Kid-friendly Apple Peanut Butter Baked Oatmeal

By rebeccatalbotJanuary 12, 2023April 21, 2023 Apples, Breakfast, Featured

Days with a small child can be unpredictable. Some mornings my 19-month-old daughter will go straight to her shape sorters and forget the rest of the world exists for a while. Other mornings it can take some ingenuity for Mom to make a pot of coffee without interruption. Having breakfast already planned makes one variable,…

Christmas Stollen from Jerry Sheehan

By rebeccatalbotDecember 10, 2020 Featured

This December, Jerry Sheehan and his co-worker Kayla Remshard are busy baking the German stollen (“shtaw-luhn”) you can find at Wolff’s right now. And of course, this stollen is made with all of the authentic craftsmanship that Jerry is known for throughout this region. He is one of the only local bakers making a true…

5 Easy Natural Christmas Decor Ideas

By rebeccatalbotDecember 3, 2020 Featured, Holiday

Though the 2020 holiday season is a strange one, holiday traditions can help us get our bearings. I found myself counting the days until the start of Advent this year, a season of waiting in hope. Since March, the whole year has felt like one of waiting and hoping. Finally, the calendar has caught up…

What Wolff’s Is Doing About Spotted Lanternfly

By rebeccatalbotAugust 27, 2020August 28, 2020 Featured

It’s not a butterfly. It’s not a moth. And, despite its name, it’s not even a fly. Liz Magnuson, the Wolff’s Apple House Annuals Manager, describes Spotted Lanternfly as more like a leech that attaches itself to trees and other plants. And once it is there, the leech-like plant hopper “causes serious damage in…

Your Seasonal Food Guide (With Recipes!)

By rebeccatalbotJune 25, 2020June 25, 2020 Featured

Shopping at a local farm market like Wolff’s makes it easy to become attuned to what’s in season when. This makes it an exciting challenge to find recipes to match the produce you discover from local farms. Here’s a handy guide to what’s in season when…. and the recipes you can make each season! Of…

Media Baker’s Guild

By rebeccatalbotMarch 19, 2020March 20, 2020 Featured, Vendors

During times of stress, it is especially crucial to pay attention to the things that sustain us. We renew our appreciation for our daily bread. And while we are socially distancing, we especially appreciate food that is both nutritious and an exciting treat. The Media Bakers Guild is continuing to supply this. Baked goods from…

How to Make Your Houseplants Flourish

By rebeccatalbotJanuary 9, 2020January 16, 2020 Featured, Gardening Advice: Flowers

Many people say they just don’t have a green thumb when it comes to houseplants, but Liz Magnuson, the Wolff’s Apple House annuals manager, believes otherwise. She says it’s just a matter of finding the right houseplant for their personality and environment. She and everyone else at the Wolff’s Garden Center will be happy to match…

Banana Bread with Crumb Topping

By rebeccatalbotNovember 27, 2019April 21, 2023 Featured, Recipes

Sweet breads are a satisfying accompaniment to any holiday meal. My mother-in-law knows this well. In addition to the usual dinner rolls that are always a must at a big feast, she serves several kinds of sweet bread. Usually that includes pumpkin, zucchini and banana bread. This year at Thanksgiving, I was in charge of…

Your Mum Questions, Answered

By rebeccatalbotOctober 10, 2019August 26, 2022 Featured, Gardening Advice: Flowers

As Pennsylvania’s color palette shifts from bright summer greens and pastels to the rich reds, oranges, browns and yellows of fall, many gardeners take time to intentionally bring fall colors into their home gardens. When it comes to fall gardens, mums bring an instant pop of fall color. They also bring a few questions about…

Pumpkin Apple Muffins

By rebeccatalbotSeptember 19, 2019April 21, 2023 Apples, Featured, Pumpkin, Recipes

It is important to pay attention to goodness. Whenever I step into a bakery, I think of this, because a bakery always calls to mind Raymond Carver’s short story “A Small, Good Thing.” In the midst of an unbelievable tragedy, a family also starts receiving harassing anonymous phone calls. Finally, the mother realizes who has…

Easy Spinach and Sun-Dried Tomato Wraps

By rebeccatalbotSeptember 12, 2019April 21, 2023 Featured, Leafy Greens, Recipes, Tomatoes

This week, I had a small culinary challenge I needed to figure out. I needed to serve food to group of somewhere between seven and fifteen people, and it needed to be not at all messy. I was gathering with a group of friends to watch a film in a fancy theater space that were…

No-Churn Peaches & Cinnamon Ice Cream

By rebeccatalbotAugust 15, 2019April 21, 2023 Desserts, Featured, Peaches, Recipes

A few years ago, I worked at a university writing center, and one of the back-to-school team-building moments for the returning writing tutors was always churning homemade custard. Cranking the handle of an old-fashioned ice cream maker was a good bonding activity. Conversation flows easily when you’re engaged in culinary activities that require you to…

Roasted Corn and Avocado Salad

By rebeccatalbotAugust 8, 2019April 21, 2023 Featured

A few years ago, I would spend summer mornings at a garden in a suburb outside of Chicago. Some city-dwelling friends of mine had leased a suburban plot of land, less than an acre, and grew so much food that they were able to start a CSA. So I would spend some Saturdays there, in…

Burrito Bowls with Fried Corn Salad

By rebeccatalbotJuly 18, 2019April 21, 2023 Featured

Burritos are a weekly meal in our house. Mainly because I can make them with only about ten minutes of prep work and still serve a healthy meal. Sometimes when I have more time, I simmer a pot of beans instead of buying them canned, or I make the salsa or guacamole from scratch. But…

Savory Peach and Tomato Pie

By rebeccatalbotJuly 11, 2019April 21, 2023 Featured, Main-Dishes, Peaches, Recipes, Summer Produce, Tomatoes

July is peak season for peaches, tomatoes, and corn. This time of year, the corn is fresh picked and brought to Wolff’s daily so it’s sweeter. Sweet corn is best right after it’s harvested. Within three days, its sugar/starch ratio can change from 80:20 to 20:80 as the sugar converts into starch. That’s what makes it turn…

Penne Arrabbiata with Homegrown Tomatoes

By rebeccatalbotJune 20, 2019April 21, 2023 Featured, Recipes, Tomatoes

Italy is heaven. At least, it is in Elizabeth von Arnim’s novel The Enchanted April, which I’m reading for a book club this week. The premise is that four women, who are all processing the ways that life has disappointed them, escape their dreary English lives to vacation in an Italian castle. There, beauty heals them….

On Juneteenth and Strawberry Pie

By rebeccatalbotJune 6, 2019April 21, 2023 Berries, Featured, Holiday, Recipes

Juneteenth is named for June 19, 1865, the date when enslaved Africans in Galveston, Texas learned that they were free. This was two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation had been enacted, and over two months after the Civil War ended. “The reactions to this profound news ranged from pure shock to immediate jubilation,” says the Juneteenth…

Balsamic Chicken with Asparagus and Spring Veggies

By rebeccatalbotMay 23, 2019April 21, 2023 Featured, Main-Dishes, Recipes, Seasonal, Summer Produce

My mother’s recipe for this dish calls it “balsamic chicken”, a title that hides what I love most about it. It’s all about the veggies. Asparagus. Red bell peppers. Carrots. Mushrooms. Onions. The wealth of veggies makes the meal a vibrant one, pleasing to look at as well as to eat. Appealing to senses besides…

On Bread and Craftsmanship: Jerome Sheehan’s Artisan European-Style Bread

By rebeccatalbotApril 10, 2019April 10, 2019 Vendors

Jerome Sheehan of Chester County had spent over twenty years in accounting and finance when he decided that he was ready for something different. “I wanted to work with my hands,” says Jerome, “and produce something tangible that I could be proud of.” His travels abroad reinforced this longing to be part of an artisan tradition….

