know what creative things you do with it!

Pork Roast with Sweet Onions, Apples and Cider

1 T cooking oil
1 large pork roast
1 medium Vidalia onion, sliced
1 C apple cider
1/2 C water
1 clove of garlic, chopped
2 medium Cortland apples (or your favorite cooking apple) peeled and sliced
Salt and Pepper to taste

In a dutch oven, heat oil. Add Onions and saute until they are soft, add garlic. Meanwhile generously salt and pepper the pork roast. Place roast in the pan and brown on all sides. Once nicely browned, add cider, water and apples. Simmer over low to medium heat for one hour adding more water as necessary.

Serve with mashed potatoes and butternut squash for a really great comfort food dinner!

It's Time!

I recently saw this quote by some obscure centuries-ago person (no doubt a millionaire) "Every Millionaire Loves a Baked Apple". Well, we are certianly not millionaires, but I guess we can all EAT like one then! And, it's time for the apples we all love to cook with again! This Saturday on the market table will be Cortlands, McIntosh, and my personal favorite ~ GALA! You know, I love this apple so much I started calling my dad's barn cat Gala. She was as sweet as one for sure.

It's also time for grapes! The other day, my kids and I went for a ride through the orchard. We turned the corner from our house and headed toward the big hill that leads to the grapes. We could SMELL them before we could even see them! I wish I could describe the smell to you. It was a combination of summer, sunshine, grass and, well... grapes! Even more I wish I could have bottled that smell for dreary winter days that are ahead of us all, or for any time I just need a pick me up. Of course I took the above picture a few weeks ago, they are all deep purple now. YUM!

a day at the market

Here are some photos taken today at the market!

Melons!

Canteloupe or Muskmelon whatever you call it, it's delicious! How do you like to eat your sweet juicy fruit? Here are a few ideas for what to do with melon...

Freeze a few melon chunks and drop it into your water, tea, or grown-up beverage instead of ice

Fruit Kebabs! Kids love ANYTHING on a stick. Skewer melon chunks and grapes on skewers or lolipop sticks.

Halve a melon, scoop out the "guts" in the center, and fill with frozen yogurt

Eat it straight up or with a little salt. (don't make that face!) Salt draws out the juice of the melon and enhances it's sweetness!

Paula Reds!

It is almost August, and the first apples of the season are coming on! Paula Red apples are a crisp, juicy, tart apple that is great for baking, or if you enjoy a tart apple they are good for eating as well. This apple is great with cheese, in a salad, or baked into a muffin or dessert. It's also great smothered in Maitelates dulce de leche! The following is a recipe for a great summertime salad!

One bunch of leafy greens of your choice... mild greens are best
One Paula red apple, cored and diced
1/4 cup dried Michigan cherries
1/4 candied pecans
bottled poppyseed dressing (my favorite is a brand called Brianna's)

A slice of good hearty bread and your'e all set! If you want to make this salad into a meal, toss in some grilled chicken or turkey slices! Fast, fresh and healthy!

Real Time Farm

Thanks to one of our wonderful FB Friends Cara, there is yet another place to check out cool stuff about Nemeth Orchards! www.realtimefarms.com/farm/nemeth-orchards

Here are a few pics from this great blog... I hope no one minds that I borrowed a few!

Thanks so much for getting the word out about us! :)

CORN!!

It's sweet corn season! Are you tired of the bland flavorless sweet corn at the grocery store? Come and see Alex & Agnes! Bi-color corn is ready and is so sweet and delicious!

I remember as a kid going out in the morning to pick corn before the heat of the day. We would shuck the corn and mom would cook up a big pot of it on the stove. We would eat sweet corn for lunch! My friends thought that was unusual, but I thought it was great!

One of my new favorite ways of eating corn is in a salad. Not a leafy green salad, but where corn is the star! You can roast it, or steam it but make sure to keep it a little crisp-tender. Toss with whatever your favorite in season local veggies you have on hand. My favorites are red onions, tomatoes and cucumbers with fresh dill, parsley and basil. A little salt and pepper and you are good to go! No dressing is needed and that is always a good thing!

