Portland Nursery 25th Annual Apple Tasting Extravaganza

I love the Autumn.  It is truly my favorite time of year.  The weather is a perfect mix of sunny, clear, cool and wet. It is the only time of year I will tolerate scary movies.  I often wax nostalgic on childhood memory lane.  I can watch any number of football and/or futbol (soccer) games.  And then there is the food...Winter squash, sausages, every mac and cheese combo imaginable, pork in every glorious cut and apples.  Oh I do love apples in the late fall.

For the past 25 years, Portland Nursery has hosted a legendary apple tasting party that runs the course over two weekends.  Apples, Music, Apples, Scarecrows, Apples, Cider, Apples, Strudel, well, you get the picture. It is glorious.  This year was especially sweet. It is their 25th Anniversary and they brought out all of the bells and whistles:  Cooking demos, tastings, crafts, amazing music, an old fashioned cider press, there is no better way to greet the Fall. AND true to Portland Nursery form, it is a great benefit to the community.  A portion of the proceeds goes to the non-profit Elders in Action and there is a food drive benefiting Impact Northwest.  Why do I love this place? Oh yeah.

I was a bit nervous because we were waiting until the Sunday of the final weekend to go.  I have been to Apple Tasting when they've run out of apples and it literally made me cry. We wanted to go today though because the son of our good friend was playing in a band and I had heard they were a must-see. It was no lie.  LoveBomb Go-Go, an intergalactic marching band by nature, was fantastic fun. Hard to really put them in a box or genre, just know they can rock, pop, oompa, swing and march with the best of them.  Hope to see more of them around the Pacific Northwest festival scene soon.

Now, of course, this was "Apple" Tasting but Portland Nursery learned a while back that there are some pleasant accompaniments and products that glorify this delightful immigrant to North America.  It's true, the Crab Apple is the only actual apple that is native to the U.S.A although we now grow over 2500 varieties. Makes you think about that "American as Apple Pie" in a whole new light, doesn't it?

But I digress.  Next year, before hitting up the looooooong line for the actual apple tasting tent, I suggest you seek out the treats tucked away in the Shade Plants building.  There is traditional delicious cider tasting available across the way but here is where you will find the Hard Cider tasting along with cheese, wine, chocolate, oh my.  There is no better way to spend a day than with that happy trio.

 

Enso, a wine vendor I had not encountered before but will definitely seek out at their Urban Winery, represented well.  There was a crisp Pinot Gris, a well blended table red and an as of yet unreleased Malbec.  The Malbec was young but very promising and the ResOnate (the table red) was quite drinkable.  The young woman behind the counter was also brilliant in her suggesting we take each of our tastings over to the Smitten Artisan Chocolatier for a complimentary pairing.  The results were brilliant but the stand out sample of the day had to be the Apple infused Bourbon Dark Chocolate.  Sadly, I did not purchase any and when I turned to their website could not find it listed along with their other stunning chocolates I almost shed tears.  I will turn to my second favorite, the Kalamansi and Creme Honey for comfort.  This is melt-in-your-mouth-and-take-you-to-heaven chocolate and it pairs lovely with wine.

Then there was cheese.  Chevre, to be precise and it was amazing.  If you've ordered Chevre  in some of Portland's finest dining establishments, you have undoubtedly enjoyed Portland Creamery's fabulous fare. Their goat cheese is served in all of my favorite places including Screen Door and Tabla.  Enough said, right?  Liz Alvis and friends were on hand at the nursery to share some of their indescribably delicious cheese.  The creamy sweet texture of her chevre gives proof positive why her creations took 1st, 2nd and 3rd place titles in the  2011 American Dairy Goat Association Cheese competition.  While my friends and I contemplated what we could smear the amazing Pumpkin Stout Chevre on we stumbled upon the Sweet Fire nosh of Creamy Oregon Chevre topped with a marionberry/habenero preserve that took our breath away.  I almost caused a brawl when I purchased the second to last tub of it.  I didn't wait around to see what happened to the lucky(?) lady who got the last one.  As the tagline on their product site states: Live, Love, Chevre.

The cider, dips, organic chestnuts roasting on an open fire and hard ciders that we tried were all yummy.
K is, of course, attracted to the dry-hopped and hops infused type of cider.  He loves the Finnriver Dry Hopped Apple Cider.  I, on the other hand, like my ciders a little more sweet and am attracted to ciders blended with pears, cherries or berries but I still love a clear, crisp Apple cider, which is really what this is all about.  Why don't I get into the kitchen and make something with my 10+ lbs of apples and I'll talk about the apples in another post...promise.