Baked Gnocchi with Mozzarella, Spinach and Cherry Tomato

By rebeccatalbotFebruary 27, 2019April 21, 2023 Featured, Leafy Greens, Main-Dishes, Tomatoes, Vegetarian/Vegan gnocchi, pasta

It’s a problem. I see a package of gnocchi in a store, and I must buy it. My hand reaches for it and it’s in my shopping basket before I even know what’s happening. I immediately envision a dinner that is everything a weeknight meal should be: easy, delicious, filling, and at least moderately healthy. …

All About Apple Cider

By rebeccatalbotFebruary 13, 2019September 9, 2021 Apples, Beverages, Featured, Vendors apple cider, cider

Even when it’s no longer time for apple picking, winter is the prime time to enjoy local apples by eating them… and drinking them. From September to May, Weaver’s Orchard in Morgantown, PA presses the apple cider that you enjoy at Wolff’s. Then from late spring to early fall, they freeze their preservative-free cider so…

A Casa Pizza: Bake at Home Pizza and Stromboli from a Local Family Business

By rebeccatalbotJanuary 31, 2019March 5, 2019 Featured, Vendors pizza

It’s a classic group project in business school: to create a new hypothetical business from the ground up. When Erin Hagarty was in an MBA program at Georgetown, she told her team about the business she had grown up in: a bake-at-home pizza business. The team decided to capitalize on her first-hand knowledge. They named…

Lavender Honey Carrots & Easy Veggie Sides That Aren’t Salad

By rebeccatalbotJanuary 17, 2019April 21, 2023 Featured, Gluten-Free, Hardy Vegetables, Paleo, Recipe-Round-Up, Recipes, Root Vegetables, Sides carrots, honey, lavender

Nothing against salad. It’s just that when thinking of a veggie side, it’s often the first thing that comes to mind, and sometimes breaking out of the routine is just what you need to get inspired to eat more veggies. So try these three easy veggie sides to freshen up your dinner table, and maybe…

Our Customers’ Top 10 Recipes in 2018

By rebeccatalbotDecember 20, 2018February 28, 2019 Featured, Recipes recipes

Have you ever been invited to look through somebody else’s recipe collection? Maybe your grandparents’? Or your mom or dad’s, or your mother-in-laws’? At times like that, the wrinkled, stained and water-spotted ones always catch my eye, because those are the ones that have been made time and time again. As we reach the end…

Yes, You Can Eat Beet Greens (Try Them in This Pasta)

By rebeccatalbotNovember 29, 2018April 21, 2023 Farm-to-Table, Featured, Main-Dishes, Root Vegetables, Vegetarian/Vegan beets, greens, pasta

“What can you do with the carrot tops?” I asked a farmer who was standing behind her farm’s table at a farmers market. I held up a bouquet of carrots with lacy greens attached. This was about nine years ago, when I had just made a commitment to buy my food from local farmers whenever…

Three Instant Upgrades for Your Thanksgiving Feast

By rebeccatalbotNovember 15, 2018April 21, 2023 Appetizers, Apples, Beverages, Crafts, Featured, Holiday, Recipes Thanksgiving

Unless you’re feeling like a superhero, or getting a little antsy with some extra time off of work, the time for major Thanksgiving DIY projects and menu overhauls has probably passed. But here are three easy upgrades to make your guests feel extra special. Upgrade Your Decor with Potato Stamp Cards This is a fun…

Pumpkin Pie Pancakes

By rebeccatalbotOctober 25, 2018April 21, 2023 Breakfast, Featured, Pumpkin, Seasonal pancakes, pumpkins

Have you ever had this problem? You make a pumpkin pie, but the recipe calls for more filling than will fit inside the pie crust. If only all of life’s problems were so delicious. I decided to freeze the leftover pie filling until I’d figured out just what to do with it. Pumpkin bread? Pancakes? I…

In New Jersey, October Is Cranberry Season

By rebeccatalbotOctober 11, 2018February 28, 2019 Berries, Featured, Holiday cranberries

During October, most of us are dreaming about apples and pumpkins, but there’s another big crop being harvested locally this month. Cranberries! Even though consumers might not start thinking about cranberries until it’s time to pass them around the table at Thanksgiving, New Jersey growers are already harvesting them in October. In honor of that, it’s…

The Easiest Pie, Two Different Ways

By rebeccatalbotSeptember 27, 2018April 21, 2023 Apples, Desserts, Featured, Recipes apple pie, pie

The word “galette” sounds fancy, like something that will require new tools and test a baker’s skills to the max. But actually a galette reminds me of a person whose reputation is so impressive you’re scared to talk with them, but then once you meet them, you realize that they’re completely down-to-earth, fun and spontaneous….

Sweet Potato Pancakes with Apple Compote

By rebeccatalbotSeptember 20, 2018April 21, 2023 Apples, Breakfast, Featured, Recipes, Root Vegetables gluten-free, vegetarian

I can picture it now: the bright yellow box of pancake mix, the tall, translucent pitcher filled with lumpy batter, the squeezable plastic bottle of something vaguely resembling maple syrup (already sticky with congealed sugar). These were the ingredients of a special treat. Pancakes for dinner! This meal was so surprising. “Wait… pancakes for WHAT?! For…

Savor Peach Season with These 9 Peach Recipes

By rebeccatalbotAugust 9, 2018February 28, 2019 Featured, Peaches, Recipes peaches

One summer about six years ago, I gained a new appreciation for how much work goes into bringing peaches to the market. A friend had invited me to harvest pick-your-own peaches up at Weaver’s Orchard in Morgantown, PA, one of the farms that supplies Wolff’s with their peaches. I was used to picking strawberries, blueberries…

Simplified Mexican Street Corn

By rebeccatalbotJuly 12, 2018April 21, 2023 Featured, Locally Grown, Sides, Vegetarian/Vegan corn, locally grown produce, sweet corn

When I visit my parents during the summer, no meal is complete without corn on the cob. Preparing it is a chance to sit and catch up with siblings or other relatives as we wrench the husks off the corn and then carefully pluck away the remaining silk. It feels like a throwback to yesteryear…

Vegan Cream of Asparagus Soup WITH the Woody Ends

By rebeccatalbotApril 26, 2018April 21, 2023 Featured, Locally Grown, Recipes, Soup

“Discard the woody ends.” That’s the first rule any cook learns about cooking with asparagus. But, as the many kind people who have helped me move six times in the past eleven years can attest, I hate to throw anything away. I darn socks. I even darn yoga pants. If there’s still a use for…

A “Victory Salad” from a Victory Garden

By rebeccatalbotApril 12, 2018April 21, 2023 Recipes

This year, to commemorate the victory gardens of World War I, the World War One in Delco organization is partnering with the Penn State Master Gardeners to bring back victory gardens throughout Delaware County. A few months ago, I spoke with Master Gardener Kathy Pelczarski about how she and other master gardeners are encouraging victory gardens….

What to Plant When: A Fruit & Vegetable Planting Guide from Our Garden Center

By rebeccatalbotMarch 28, 2018March 28, 2018 Featured, Gardening Advice: Vegetables, Fruits & Herbs

It’s been a cold, snowy March in southeastern Pennsylvania. For some, this means we’re daydreaming even more about warm, sunny days and the vegetable gardens that come along with that. While you’re waiting to get your garden started, check out what Amy Lang, plant manager in the Wolff’s Apple House garden center, says about choosing…

Meet Our Beekeepers and Honey Vendors!

By rebeccatalbotMarch 8, 2018March 9, 2018 Featured, Vendors

When you’re looking for honey at Wolff’s, you’ll notice that it comes from several different apiaries. But one thing all our honey has in common: it’s raw. Customers say that their seasonal allergies have gotten better after using raw honey. Since raw honey contains small amounts of local pollen, it can help people build up…

Penn State Master Gardeners Are Helping to Bring Back Victory Gardens

By rebeccatalbotFebruary 22, 2018February 22, 2018 Featured, Gardening Advice: Vegetables, Fruits & Herbs

A hundred years ago, Europe was facing a severe food shortage as World War I turned farmers into soldiers and their farmland into battlegrounds. The United States began to encourage civilians to start “Victory Gardens” wherever they could: schools, parks, backyards, vacant lots, or even unused land that private businesses would allow them to use….

4 Ways to Attract More Birds to Your Backyard This Winter

By rebeccatalbotFebruary 8, 2018February 8, 2018 Gardening Advice: Flowers, Gardening Advice: Vegetables, Fruits & Herbs

When I visited my parents’ home in rural Berks County last month, all I wanted to do was look out the windows. I was plugging away at various writing projects in the upstairs bedroom that doubled as my office, but a cheerful flutter outside the picture windows kept attracting my notice. It was so peaceful to stare…

Super Citrus Salad with Chicken

By rebeccatalbotJanuary 11, 2018January 10, 2024 Featured, Main-Dishes, Recipes, Seasonal

I visited Wolff’s Apple House on New Year’s Eve and came home with four different kinds of citrus. The weather outside was frigid. The ground was covered with layer of snow. But once I had cut open the grapefruit, Cara Cara orange, tangerine and blood orange, the kitchen looked a whole lot brighter. Even the…

New Year’s Cooking Resolutions

By rebeccatalbotDecember 28, 2017December 28, 2017 Featured, Recipes

“All right, here’s the bet,” says Bill Haverchuck in a scene from the show Freaks and Geeks, “for 10 bucks I’ll drink this much of anything,” indicating that he’ll try about an inch worth of whatever his friends will concoct from the contents of the fridge. A friend and I did something like this when…

Our 20+ Best Holiday Party Recipes!