Please share with us YOUR favorite corn recipes! We'd love to hear from you!

We're Back!

Happy Summer everyone! Nemeth Orchards is now back at the A2 Farmer's Market! We have cucumbers, transparent apples and green beans! Please stop by and say hello! You can also find us on facebook!

Merry Christmas!

Everyone at Nemeth Orchards would like to thank you for your patronage over 2009!
We wish you a very Merry Christmas, and a happy, healthy and prosperous 2010!

Testimonial

"Best Cider on Market! I've tried them all, and Nemeth's is the best by far!" ~ Tim, faithful customer


Thanks Tim! :) We LOVE testimonials! Feel free to comment and tell us what YOU love!

Autumn!

Just an update on what we currently are selling at the market:
Apple Cider - gallons and half gallons
Apples: Paula Red, Cortland, Empire, Jonagold, McIntosh, Jonathan, Golden Delicious, Red Delicious Gala and Melrose.
There are a few Concord Grapes left, and some watermelons!

I'd like to share two new recipes with you. They are of my own creation, and are perfect for tailgate parties, or any time you just want a good snack.

Dianne's Hot Spiced Cider (Non-Alcoholic)

one half gallon Nemeth Apple Cider
2 + 1 orange wedges
1 cinnamon stick
2 whole cloves
sprinkle nutmeg

In a large cooking pot, gently heat apple cider (do not boil)
add cloves and cinnamon stick, squeeze two of the three orange wedges into the cider, add the third wedge whole.
Heat for about 10 minutes, remove orange rhind, cinnamon sticks and cloves, pour into mugs
sprinkle fresh nutmeg on top
* for the "grown up" version, add a splash of spiced rum

Dianne's Cheese Ball

1 8 oz. block of cream cheese or Neufchatel cheese
1 container vegetable flavored cream cheese
1 cup italian flavored croutons
1 to 2 T. italian seasonings or fresh chopped parsley

In a bowl, combine cheeses, form into a ball and refridgerate 1 hour.
Place croutons in a gallon sized zipper bag. Crush croutons with a rolling pin, or whack with a spoon (let your frustrations out!!).

In a pie plate or other pan with sides, sprinkle herbs. Roll the cheeseball into the herbs coating all areas evenly. In the same pan, add crouton crumbs. Roll the cheeseball into the crumbs, pressing slightly so that they stick. Serve immediately with crackers, pita chips, pretzels or anything else you like.
** you can make it more festive, and add more texture by adding chopped green or red pepper, or finely diced carrot to the cream cheese while mixing it together.

Please feel free to leave feedback or comments! We love to hear from you!!

Apple Cake recipe

One of our customers recently sent this to us... we wanted to share it with all of you! Enjoy~

This recipe was recently published in Kitchen Mailbox by Marge Biancke and I believe this is the Ann Arbor paper that comes out once a week or so recently."
Q. About a hundred years ago I had a recipe for an apple cake that Millie Schembechler used to make. Can you track down that recipe?"
ANSWER: "This wonderful recipe was featured in 'Simply Good Food" which was published in 1993. The original recipe uses 1 cup of cooking oil. I have since made it with 1 cup of applesauce instead of the oil. Either way, this is a nice cake for dessert or brunch.

"MILLIE SCHEMBECHLER'S APPLE CAKE"
Ingredients: 1 cup cooking oil or substitute 1 cup applesauce. 2 cups sugar. 3 eggs, 2 1/2 cups sifted flour, 1 tsp. baking soda, 1 tsp. vanilla, 3 cups sliced cooking apples, 1 cup chopped nuts, preferably pecans.

Directions: Cream oil, sugar and eggs together. Add flour and baking soda. Stir in vanilla. Mix. Add apples and nuts to mixture.Pour batter into a tube or loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for an hour. Cool completely before unmolding

Cider!

The first press of the season is ready to be enjoyed!

It's Officially Fall... ok well maybe not according to the calendar - yet!

U of M has trounced Notre Dame (GO BLUE) and apples are coming on full force! Fall is here and cider is coming in a few weeks. Time to contemplate putting away the sleeveless tops and pulling out the sweaters.

