February 10, 2025

In this week’s box:

• Honeycrisp (3), Newtown Pippin (1), Black Oxford (1), Connell Red (1), Keepsake (the rest)

• Vina (for those who opted in for hard cider), a cider fermented on spent grape must from the closest winery and then blended with homemade grape juice from friends’ grapes

• Half-gallon fresh-pressed cider from the last pressing of the year (frozen, thawed, and then pasteurized)

• Apple butter as a make-up for forgetting about it last month

• Strawberry jam, which makes my heart sing in the dead of winter

• Apple chips, an incredibly delicious snack

• Apple pie or apple crisp (gf) made with Haralson, Connell Red, Empire, and Honeygolds

Reminder: keep your apples in the plastic bag in the crisper drawer for best quality. If you don’t, they’ll lose moisture quickly.

The Keepsake apples are going strong and are still one of my favorite varieties to eat with peanut butter — there’s something about that low-acid apple along with peanut butter that just tastes great to me.

Newtown Pippin is an heirloom variety that was a prized export to Great Britain during Victorian age that is also excellent in hard cider.

Honeycrisp, you know. But did you know that Honeycrisp can actually keep until June?!?

Connell Red: there’s just one of these in the bag. It’s the fraternal (nearly identical) twin of the U of M-released Fireside apple variety.

Black Oxford: there’s also just one of these in the bag. This is an heirloom variety from Maine that I’ve been holding on to for winter distribution. Although I love it when I pick it in the fall, it is purportedly at its best right about now. We’ll see about that . . .

Enjoy that strawberry jam! The strawberries are from Lorence’s Berry Farm, which isn’t too far from me.

Apple chips are made from SweeTango and Keepsake apples.

And lastly, Vina: I included Vina because it goes so well with cheese and what with Superbowl preparations on Sunday, cheese was on my mind. But Vina is also a lovely cider for Valentine’s Day — it’s beautiful in the glass and with its higher-acid content, will pair beautifully with whatever you serve on Valentine’s Day, even a heart-shaped pizza.

January 22, 2025

Welcome to winter and our first-ever Winter CSA.

Apples are an excellent storage crop and the delicious things you can make from apples are practically unlimited so for three months — January, February, and March — we will be putting together an apple-based winter CSA.

What can you expect from a Sweetland Orchard winter CSA?

• Four Sunday deliveries total, spaced three weeks apart (January 19, February 9, March 2, March 23)

• Apples — one half-peck, as long as they’re still in good condition

• Fresh-pressed cider — one half-gallon

• An apple pie or gluten-free crisp (frozen, you bake at home)

• Apple chips (2 packages)

• Jam, jelly, apple butter, or some other jarred, preserved deliciousness

• When the apples are no longer in good condition, then we’ll round out the box with sauce and chips

• You can also order hard cider with your box

Choose Dogwood Coffee St. Paul, Dogwood Coffee East Lake, Dogwood Coffee NE, France 44, or Sweetland Orchard for your pick-up location.