By rebeccatalbotNovember 2, 2017November 3, 2017 Appetizers, Apples, Berries, Beverages, Desserts, Featured, Holiday, Pumpkin, Recipe-Round-Up, Recipes

Throwing a holiday party this year? Check out our favorite recipes for appetizers, drinks and desserts! If you don’t have a party scheduled already, you’ll want to start inviting friends now! Appetizers Buffalo Cauliflower This recipe packs in all the flavor of buffalo chicken tenders or buffalo wings and, like these classic pub appetizers, can…

How We Select the Best Fall Decor

By rebeccatalbotOctober 18, 2017October 20, 2017 Featured, Holiday, Seasonal

This time of year, Wolff’s carries over 2,000 mums and a host of classic orange pumpkins from three pounds up to 40 pounds—not to mention heirloom pumpkins in all kinds of unexpected shapes and colors, and a few prizewinner pumpkins that weigh in at about 150 pounds each! Add to that Indian corn, corn shocks,…

Perfecting Your Autumn Display

By rebeccatalbotOctober 4, 2017September 22, 2022 Featured, Seasonal

A well-crafted autumn display gives you something beautiful to come home to after a long day at work, says Amy Lang, plant manager at Wolff’s Apple House. It brings “solace at the end of your day,” she says. Adding a touch of autumn beauty means you can sit on your patio with a glass of…

Apple Baked Oatmeal

By rebeccatalbotSeptember 19, 2017April 21, 2023 Apples, Breakfast, Featured, Recipes

Throughout any given day, I am usually thinking about the cup of coffee I will have at breakfast the next morning. I know that if I make myself a second cup of coffee sometime in the mid-afternoon, it won’t have the same flavor as my first-thing-in-the-morning cup because nothing compares to the steaming mug of…

Easy Peach Popsicles

By rebeccatalbotSeptember 7, 2017April 21, 2023 Featured, Peaches, Recipes

One evening when I was five years old, I straddled the split-rail fence that guarded our yard from the road. As I perched there with all of my five-year-old grace (which is to say, very little grace whatsoever), I suddenly tipped forward, landed face-first on pavement, and knocked out my two front teeth. When the metallic-tasting…

Peach Season Is Here, and It’s Great This Year!

By rebeccatalbotAugust 23, 2017August 23, 2017 Featured, Peaches

After talking with the three main orchards that supply Wolff’s peaches, three things are clear about this year’s peach season: the fruit is tasty, plentiful, and the whole season has been tracking ahead of schedule. Phyllis Shenk works at Cherry Hill Orchards in Lancaster, PA, one of the three growers that supply Wolff’s with peaches. For…

Zucchini Pappardelle with Herbs & Tomato

By rebeccatalbotJuly 12, 2017April 21, 2023 Featured, Recipes, Summer Produce, Tomatoes

What do you collect? When I was in middle school, I’d begun a serious collection of horse figurines, equestrian gear, and books about horses (whether Misty of Chincoteague, National Velvet, or practical guides to running a stable). Now I collect mostly books and recipes. Since I love to cultivate a vegetable garden, I make sure…

Fusilli Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes & Summer Squash

By rebeccatalbotJune 29, 2017April 21, 2023 Featured, Main-Dishes, Recipes, Summer Produce, Tomatoes

By the time I’ve finished preparing a meal, my kitchen often looks like a frenzied and ravenous wild animal had been let loose in the house. I use pots. I use skillets. I use at least five different knives, not to mention stirring spoons, spatulas, and those utensils that grab pasta perfectly. I know my…

Skillet Mexican Street Corn

By rebeccatalbotJune 13, 2017April 21, 2023 Locally Grown, Recipes, Sides, Summer Produce

With the exception of one favorite coffee mug, the entire contents of my kitchen have been in storage for the past year while my husband and I have been living with his parents. Soon, I hope, I will get to unwrap all my kitchenware, so valuable to me both for its utility and the memories…

Coco Coir Makes an Earth-Friendly Alternative to Peat Moss

By rebeccatalbotMay 1, 2017May 15, 2017 Gardening Advice: Flowers, Gardening Advice: Vegetables, Fruits & Herbs

Avid gardeners know this problem well. We can’t leave for summer vacation without making sure we have a dedicated friend, neighbor or family member who will promise to come over every couple of days to water the garden. But, as you look ahead to your summer planting (and vacation planning), a new product at Wolff’s…

Garlic Roasted Potatoes and Asparagus

By rebeccatalbotApril 18, 2017April 21, 2023 Featured, Recipes

You learn a lot about people when you share a house with them. Since last June, my husband and I have been living with his parents, and I’ve discovered three things they love: Family. They devote their time to babysitting, cooking meals for family, and otherwise making their kids’ lives easier. Sales at a certain department store….

Quiz Time! What Do You Know About Bees & Other Pollinators?

By rebeccatalbotApril 10, 2017June 11, 2019 Featured, Gardening Advice: Flowers, Gardening Advice: Vegetables, Fruits & Herbs

Love seeing bees and other pollinators in your garden? Then you’ll want to make sure you know as much as possible about these incredible creatures! We’ve got lots of questions for you about how bees see the world, what their lifespan and activities are like, and how you can protect pollinators in your vegetable garden….

Scalloped Potato Main Dish: Let’s Try This Without Canned Condensed Soup

By rebeccatalbotMarch 22, 2017April 21, 2023 Featured, Main-Dishes, Recipes

Ever since the first time I made this scalloped potatoes with beans recipe, I have loved what a hearty vegetarian dish it is. It’s so hearty, in fact, that when I made this for my in-laws last night, my father-in-law said, “If you told me there was beef in here, I would have believed you.” This…

Mango Float

By rebeccatalbotMarch 8, 2017April 21, 2023 Desserts, Featured, Recipes

Mango float. If you’re not familiar with this dessert, no doubt what comes to mind is some form of root beer float. But no, this magical Filipino dessert involves mangoes floating upon a delicate bed of graham crackers and whipped cream. Mm! This was one of those dishes that, as soon as I tasted it, I…

Gluten-Free Apple Bake

By rebeccatalbotFebruary 21, 2017April 21, 2023 Apples, Desserts, Featured, Recipes

One morning, my father stood beside a cutting board, apple-corer poised above a red-and-yellow apple. “Noooooo!” I shouted, saving the apple from its fate. He looked at me in surprise. He had been eating an apple a day for several months now, for the nutritional benefits, and figured that any of the apples in the bowl…

Loving Those Leaves: 20 Recipes for Leafy Greens

By rebeccatalbotFebruary 8, 2017February 10, 2017 Featured, Leafy Greens, Recipes

954. That’s how many farms harvested kale to sell in 2007… across the entire United States. That sounds a little low compared to the current demand, doesn’t it? By 2012, that number more than doubled as 2,500 farms grew the superfood commercially. Today, kale farmers sometimes have difficulty finding enough kale seeds to plant! And kale isn’t…

Root for Your Health with These 10 Root Vegetable Recipes

By rebeccatalbotJanuary 25, 2017November 2, 2017 Featured, Recipes, Root Vegetables

A scene from the British comedy The IT Crowd comes to mind when I consider the importance of eating a balanced diet, rich in fruits and vegetables. Maurice Moss, one of the IT staff members, is asking his friend and fellow IT worker, Roy, questions from a health survey. “Do you get your five fruits and…

How to Have More Energy in the New Year

By rebeccatalbotDecember 28, 2016December 27, 2023 Featured, Leafy Greens, Main-Dishes, Recipes, Root Vegetables

A boy once saw a gleaming jar of hazelnuts. He loved hazelnuts and, just at the sight of them, he could taste them already. So he stuck his hand in the jar and gathered a huge fistful of the nuts. But he’d made such a big fist that when he tried to pull his hand…

Recipe Roundup: Apple Cider Recipes

By rebeccatalbotOctober 26, 2016November 2, 2017 Apples, Featured, Recipes

A federal agent is standing in the middle of an apple orchard, giving orders for the trees to be burned to the ground. Is this a scene from a dystopian science fiction movie? No. It’s from the strange world of Prohibition-era America, when the federal government restricted the production of hard cider, and, actually, non-alcoholic cider too… just to…

Tour Our Fall Perennials (And Learn Why They LOVE Fall!)

By rebeccatalbotSeptember 29, 2016August 11, 2020 Featured, Gardening Advice: Flowers

Does fall make you sigh with relief for the cooler temperatures? Do you feel more comfortable when it’s cool and breezy? But maybe you feel pretty glad that the ground is still warm beneath your feet? That’s basically how your perennials feel (well, except for the feet). But, just like you, perennials enjoy the cooler…

Trying, Failing, and Continuing to Preserve the Harvest

By rebeccatalbotAugust 18, 2016August 20, 2016 Cooking Methods, Featured, Summer Produce

Yesterday I tried something that didn’t work at all. And to make matters worse, I spent about 10 hours on it and roped some family members into the process. I tried making candied watermelon rind. I was pretty excited because not only would this be delicious (surely, surely) it would also be frugal, repurposing a useless, maligned…

Modifying Recipes to Cook with the Seasons

By rebeccatalbotAugust 3, 2016April 21, 2023 Cooking Methods, Farm-to-Table, Featured, Recipes, Summer Produce, Tomatoes

Summer in Pennsylvania, for me, means swimming in my parents’ pond. Or at least hanging out on the dock with the adults and drinking iced tea while the kids swim. A few of my friends’ and relatives’ kids have waded into the pond sporting inflatable “swimmies” on their arms. Remember those things? The way they…

Wolff’s vs. Grocery Store: The Big Three

By rebeccatalbotJuly 28, 2016July 28, 2016 Featured, Locally Grown

Last summer, I visited a grocery store in Chicago that was selling boatloads of peaches labeled “southern peaches.” They were tiny, mealy, flavorless little waifs. Lack of local produce at supermarkets frustrates me in general, but I found the lack of local peaches especially odd considering that Paul Friday (of “Flamin’ Fury” fame) lived close enough to Chicago…

True or False? Test Your Garden Know-How!

