10.13.04
The Mount Hood Apple Tour
The orchards of Washington and Oregon are known for their significant production of apples and pears. What a lot of people do not realize is how many unique varieties of apples are grown in these orchards. Combining a beautiful fall drive around Mount Hood with a tour of the apple orchards my mother and I were able to purchase and sample dozens of different heirloom apple and pear varieties. Skipping varieties commonly available in super-markets and most baking apples we still collected 26 different apple varieties, 19 types of pears and other assorted farm goods.
This year we took a route similar to the one we used last year but were more careful to select unique varieties and mark each fruit so they could be catalogued and so we could track our impressions. Last year�s tour was taken on a crisp sunny spring weekend that happened to co-inside with the Hood River Harvest Festival. This year other plans made it impossible to do the fruit loop during the festival weekend (October 16 and 17) and occasional clouds and bits of rain kept us from extending the tour with extra drives or walks. The day was still long and quite enjoyable starting with a departure from Portland after a good breakfast at Milo’s City Cafe at around 9:30 am. By the time we got back home, around 6pm the odometer on my car showed about 180 miles traveled.
Had the weather been nicer or our day plan shorter we may have headed out on the Historic Columbia River Highway, as it was we shot straight out to Hood River on I-84. A quick visit to the Hood River visitor’s center provided us with a map of the Fruit Loop as well as some information on where to find the illusive Hard Cider we had searched for but not found the year before.
With maps in hand we crossed the Columbia on the Hood River Toll Bridge (only $.75 each way and a great sense for the size of the river) and popped over to Bad Seed Cider in Bingen City. The nice lady in the otherwise empty building served us a sample shot of their cider, which was quite disappointing. Dry and flavorless the cider lacked body or character. An ice wine called ‘Finale’ did not fare much better being syrupy and uninteresting.
Back over the river we paid a visit to the farmer’s market, which was sparsely attended and did not hold any crafts of interest to us then got on Highway 35 and headed down toward the orchards. Just as you exit Hood River there is a turnoff for East Side Road, which parallels Highway 35 but is more scenic. About a mile along this route is the turnoff for Panorama Point which we skipped this year because of the weather but afforded some grand views of Mount Hood the previous year and is well worth the visit.
Our first orchard was Pearl’s Place (#17 on the map) where we purchased two Knicker Belle apples (a variety of Jonagold), two Red Comice pears and some white peaches. The peaches were assumed to be late harvest but turned out have been in storage for a while and were inedible and thrown away. Pearl’s did not have as many apple varieties as other stops but did have many different pears. In all cases we bought either two or four of each variety so we could each sample and compare notes
Next we stopped at what is probably the largest and most commercial destination on the loop: Rasmussen Farms (#19). Rasmussen is comprised of a large covered area devoted to fruit with additional buildings for flowers, squash and gourds, a pumpkin field as well as a corn maze and a hay-bale Halloween scary hut for kids. Even with the tourist busses occasionally dumping off waves of oglers Rasmussen is a must do destination on the tour, especially if you have kids in tow. They are open until December 23rd and re-open again in early spring for nursery products. The good people behind the counter told us that aside from the fall visit for apples and pears July is the best month to visit their store for cherries. At Rasmussen we bought:
Apples: Criterion, Ida Red, Jonagold (a mix between Johnathan and Golden Delicious), Melrose (good for making sauce, pies and baking), Mutsu (good for sauces), Rome, Spitzenburg (good for both eating and baking, known as “The Apple that made Hood River famous”) and Winter Banana (a cooking apple).
Pears: Cascade (a mix of Red Anjou and Comice), Concord, Easter, Flemish Beauty, Forelle, Green Anjou (a good pear for eating and for salads), Packham (a mix of Comice and Bartlett), Red Anjou, Star Krimson and Seckel a peculiar tiny pear.
In addition to these varieties Rasmussen also had a fruit display of heirloom varieties that were not for sale. Yes, they do tease.