Apples that are avaliable now are:

Cortland, Ginger Gold, Paula Red, MacIntosh, Gala and a very, VERY limited supply of Honey Crisp. Folks, really, if you love the Honey Crisp... you'll love the Galas too. They are so similar and much more plentiful.

In the next week, we'll have the much anticipaed watermelons grown by my son and daughter. It may seem strange to be excited about watermelons in September, but watermelon is welcomed any time!

If you have not met Maite of Maitelattes, please check out her website. She makes incredible Dulce Le Leche which is DELICIOUS paired with our sliced apples! More importantly, Maite is a wonderful lady. Look her up at the market... she'll greet you with a smile, and maybe a hug! :)

Pears and Galas!!

It's the time my niece Jessica has been waiting for!! Clapp's Favorite pears are in season! Sweet, juicy pears make a great snack! Gala apples are also in season. Crisp, sweet, and juicy! They are my daugher Katie and my husband Steve's favorite apples!
Now that the students are back, and our kids are going back to school, "schoolboy" size apples are perfect for the lunchbox or backpack.

Here's a new recipe that is a nice alternative to applesauce. Great Grandkids Drew & Jack love it! (makes great babyfood as well!)


Pear Sauce

1/2 peck of Clapp's Favorite pears, peeled, cored and diced
1/8 cup sugar or less to your taste (pears are naturally sweet)
1/4 cup water or apple juice
1/4 t. cinnamon if desired

In a large sauce pan, cook fruit, liquid, cinnamon, and sugar over low heat until the fruit becomes very soft, stirring often. Mash chunky bits of pear with a potato masher or ricer.

** if you are making babyfood, you can pour sauce into an ice cube tray and freeze into cubes. Store cubes in an airtight container for single serving sizes!

Nemeth Applesauce

As Julie mentioned in her wonderful article in the Ann Arbor paper, mom and dad would be happy to bag up a "custom blend" of apples for your apple sauce! The following is a Nemeth Family recipe courtesy of my 16 year old son Mike, who Papa (otherwise known as Alex) says is pretty darned good! You can adjust the recipe to your taste, and the quantity to your needs.

Mike's Applesauce

1/2 peck of Nemeth apples, cored, peeled and sliced
1/4 cup sugar (less if you are using sweet apples, or to your taste)
1/3 cup Nemeth's Apple Cider
2 slices of orange, seeds removed
cinnamon to taste

In a sauce pan, infuse the orange slices in the apple cider over very low heat for 15 minutes, do not let it come to a boil. Remove orange slices and discard. Add apples, sugar, and cinnamon to the liquid. Cover and simmer, over low heat until the apples become soft and cook down. Stir frequently. If your sauce is thinner than you like, remove lid and simmer uncovered, watching it very carefully so that it does not burn. If the applesauce is chunkier than you like, use a potato masher, fork, or sieve to make it to the consistency you desire.

We hope you enjoy this family favorite recipe!

Ann Arbor News Article

Mom, Dad and Jeff were featured in a news article at the market on Wednesday! Here is a link!

http://www.annarbor.com/entertainment/food-drink/nemeth-orchards-family-is-now-growing-its-fifth-generation/

Also, we're on FACEBOOK! Become a fan! :)

** I can't forget Laila, one of Jeff's adorable daughters. She was also mentioned in the article. She's a little cutie pie and loves being in the field with her daddy!!**

Recipes

Here is a unique recipe my sister Donna gave me. I'm not sure where she got it from, so I apologize for not giving proper credit where it is due...

Thai Cucumber Salad

2 cucumbers, sliced thickly
1 to 2 jalapeno peppers sliced
1 small onion, diced or halved and sliced thinly
2/3 cups hot water
2T white vinegar
2t salt
6T sugar

In an airtight container, combine vegetables. In a large measuring cup, dissolve sugar and salt in water. Add vinegar. Pour liquid over vegetables, cover and chill for at least one hour (best if allowed to chill overnight). Will keep in the refridgerator for up to one week.