By rebeccatalbotJuly 5, 2016February 13, 2018 Featured, Gardening Advice: Flowers, Gardening Advice: Vegetables, Fruits & Herbs

If you’re gardening this summer, your garden is probably keeping you busy! Take a break from weeding, watering and preserving your harvest and have some fun testing your garden know-how with this quiz fresh-picked from our growing collection of blog articles! True or False: “Hens and Chicks” is the name of a plant that requires constant maintenance. Some plants are more…

Four Recipes for Safe Picnics

By rebeccatalbotMay 24, 2016July 13, 2016 Featured, Recipes food safety, picnics

Last summer, I was reminded about how long potato salad can sit out at picnics. I was co-teaching a cooking class at Weaver’s Orchard, one of the orchards that supplies apples and other fruit to Wolff’s, and the co-teacher shared a recipe for a picnic-safe potato salad. He pointed out how long food can sometimes…

Wolff’s vs. Grocery Store, Part II

By rebeccatalbotApril 14, 2016April 19, 2016 Featured, Vendors

Last September, my sister challenged me to look at beloved Wolff’s Apple House items next to similar items at my local big box grocery store and explore the quality and nutrition of each. Trying to find any product that even resembled those Wolff’s carries proved difficult in some cases. And when I did find comparable foods…. bleh! The…

Celebrating Dill for Springtime Brunches

By rebeccatalbotMarch 17, 2016April 21, 2023 Breakfast, Featured, Recipes

Ah, the smell of spring. That earthy, sweet smell of ground that has thawed enough to till. The smell of blossoms on the breeze. The smell of the first cold-hardy herbs and vegetables plucked from garden. I am eager to pay attention to the smells of springtime. And because of this, I found it completely…

What Makes Primroses So Prim?

By rebeccatalbotMarch 10, 2016 Featured, Gardening Advice: Flowers

What is the “prim” in primrose? Is it prim as in “prim and proper”? That is what I first thought, and I always imagined primroses as old fashioned women in flouncy gowns, sipping tea from delicate tea cups, with their pinky fingers crooked. But these perky flowers are…

Spanakopita & Festive Veggie Recipes

By rebeccatalbotDecember 10, 2015April 21, 2023 Appetizers, Featured, Leafy Greens, Recipes

Holidays are a time of feasting. But that doesn’t have to mean we forget about vegetables for the whole month of December. With other holiday meals, there’s much more leeway than with Thanksgiving meals, which, let’s face it, just wouldn’t be complete without the buttery rolls, stuffing, and pie. As you’re planning your holiday menu, here are some…

Three Ways to Prep Your Garden for Winter

By rebeccatalbotNovember 24, 2015October 26, 2016 Featured, Gardening Advice: Vegetables, Fruits & Herbs

In high school I volunteered at the Hay Creek Valley Fall Festival in Berks County, dressing up in smoky-smelling Colonial garb and tending apple fritters over an open fire. It was early fall, just into apple season, and yet I distinctly remember talking about the coming winter with a friend who was also working in the Colonial…

Recipe Roundup: Our Favorite Thanksgiving Recipes

By rebeccatalbotNovember 12, 2015November 2, 2017 Featured, Holiday, Main-Dishes, Recipe-Round-Up, Recipes

Earlier this month, Fair Food Philly‘s blog featured a detailed preparation timeline to help hosts spare themselves the last-minute scrambling. In the article, Peggy Paul Casella advised hosts to plan out the menu two to three weeks ahead of time. “Oh sure, two to three weeks ahead of time. No problem,” I thought to myself. Then I…

Freshen Up! Add Natural Fragrance to Your Home This Fall

By rebeccatalbotOctober 29, 2015October 29, 2015 Crafts, Featured, Gifts from the Kitchen, Holiday all natural, DIY projects, herbs, natural fragrance, spices

As a Wolff’s Apple House customer, you take care to make healthy, conscientious choices. You know where your food comes from, and that it usually comes from within 50 miles of our store. You know that if you ask, someone at Wolff’s will be able to tell you about the farmer. But as you think about…

Winter Life-Preservers: Preserving Fall Produce

By rebeccatalbotOctober 15, 2015March 15, 2016 Featured, Leafy Greens

It’s only mid-October. Deep breath. It’s not winter yet. But the other night while some friends and I were enjoying the first pumpkin pie of the season, we reminisced about freak October storms. In Chicago last year, October 31 decided to dress up as January 31, wrapping itself in a ghoulish costume of sleet and…

Our Five Easiest Fall Meals

By rebeccatalbotOctober 1, 2015December 26, 2017 Featured, Recipe-Round-Up, Recipes

The honey-locust trees on my street have gone from brilliant green to gold, showering confetti on the sidewalks as surely as if a parade had passed through. Autumn happens all of a sudden. I look up at 7 p.m., and the lacy honey-locust leaves are filtering soft orange twilight instead of bright summer daylight. I look up,…

Wolff’s vs. Grocery Store: How Do The Products Compare?

By rebeccatalbotSeptember 17, 2015September 18, 2015 Featured, Prepared Foods, Vendors

When I moved from Chicago to rural Pennsylvania, shopping in a traditional grocery store became my most depressing and frustrating errand. So many options surrounded me, all of them choices between lesser evils. Organic and local products eluded me. And ethnic or specialty food? I have cried over the lack of hummus. I will admit it. Today, when I…

Baker and Fruit Spread Maker Karsten Haigis Invites You to His Table

By rebeccatalbotSeptember 3, 2015September 23, 2015 Featured

“You are a guest at my table.” This is how Karsten Haigis, the West Chester-based baker and fruit spread maker behind Haigis Fine Foods, envisions each of his customers. Like the best dinner party host’s menu, his product line takes shape based on what he loves and values. Like a host planning the meal of a…

Garden-Fresh Veggies for Fall

By rebeccatalbotAugust 18, 2015November 24, 2015 Featured, Gardening Advice: Vegetables, Fruits & Herbs

If you are contemplating planting a fall vegetable crop but find yourself hesitating because you’ve already done so much work in the garden already, let Amy Bullock Loving of the Wolff’s Plant and Garden Center encourage you to keep on gardening until the first harsh frost. Amy cites one major reasoning to keep on planting…

Our Customers’ Favorite Recipes for “The Big Three”

By rebeccatalbotAugust 6, 2015November 2, 2017 Featured, Leafy Greens, Peaches, Recipe-Round-Up, Recipes, Tomatoes

If you had to grab a piece of scrap paper right now and make a list of the most popular local summer produce, I’ll bet you wouldn’t have any trouble at all coming up with the top three. They’re the fruits and vegetables we all wait for all throughout the rest of the year because we…

Peach-Blueberry Two Cheese Galette: A Simple In-Season Delight

By rebeccatalbotJuly 23, 2015April 21, 2023 Berries, Desserts, Featured, Peaches, Recipes

In your culinary workshop, a galette is a power tool. And pastry power tools come in handy when delicious local fruit is in season. Wikipedia calls the galette a “freeform” pastry, and last summer the New York Times featured an article called “The Galette Forgives You.” If these give you the idea that galettes are…

Peach Flatbread Pizza with Prosciutto, Mascarpone and Thyme

By rebeccatalbotJuly 16, 2015April 21, 2023 Featured, Main-Dishes, Peaches, Recipes, Seasonal, Summer Produce

Some things make going to the gym totally worth it. This peach flatbread pizza is one of them. Last night, I returned to Women’s Workout World after a long hiatus. It was high time to return because over the course of summer vacation, I’d gotten into the habit of eating homemade ice cream and crepes…

Want to Reduce Waste and Improve Soil Structure? Compost!

By rebeccatalbotJune 11, 2015March 6, 2018 Featured, Gardening Advice: Flowers, Gardening Advice: Vegetables, Fruits & Herbs

“Landfills are full of things that don’t have to be there,” says Beth Finlay, Master Gardener Coordinator at the Penn State Extension in Berks County. The issue of reducing garbage is close to home for Beth. In scenic Berks County, there are four large landfills, one of which receives an average of over 5,000 tons of garbage…

Protecting Pollinators in Your Vegetable Garden

By rebeccatalbotMay 28, 2015May 29, 2015 Featured, Gardening Advice: Vegetables, Fruits & Herbs

My heart always lifts when I see a honeybee in my vegetable garden. Like many people, I’ve known for several years that honeybees are in trouble. In 2011, my sister showed me the documentary “Vanishing of the Bees,” which explained how honeybees had been disappearing across the globe due to colony collapse disorder and emphasized the…

Planting the Three Sisters

By rebeccatalbotMay 14, 2015May 16, 2015 Featured, Gardening Advice: Vegetables, Fruits & Herbs

“There was only one way in which the three sisters were alike,” says the Iroquois legend of the Three Sisters plants. “They loved one another very dearly, and they were never separated. They were sure that they would not be able to live apart.” This picture of sibling harmony and love aptly illustrates the way…

Harvest Fresh Strawberries from Your Backyard

By rebeccatalbotApril 16, 2015April 9, 2018 Berries, Featured, Gardening Advice: Vegetables, Fruits & Herbs