We also got a five-pound bag of Filberts (Hazelnuts), a five-pound bag of Walnuts, a nicely colored New England Cheesecake Squash, a carmel-apple and an apple turnover. Curiously a number of sites (not Rasmussen but others) were calling their turnovers ‘Apple Empanadas’, an odd choice of names for me since I grew up eating meat filled empanadas which to my taste are quite different from the turnover in everything but shape. The turnover was quite delicious and made me want to buy one of their pies a temptation I resisted knowing there would be plenty more apple product ahead.
The next stop was at the Country Faire Fruit Market (#8) and Packer’s Cookie Stop, which on the map seem to be down the road from each other but actually share a building. The Market was nothing unique but did carry two apple types we had not seen before, Hawaii Gold and Tokyo Rose (also known as Akane), which we bought. The Cookie Stop was listed in the guide as having unique cookies, which one can see being made on the spot. With no cookies in production at that moment I contented myself with samples, none of which I found particularly interesting, something rather surprising since they were charging $4 for a single of the large cookies.
Further down Highway 35 we stopped at Draper’s Farm (#9, number nine, number nine, number nine�.), another friendly and welcoming stall this one with a small petting zoo up front populated by goats, two donkeys and a curious llama all of which will approach innocent motorists in hopes of being fed some of the feed they have available for a $1. At Draper’s we purchased three different apple varieties: Elstar (noted as the most popular variety in Holland), Empire (a cross between Red Delicious and McIntosh) and Galor (a cross of Spits and Red Delicious). Draper’s had a wide selection of jams and jellies including many marked as their own but more importantly they were the only place we were able to find unpasteurized apple cider, a bit of a rarity since some recent e-coli scares. The cider will only keep for five days or so (refrigerated) which is not a problem as it is crisp and delicious enough for daily consumption.
Hanging in the middle of the store is a metal mailbox with a large sign that states ‘Put Money Here’. An inquiry as to the purpose gave an unexpected and heartening answer: The store sells fruit 365 days out of the year, keeping it in storage containers when snow or other conditions make it impossible to keep the front of the store open. Locals wanting to pick up apples when the store is closed can go into the containers to get the goods and put their payment in the box on the way out.
Our last fruit destination was also one of my favorites: Kiyokawa Family Orchards (#12) a large fruit stand with one of the largest assortments of fruit I have seen and very friendly and welcoming staff. During our 2003 tour we arrived at Kiyokawa as they held a Latin festival for their workers complete with live music, dancing and some damn tasty tacos. This year we contented ourselves with another (very good) apple turnover, a walk through the orchards (where each row carries a different apple variety) and of course many more bags full of apples and pears:
Apples: Hanner’s Jumbo (a huge Apple which I photographed next to a medium sized specimen for comparison), Hokuto, Lady Applyu (which sell for $1 a pound as opposed to the usual $0.49 a pound), Liberty, Pink Delight (an apple with an inner flesh that is pink), Pink Pearl, Sansa (a cross between Akane and Gala), Spokane Beauty and Swiss Gourmet (a cross of Red Delicious and Idared)
Pears: Abate Fetel, Cascade Jumbo (if I described Hanner’s Jumbo as huge the only word left for the Cascade Jumbo is Gargantuan), Chateau Royal, Concorde, Hudson’s Golden Gem (a pear that can be stored for up to 3 months), Larissa and Taylor’s Gold.
It should be noted that by the time we got to Kiyokawa we had already collected samples of many heritage fruits, most of which were also present at this stop. Given this, that we were not collecting commonly available varieties, baking apples or any Asian Pears (you have to put some limits if you expect to eat them all before they go bad) we still managed an additional 19 varieties at this farm.
From there we took leave of the Hood River Valley and headed up Cooper Spur Road through the foothills and to the top of Mount Hood where we had warm drinks at a snow covered Timberline Lodge, then back down the mountain and into Portland along Highway 26 to sort through our collection and start sampling the wares.
This has been a very good year for apple and pear crops. Local news report production is so high that orchards have run out of boxes and workers and are leaving fruit on trees until they are able to start harvesting again. If you have either this Saturday or Sunday unplanned I would very much recommend making the Hood River Valley Fruit Loop a weekend plan. If you cannot make it this year keep in mind the different harvest times and start planning for next year.