Every year, the garden center at Wolff’s Apple House features an abundance of strawberry plants for home gardens, and every year that I hear about this it still sounds magical. Really? You can harvest strawberries from your backyard? And not just those tiny, gritty wild strawberries, but lush, flavorful homegrown strawberries? I shouldn’t be too…

Designing Early Spring Flower Boxes

By rebeccatalbotApril 2, 2015April 24, 2015 Featured, Gardening Advice: Flowers

This week, I caught up with Wolff’s Plant Manager Laura Dusenshine to learn more about designing early spring flower boxes to take full advantage of early spring flowers as we add splashes of color to our homes and gardens. Here is her vibrant, plentiful bouquet of advice. As people design flower boxes, what kinds of…

Pavlova with Strawberries & Mint for St. Patrick’s Day

By rebeccatalbotMarch 12, 2015April 21, 2023 Berries, Desserts, Featured, Recipes dessert, gluten-free

In 2007, my husband and I found ourselves wandering through Boston. We were honeymooning there, and although we had each visited the city before, separately, we didn’t know it well. We wandered between the wharf and Newbury Comics, visited Paul Revere’s Old North Church and hopped the train to Cambridge, and every suppertime we found our way back to…

Our Best Spring Recipes

By rebeccatalbotMarch 5, 2015November 2, 2017 Featured, Leafy Greens, Recipe-Round-Up, Recipes

It is snowing in southeastern Pennsylvania as I write this, with three to five inches predicted to fall by evening. But at Wolff’s, tulips, crocuses, pansies, narcissus and daisies brighten the garden center, holding out hope for spring. I don’t know about you, but I sure need that hope. I need to start noticing that…

A Simple Valentine’s Meal: Making Your Own Picnic at Home

By rebeccatalbotFebruary 12, 2015November 2, 2017 Featured, Holiday, Recipes

It’s a Valentine’s Day dilemma: restaurants are packed to the max, and yet not going out for a meal means that somebody is going to have to do a lot of work in the kitchen to prepare a special meal. As city dwellers, my husband and I have learned to avoid restaurants on Valentine’s Day, but we’ve solved…

Bevan’s Own Make Candies Keeps Traditions Alive

By rebeccatalbotJanuary 29, 2015 Featured, Vendors

If you ask Randy Bevan what processes and traditions have stayed the same in the 56 years Bevan’s Own Make has been delighting the Delaware Valley with handmade candies, he will tell you, “Everything.” In a time when the new, shiny next big thing lures many businesses, Randy Bevan is a small business owner who believes…

Creamy Cabbage and Fresh Apples for the Winter

By rebeccatalbotJanuary 21, 2015April 21, 2023 Featured, Hardy Vegetables, Locally Grown, Recipes, Sides

As a child of the 1980’s, I have been familiar with cabbage from a young age. After all, as a three-year-old, what did I want more than a Cabbage Patch Kid? My great-aunt Lynne, a professional ballet dancer who wore sequined jackets and kept an eye out for trends, tracked down this hot item…

Savoring Southern Collard Greens

By rebeccatalbotJanuary 14, 2015April 21, 2023 Featured, Hardy Vegetables, Leafy Greens, Recipes, Sides

I keep a mental map with pins that mark favorite restaurants. The Collegeville, PA deli where I first introduced my husband to Philly-style hoagies. The ice cream stand by Lake Wallenpaupack that churns the creamiest ice cream this side of heaven. The tiny Filipino restaurant in Chicago’s Albany Park neighborhood that bakes soft, savory-sweet empanadas….

Start the Year off Right with Fresh Juice

By rebeccatalbotJanuary 7, 2015April 21, 2023 Beverages, Featured, Recipes

After my parents came for Christmas, they left half a cheesecake in our fridge. This cheesecake was not only delicious, it was made from scratch. Since this is not the sort of thing to waste, my husband and I have been eating it, usually in moderately sized pieces, ever since the day after Christmas. For…

Brambleberry Almond Pie for the Holidays

By rebeccatalbotDecember 18, 2014April 21, 2023 Apples, Berries, Desserts, Featured, Recipes almonds, pie

Have you had some culinary breakthroughs lately? Was there some process you couldn’t bring yourself to abandon, but couldn’t quite perfect, either? Last week I wrote about how I kept toting dried beans home from the grocery store, even though I wasn’t very good at cooking them, and then finally, I read a cookbook that…

Two Easy Bean Soups for Busy December Evenings

By rebeccatalbotDecember 11, 2014April 21, 2023 Cooking Methods, Featured, Leafy Greens, Recipes, Soup

Last October, the Onion published an article that began, “Immediately after sitting down on the living room couch and covering herself in a large cotton blanket, area girlfriend Amanda Bettman, 28, announced her intentions Monday to remain in this state for the next five calendar months.” This satirical article captured my exact plan. How did they know?! Winter…

The Gift of Homemade (No Sugar Added!) Applesauce

By rebeccatalbotDecember 4, 2014April 21, 2023 Apples, Featured, Recipes

Good food preserves memories. It pins down moments. It brings comfort and cheer. Several years ago, when I happened to be interviewing an Asian woman who worked at Chicago’s South-East Asia Center, she mentioned that one of the first things new Southeast Asian immigrants will usually do is find a restaurant that makes food like…

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Maple-Bacon Vinaigrette

By rebeccatalbotNovember 13, 2014April 21, 2023 Featured, Holiday, Recipes, Root Vegetables, Sides

I don’t remember liking sweet potatoes until one year when I was in middle school. Middle school is all about reinventing yourself, right? It’s about wearing layers of friendship bracelets, trying on your friends’ glasses to see how you look in them, getting that atrocious haircut you’d hoped would rocket you to popularity. And so…

Pumpkin Sweet Potato Tacos

By rebeccatalbotOctober 30, 2014April 21, 2023 Featured, Leafy Greens, Main-Dishes, Pumpkin, Recipes

Autumn ushers in a time to indulge in pumpkin desserts, pumpkin lattes, pumpkin ale and all things pumpkin. I’m already craving the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies a friend is making for a party this evening. But even as I feast upon pumpkin everything, I want to make sure I’m still: a) making healthy choices, and…

Hot Corn Dip with Crispy Tortilla Chips: A Wolff Family Favorite

By rebeccatalbotOctober 23, 2014April 21, 2023 Appetizers, Featured, Recipes

Autumn is a time to gather. Summer’s heat lets up but the days remain sunny and energizing. Crisp air calls us outside. The harvest produces some of its tastiest fruits and vegetables. And we know that since winter will soon make us want to hibernate, buried under fleece blankets to match the blankets of snow,…

Pumpkin Pasta with Sausage and Sage

By rebeccatalbotOctober 16, 2014April 21, 2023 Featured, Main-Dishes, Pumpkin, Recipes, Seasonal, Winter Squash

Autumn collects synonyms. It’s already the only season with two interchangeable names, and from there, its monikers multiply. It’s also known as pumpkin season, apple season, cider season and more. But how long has autumn been known as the season for all kinds of pumpkin-spiced food and beverages, from pumpkin lattes to pumpkin ravioli to…

Mixed Green Salad with Apples and Candied Hazelnuts

By rebeccatalbotOctober 9, 2014April 21, 2023 Apples, Featured, Recipes, Salads

This past weekend, my husband and I had a few friends over for a couple hours in the evening, so, naturally, I made dessert. I even planned ahead and made this dessert, some toffee bars, the day before and stuck them in the fridge. The only problem? I forgot to cut them them before refrigerating…

Canter Hill Farm: Starting a ‘Beyond Organic’ Farm from Scratch

By rebeccatalbotOctober 2, 2014May 12, 2016 Farm-to-Table, Featured, Vendors

Some farmers have farming in their blood. Knowledge of agriculture and of the joys, hardships and value of farming have been passed down through generations, and the family tradition continues. Increasingly, however, people who have not grown up on farms are learning to homestead, raise livestock and grow produce for their communities. They want to…

Celebrating Apple Season (Part 2)

By rebeccatalbotSeptember 25, 2014September 26, 2014 Apples, Cooking Methods, Featured, Gifts from the Kitchen, Holiday, Seasonal, Vendors

Apple season means apple cider season, apple fritter season, and of course apple pie season. For aspiring bakers, apple pie season can be a frustrating time indeed. I’ve been known to put my hands on my hips and glare at a pie crust that just won’t stop sticking to the counter and ripping. And I…

Celebrating Apple Season with Apple Sampling & a Cooking Demo (Part 1)

By rebeccatalbotSeptember 18, 2014April 21, 2023 Apples, Farm History, Featured, Recipes, Vendors

The Wolff family loves produce of all flavors, shapes and stripes. They not only know the farmers who grew the produce, they also know all you would ever want to know about the local produce itself: how it grows, the varieties you can find it in and when they ripen, how this year’s crop differs…

15 Easy In-Season Recipes for Labor Day

By rebeccatalbotAugust 27, 2014November 2, 2017 Berries, Beverages, Featured, Peaches, Recipe-Round-Up, Recipes, Seasonal, Summer Produce, Tomatoes

How wonderful are Labor Day vacations? They snag the last bits of summer, salvaging time with family and friends before the rush of fall schedules pulls us in different directions. They celebrate cooler weather and golden sunlit evenings. They offer rest. When I was growing up, Labor Day was our favorite family vacation time. We…

Grilled Spanish Corn from Wolff’s Own Chef

By rebeccatalbotAugust 21, 2014April 21, 2023 Cooking Methods, Farm-to-Table, Featured, Recipes, Summer Produce

If you’ve visited the prepared foods section at Wolff’s Apple House and seen delicacies like Apple BBQ Pulled Pork, Roasted Chicken Romaine Salad, Best Broccoli Salad and hummus in all kinds of flavors, then you know that we have an innovative, committed chef. Chuck Smith, the chef at Wolff’s, has developed our mouth-watering, nutritious prepared…

Amazing Empanadas with Local Onions and Peppers

By rebeccatalbotAugust 14, 2014April 21, 2023 Featured, Locally Grown, Main-Dishes, Recipes, Root Vegetables

I might as well mark my calendar. Every three to six months, the urge to make empanadas hits me. Usually some excuse or inspiration materializes: a friend is visiting from out of town, we’re about to watch a Spanish film or I’ve just been to Zumba and I’m still feeling the Latin rhythms. Once the…

Chicken Cacciatore: The “Hunter’s Meal”

By rebeccatalbotAugust 6, 2014April 21, 2023 Featured, Locally Grown, Main-Dishes, Recipes, Summer Produce bell peppers, bruschetta, free-range chicken

When my sister mentioned earlier this week that chicken cacciatore means “The Hunter’s Meal,” I knew I had to try making it again. I’d first tried my hand at it when I was 22, a grad student freshly uprooted from family, cooking my way through the one cookbook I trusted. Sometimes good things in life…

Ginger-Watermelon Salad & A Brief History of Ginger

By rebeccatalbotAugust 3, 2014April 21, 2023 Featured, Recipes, Salads, Summer Produce ginger, herbs, spices, watermelon

Knowing that I wanted to make a ginger-watermelon salad later today, I woke up with questions about ginger dancing in my head: When did people first try using ginger as a spice? When did they figure out the knobby root was edible? When did gingerbread become a thing? When and why did the baby…

Dessert for Dinner: Brie Quesadillas with Peach Compote and Basil

By rebeccatalbotJuly 23, 2014April 21, 2023 Featured, Main-Dishes, Peaches, Recipes brie, compote, quesadillas

In elementary school, I had a friend whose mom would make waffles for lunch. Ricotta-cheese-stuffed waffles, topped with strawberries and maple syrup. I loved going to this friend’s house. It was a magical world. Outside, in the corner of their yard, you ducked under some wild rosebushes to reach a trail that led over a…

Getting Creative with Local Produce: In the Kitchen with Marie Connell of MyHouse Cookies

By rebeccatalbotJuly 17, 2014April 21, 2023 Featured, Peaches, Recipes, Vendors cooking classes, grilled peaches, MyHouse Cookies, peach salsa

This morning, Marie Connell of MyHouse Cookies stood in her kitchen surrounded by tomatoes as she prepared to make quiches. “I know the farmer,” she told me about the tomatoes, “I know she picked them this morning. I know they haven’t been sitting in a truck or a railway car for a week.” If Marie…

Homemade Sodas with Fruit and Herbs

By rebeccatalbotJuly 9, 2014April 21, 2023 Berries, Beverages, Featured, Recipes fruit drinks, herb-infused drinks, homemade soda

During the summer, refreshing beverages call to us. Whether it’s during a picnic, after yard work or at a sporting event, eventually we start to crave a cold, flavorful beverage. Preferably a fizzy one. But we know how bad sugary sodas are for us. They’ve been linked to obesity, Type 2 diabetes and heart disease…

Making All-Natural Choices: Lone Star Farm Beef

By rebeccatalbotJune 12, 2014June 12, 2014 Featured, Vendors all-natural beef, burgers, father's day, free-range beef

With Father’s Day just around the corner, many people start to think about treating their dads to meat cooked on the grill. This time of year, the weather is just right for gathering the family for a picnic and grilling tender, flavorful burgers, with the smell of a barbeque wafting on the breeze. Just over…

Rice Pudding & Ripe Rhubarb

By rebeccatalbotJune 5, 2014April 21, 2023 Desserts, Featured, Locally Grown, Recipes budget meals, desserts, gluten-free

I am pretty sure the first time I ever ate rice pudding was at camp, as a counselor, at around age 17. That the adults in charge let 17-year-olds be camp counselors is one of the mysteries of my adult life. Adult life, though, has solved one other mystery. I now know why a magical…

A Glimpse into the Glory of Your Gardens

By rebeccatalbotMay 28, 2014April 24, 2015 Featured, Gardening Advice: Vegetables, Fruits & Herbs

Back in April, Linda Johnson, Wolff’s Garden Center Manager, told me that even before she began working at Wolff’s, she came here to pick out her herbs. “You could have a field day going through here and thinking about your herb garden,” says Johnson. A few weeks ago, we asked YOU what you planted after…

Top 10 Reasons to Bring Leek Dishes to a Memorial Day Picnic

By rebeccatalbotMay 22, 2014April 21, 2023 Featured, Hardy Vegetables, Recipes, Root Vegetables easy salad, healthy recipes, leek tart, leeks

10. Leeks are versatile and can easily swap with onions in any recipe, but their flavor is mild, earthy and unique. Leeks are in the same family as garlic and onions (and, for that matter, lilies!), so they have a bulb shape that might look familiar, even if you’ve never prepared leeks before. 9. Leeks…

Set the Table for Spring with Cucumber Dill Salad & Black Bean Wraps

By rebeccatalbotMay 15, 2014April 21, 2023 Featured, Main-Dishes, Recipes, Seasonal cucumbers, dill, herbs, tomatoes, vegetarian

Whenever I have a chance to teach English courses, I like to talk about cliches. “What are some of your favorite cliches?” I ask. “Or some of the most bewildering?” We write them down. “Now, how can we freshen them up? Make them more unexpected?” Cliches got their start because someone came up with a…

Savory Crepes for Mother’s Day Brunch

By rebeccatalbotMay 8, 2014April 21, 2023 Apples, Breakfast, Featured, Recipes apples, breakfast, brunch, cheddar cheese, crepes, ham, mother's day

I have a lot of memories of bringing my mom breakfast in bed on Mother’s Day. Those childhood memories tell me that my siblings and I must have accomplished this every single year, arranging a tray with an orange juice glass, a mug of coffee, a plate of scrambled eggs and toast, and a bowl…

Frittata Time

By rebeccatalbotMay 1, 2014April 21, 2023 Featured, Locally Grown, Main-Dishes, Recipes, Seasonal bell pepper, eggs, paleo, vegetarian, vidalia onion, zucchini

I first discovered frittatas a few years ago when I needed to use up some fresh sage. Sage, with its leaves like Lamb’s-Ear, seemed fancy enough for Martha Stewart, so I turned to Martha Stewart’s Healthy Quick Cook, a treasure my aunt had given me for Christmas years earlier, and discovered a lovely sage-mushroom frittata. …

Celebrate Local Tomatoes with Open-Face Tomato Sandwiches

By rebeccatalbotApril 24, 2014April 21, 2023 Featured, Recipes, Sandwiches, Tomatoes

When I moved to Chicago in 2005, long-time Chicagoans warned me that during the winter, gray clouds take over the sky and remain there basically until April, as if a giant lid covers the city. There are a few day-to-day exceptions, but on the whole, this means that from December to the end of March,…

A Simplified Cauliflower Side Dish

By rebeccatalbotApril 18, 2014April 21, 2023 Featured, Recipes, Sides

Preparing a holiday meal is joyous and generous. With good music playing, spicy aromas filling the room, and friends or family members playing sous-chef and line cooks, the preparations are often as much fun as the meal itself. That fun can be even more relaxing with some prep done beforehand, so here’s a cauliflower side…

Putting a Full Herb Garden to Full Use

By rebeccatalbotApril 10, 2014April 21, 2023 Featured, Gardening Advice: Vegetables, Fruits & Herbs, Recipes basil, gardening, herbs, medicinal, mint

Some people grow up surrounded by fresh herbs. They watch, or help, as their parents grow herbs, chop herbs and garnish dishes with soft handfuls of basil, oregano, parsley or sage. Other people discover the magic of fresh herbs later in life, and meals are never the same afterward. Discovering fresh herbs marks a turning…

Salads for Springtime

By rebeccatalbotMarch 27, 2014April 21, 2023 Featured, Leafy Greens, Locally Grown, Recipes, Seasonal

It looks like March will be going out like a lamb after all, although I can’t help but think most of the lambs in the Delaware Valley will be huddled under shelters away from the rain instead of chowing down in the pasture. Sigh. It’s not too hard to sympathize with a sheep who’s been…

Stirring Up the Routine with Rosemary Lattes

By rebeccatalbotMarch 20, 2014April 21, 2023 Beverages, Featured, Recipes

It can be easy to go along in life expecting each day to be similar to the one before. The alarm goes off at the same time each morning, I brew coffee in the French press, simmer some oatmeal, read for a bit and then get to work. I expect the coffee and oatmeal to…

Minty Green St. Patrick’s Day Smoothie

By rebeccatalbotMarch 13, 2014April 21, 2023 Beverages, Featured, Leafy Greens, Recipes

For much of my adult life, I have lived in Chicago, where St. Patrick’s Day lasts basically all March long and we’re so excited about the holiday that we dye the Chicago River green. There’s plenty to get excited about with this holiday, and Americans have celebrated it heartily since Colonial Days: since 1737 to…

Pansies Pave the Path to Spring

By rebeccatalbotMarch 5, 2014March 6, 2014 Featured, Gardening Advice: Flowers flowers, gardening, pansies, spring

Wolff’s is starting to blossom, and pansies are always the first flower we feature. Soon we will plant a row of these flowers along the roadside leading up to Wolff’s, and Linda Johnson, our plant and nursery manager, is planning to plant pansies at her home this weekend. Linda explains why pansies make her happy…

Sweet Potato Quesadillas

By rebeccatalbotFebruary 27, 2014April 21, 2023 Farm-to-Table, Featured, Main-Dishes, Recipes, Root Vegetables

What is it that makes comfort food so comforting? Is it indulging in food that tastes so good it must be bad for you? Is it the warmth of the food itself? (Clearly not, or a bowl of fudge brownie ice cream would not be quite so comforting!) Is it the memories associated with the…

Tomato Spinach Pasta: Making it On My Own

By rebeccatalbotFebruary 20, 2014April 21, 2023 Farm-to-Table, Featured, Leafy Greens, Recipes, Tomatoes pasta, recipes, spinach, tomato

Meals that I made when I moved into my first apartment stay in my memory and remain my favorites. Frying up an omelet and adding anything I had on hand– caramelized onions, tomatoes, sometimes even corn or black beans– was a sign not just of creativity but of independence. Being resourceful meant that I was…

Comforting Winter Breakfasts

By rebeccatalbotFebruary 13, 2014April 21, 2023 Breakfast, Featured, Recipes, Seasonal breakfast, compote, oatmeal, pancakes

My house feels chilly when I wake up on winter mornings. The radiators huff and grumble and squeal, but they can’t quite keep up with the frigid temperatures outside. This calls for a good cup of coffee and a hearty, comforting breakfast. I want something warm and soothing but healthy. Oatmeal answers to this description,…

Dilly Bean Soup

By rebeccatalbotFebruary 5, 2014April 21, 2023 Featured, Recipes, Soup beans, potatoes, recipes, soups, winter

In the winter, I make soup. When the winter as is long and relentless as it has been this year, I find comfort wherever I can. In many mugs of peppermint tea or cinnamon tea. In cozying up under a warm blanket and reading a good novel. In watching an exciting TV series straight through,…

Make Room for Mushrooms: Mushroom-Swiss Sandwich

By rebeccatalbotJanuary 30, 2014April 21, 2023 Featured, Leafy Greens, Locally Grown, Recipes, Sandwiches kennett square, local ingredients, mushrooms, swiss

I have to admit, it’s been a long while since I’ve felt like sunbathing, and I feel like I’m running low on Vitamin D, that vitamin so renowned for strengthening bones as it helps the body absorb calcium. If you haven’t felt much like picnicking in the snow and soaking up sunshine, there’s good news…

Olympic Food

By rebeccatalbotJanuary 23, 2014April 21, 2023 Featured, Hardy Vegetables, Recipes, Root Vegetables, Soup

Dinnertime and the Olympics were the two main events I looked forward to as a kid. The time between Olympics seemed interminable. Four years?! I’d hardly even lived that long. When the winter Olympics came on TV, my siblings and I skated around our living room in our sneakers and did pirouettes, arabesques and flying…

Lingering over Christmas Appetizers

By rebeccatalbotDecember 19, 2013April 21, 2023 Appetizers, Featured, Holiday, Recipes

During the Christmas season, we enjoy the presence of people we love. Talking, laughing, listening, enjoying comfortable silences–all of this is what it means to enjoy each others’ presence at Christmastime. It is a time to rest, relax, and linger over laughter, conversation, and appetizers. That means, of course, that for some of the people…

Christmas Gifts from the Kitchen

By rebeccatalbotDecember 12, 2013November 2, 2017 Featured, Gifts from the Kitchen, Holiday, Recipes

One of the best Christmas presents I have ever received was a cardboard box full of food: maple cured bacon and three different kinds of jam made from apples and berries grown in a backyard garden. My husband and I were away from our families for the holiday, and waking up and frying that bacon—the…

Splendid Thanksgiving Sides: New Twists and Old Traditions

By rebeccatalbotNovember 21, 2013December 28, 2019 Featured, Holiday, Recipes, Root Vegetables, Seasonal herbs, potatoes, side dish, sweet potatoes, Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a day when many pots are bubbling on the stove, cutting boards are strewn across counter tops, the fragrance of herbs lingers on the cook’s hands, and a tasting spoon always produces delicious samples. This creative chaos itself is an occasion for gratitude. As we boil, chop, grate, and mash, we partake in…

Dreams of a Garden

By rebeccatalbotMay 15, 2013April 24, 2015 Featured, Gardening Advice: Vegetables, Fruits & Herbs, Locally Grown

Last night, I dreamed I had a vegetable garden again this year. I did last year, when my husband and I lived with my parents on their 20 acres. Now that we’re on a more independent footing, our lifestyle is more like the life indie singer Feist describes in her song Mushaboom: “second floor living…

Bring Your Gardening Dreams to Life at Wolff’s Plant & Garden Center

By rebeccatalbotApril 13, 2013December 1, 2015 Featured, Gardening Advice: Flowers

Imagine your ideal garden. Perhaps it’s lush with lilies, phlox, pansies, trillium, black-eyed-Susans and herbs. Or maybe it’s a vegetable garden with all the tomatoes, zucchini, chard, peppers and cucumbers your family and friends can eat. Now, picture the space where you’ll plant your garden. What is its contour, soil type and shape? How…

Authenticity in What We Do: MyHouse Cookies

By rebeccatalbotNovember 7, 2012October 29, 2015 Featured, Vendors apple pie, baking, chocolate chip cookies, Marie Connell, MyHouse Cookies, Tom Connell

Step into a time when heirloom apples were peeled by hand. Colorful peels swirl onto the counter-top, laughter and conversation rise like flecks of flour in the air, and tender apples get tucked into handmade pastry made with real butter. This might sound like a snippet from another generation, yet it describes the way Marie…

A Tribute to the Stayman-Winesap

By rebeccatalbotSeptember 24, 2012September 25, 2014 Apples, Featured, Locally Grown stayman, stayman-winesap, winesap

The Stayman-Winesap crosses the Stayman and Winesap apples and has become a local favorite here in the Delaware Valley. It’s an apple with firm roots in the soil of American history. Even though people distinguish the Winesap apple from the Stayman-Winesap by calling it the “old fashioned Winesap,” the Stayman apple has its share of…

Enjoying the Vision: A Conversation with Ed Weaver, President of Weaver’s Orchard

By rebeccatalbotAugust 30, 2012March 3, 2017 Apples, Featured, Vendors

This week, we had a chance to speak with Ed Weaver, president of Weaver’s Orchard in Morgantown, PA, one of our main suppliers of apples (including Honeycrisp) and apple cider. 1. What is the story of how Weaver’s Orchard came to be? I am the third generation here at Weaver’s. My great grandfather was…

What Exactly Is a Seckel Pear?

By rebeccatalbotAugust 24, 2012 Featured, Locally Grown, Recipes, Seasonal delaware valley produce, recipes, seckel pear

Never heard of Seckel Pears? Well, you’re not alone. The Seckel Pear is relatively unknown across the country, but it’s one of the Delaware Valley’s hidden treasures. It was developed here in the Southeastern Pennsylvania in the early 1800’s by a farmer named Mr. Seckel, and it’s had a following here ever since. Seckel pears are small in size–almost bite-sized– but…

This is The Month for Pennsylvania Produce!

By rebeccatalbotAugust 16, 2012August 16, 2012 Featured, Locally Grown, Seasonal

Mid-August is a magical time: a twilight season. Just like twilight is the hour to enjoy the beauty of the day before nightfall, August is the month to enjoy the best of both summer and early fall. In August, all the glory of summer exists, with peaches, tomatoes, corn, plums, watermelon and squash. The whispers…

Now That’s a Good Sign

By rebeccatalbotAugust 2, 2012August 6, 2012 Featured, Seasonal, Tomatoes aunt ruby's red german, cherokee purple, endangered food, heirloom tomatoes, slow food USA, tomatoes

Look for this sign around Wolff’s Apple House to see the many varieties of heirloom tomatoes we have during the season! Heirloom tomatoes are a sign of the season here at Wolff’s. We’re well-known for them! Yellow, green, red, purple, in all different stripes and hues, in all kinds of flavors: rich, succulent, creamy, layered,…

Can’t Beet This Salad

By rebeccatalbotJuly 25, 2012April 21, 2023 Featured, Recipes, Root Vegetables, Salads beets, cooking, recipes, salads

A few summers ago, I stood face to face with a few vegetables that scared me. I love to eat almost all veggies, but I have met a few I didn’t know how to prepare. As I looked at the vegetables on my counter, one scared me because it looked like it would stand up…

Sharing the Abundance

By rebeccatalbotJuly 19, 2012July 19, 2012 Featured delaware valley, farms, food cupboard, fresh for all, hunger relief, philabundance, summer produce

Looking over past Wolff’s Apple House newsletters and the Wolff’s Facebook page, I’ve noticed that some of our favorite words are “abundant” and “abundance.” Our farm market really does stock pounds upon pounds of fresh produce, and this only increases during the local growing season. To maintain the high level of quality we always want…

Cool as a Cucumber and Peach Salad

By rebeccatalbotJuly 12, 2012November 2, 2017 Featured, Locally Grown, Salads, Seasonal, Summer Produce

A few summers ago, someone sent me a recipe for a simple cucumber and peach salad. This was a recipe that combined two ingredients I never thought would like each other. Didn’t one belong atop lettuce, and the other beneath a crumb topping? How could these crispy and sweet tastes coexist? Hesitantly, I chopped a…

Local Produce Makes a Big Difference with the “Big Three”!

By rebeccatalbotJune 27, 2012June 27, 2012 Locally Grown, Peaches, Seasonal, Summer Produce, Tomatoes corn, fresh, local, peaches, tomatoes

Fran Wolff calls corn, peaches and tomatoes “the Big Three,” because when it comes to local produce, these are the fruits and vegetables that everyone around loves and looks forward to. And there is just no denying it: local varieties of “the Big Three” are vastly superior to any non-local versions. Right now, Wolff’s has…

The Versatile Dessert

By rebeccatalbotJune 14, 2012November 2, 2017 Berries, Desserts, Locally Grown, Recipes

Pies, cobblers and crisps are the locavore’s best friend when dessert-making time rolls around. Why? Because all season long, bakers can walk straight from the field or farm market to the kitchen, modify only a few ingredients, and make a delicious treat. This Father’s Day, with peaches, raspberries and blueberries in season, and strawberries still…

Picnic Paradise

By rebeccatalbotMay 25, 2012June 1, 2012 Featured, Holiday, Locally Grown, Recipes

One of my favorite photos on the Wolff’s Apple House Web site is the picture that tops the “Recipes” page. It depicts Kenneth and Gennie Wolff, the third generation owners of Wolff’s Apple House, in Spring 1955. On a blanket spread in the midst of their orchard’s picnic grove, Gennie Wolff kneels, overseeing the picnic…

The Very Chic Garbanzo Bean

By rebeccatalbotApril 27, 2012December 1, 2015 Featured, Recipes chick-peas, garbanzo beans, recipes

Last week, my husband and I stopped into a local sandwich place for a bite to eat. I was hungry for salad, and selected this particular salad because the words “chick-pea” were in its name. When we settled down to eat, my husband took a glance at the chick peas, piled so high you could…

Thai Pizza with Sweet Chili Sauce: A New Twist on a Pizza Tradition

By rebeccatalbotMarch 16, 2012April 21, 2023 Featured, Main-Dishes, Recipes pizza dough, recipes, red bell peppers

I was probably about six the first time I can remember my mom baking her own pizza dough. After that, it became a family tradition: Friday nights were pizza nights, and her homemade dough, stretched to the corners of a cookie sheet, formed the basis of creations the family sometimes helped to make. This week,…

A Dessert All By Themselves: Apple Bake

By rebeccatalbotFebruary 20, 2012November 2, 2017 Desserts, Featured, Locally Grown, Recipes

This time of year, I often can’t resist making apple crisps or apple pies, even though the holidays have passed. I surround tender apple slices with layers of flaky pastry or oats, like a fortress of sweetness. Last night for our dessert, though, I attempted something different: a very simple apple bake. This recipe realizes…

Party On

By rebeccatalbotFebruary 3, 2012November 2, 2017 Appetizers, Featured appetizers, entertaining, game day, mango, parties, tomato

For me, as a bookish writer whose idea of exercise is a long walk or a slow jog, the big game this weekend isn’t about sports. It isn’t even about the commercials or half-time. I’m not gonna lie. It’s about the food. It’s about being with friends, too, but friendship is best enjoyed around a…

Simply Love

By rebeccatalbotJanuary 19, 2012April 21, 2023 Featured, Salads avocado, sandwiches, sourdough bread, tomato, winter produce

I fell in love rather late in life. We met at The Goddess and Grocer, a Chicago restaurant that was then so small it just had one long, family-style table. I ordered a California Dreaming sandwich and instantly fell headlong in love with what an avocado can add to a sandwich. It’s been a while…

Wolff’s Winter Colors

By rebeccatalbotJanuary 13, 2012December 1, 2015 Apples, Berries, Featured, Seasonal, Winter Squash apples, blackberries, blueberries, carnival squash, clementines, grapefruit, grocery shopping, produce, winter

Winter came early to the east coast this year, painting over October’s vibrant palette and turning everything white. That’s the thing about winter that can really start to get to me: the way that color drains out of the landscape when the sun is shut behind clouds or the ground is hidden in a few-days-old…

Please Pass the Cranberry Sauce

By rebeccatalbotDecember 22, 2011April 21, 2023 Featured, Holiday, Recipes, Seasonal cranberries, cranberry sauce, holiday meals, locally grown produce, recipes

I sat across from my cousin’s nine-year-old son this Thanksgiving. A big platter of cranberry sauce gleamed on the table between us. Greedily, we both stared at it. “Well, my friend,” I said. “Looks like there’s half for you and half for me.” “Not if I get it first,” he said. Cranberry sauce is one…

Soup’s On: 4 Soup Recipes

By rebeccatalbotDecember 9, 2011April 21, 2023 Cooking Methods, Featured, Prepared Foods, Recipes, Root Vegetables, Soup, Tomatoes budget meals, frugal meals, lentils, potatoes, prepared food, soup, stew, stock

In my apartment’s tiny kitchen, the whole room warms up when a pot simmers on the stove top. This is one reason I love to simmer soup and stew this time of year. The other reasons are more universal: the chance to load a bowl full of vegetables, the frugality of re-purposing odds and ends…

Season’s Sweetness

By rebeccatalbotNovember 11, 2011 Featured, Hardy Vegetables, Holiday, Recipes, Root Vegetables, Seasonal sweet potato, Thanksgiving, yam

Did you ever visit a museum gift shop as a kid? Did you ever beg to have an adult buy you a geode: one of those round sandpapery rocks that look homely on the outside, but reveal crystals inside when you smash them with a hammer? That’s how I think of the sweet potato: the…

Secrets Too Good to Keep

By rebeccatalbotSeptember 20, 2011October 27, 2016 Featured, Prepared Foods, Recipes family recipe, fruits, herbs, vegetables

Have you ever tasted a Wolff family recipe? Maybe you’ve sampled one of the family recipes that our chef, Chuck Smith, crafts for our own prepared foods line: the fresh tomato salsa that fills our fridges all year round, or the guacamole that delights customers in summer and fall. But have you ever made a…

Corn on the Cob, Fresh off the Grill

By rebeccatalbotSeptember 8, 2011April 21, 2023 Featured, Recipes, Seasonal, Summer Produce corn, corn on the cob, grilling

Fireflies. Volleyball. Sandy toes. Lemonade. Grass poking through a picnic blanket. Campfires. Corn on the cob. All of these bring summer vividly to mind, and fresh, locally-grown corn on the cob, with its buttery-sweet crisp crunch, is one of the perfect tastes of summer. Summer may be coming to a close, but all the way…

Celebrate Pennsylvania Produce with Us

By rebeccatalbotAugust 11, 2011 Featured, Locally Grown, Seasonal apples, basil, pears, Pennsylvania, plums, produce month, sweet corn, tomatoes, watermelon

Did you know Pennsylvania produce has its own month? At Wolff’s Apple House every month is a month to celebrate produce, but in August it’s official! This year is the sixth year running that the Commonwealth has designated August as Pennsylvania Produce Month. It makes sense—the quality and availability of locally grown produce is at…

Celebrate Peach Season with Local Peach Salsa & Local Peaches

By rebeccatalbotJuly 15, 2011November 2, 2017 Appetizers, Featured, Locally Grown, Peaches, Prepared Foods, Summer Produce fresh salsa, peach salsa, peaches

It’s peach season right now at Wolff’s Apple House! Beginning in early July, our store manager, Brian Bednarz, begins to hand-select the best New Jersey peaches available from local farms. New Jersey is famous for its peach orchards, and since it’s warmer earlier there, the earliest peaches you’ll find in our produce bins come from…

Welcome to Wolff’s Apple House’s New Website!

By rebeccatalbotJuly 13, 2011April 24, 2015 Featured, Locally Grown, Seasonal, What's New food blog, locally grown produce, recipes Leave a comment

If you’ve visited wolfsapplehouse.com in the past, no doubt you’ve noticed our new look! On July 15, 2011 we launched our new website, which reflects the authentic beauty of our century old store, makes it easy to find quality information about our products and vendors and in-season fruits, vegetables, food and plants. It brings the…