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…

Time for a Tall Glass of Lemonade

By rachelvanduzerAugust 9, 2012April 21, 2023 Beverages, Featured, Recipes, Root Vegetables beets, beverages, herbs, lavender, lemonade, lemons, mint

During my summer in Provence, France, I’ve been learning to make use of the many abundant herbs, some that grow wild, and some that grow well in our gardens. It’s very hot and dry here, so not everything grows easily in this climate. Since it’s so hot and dry, naturally, one of the first things…

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…

Provençal Cooking at Its Best

By rachelvanduzerJuly 5, 2012April 21, 2023 Cooking Methods, Featured, Tomatoes

As America celebrates its Independence Day, I find myself in another county where hamburgers, hot dogs and barbecue sauce are not too easy to come by. I can’t say that I can complain though, because this country has some pretty amazing food. My husband and I are visiting some friends in Provence, in the south…

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…

A Locavore’s Delight: Corn & Peaches

By rachelvanduzerJune 7, 2012June 7, 2012 Locally Grown, Peaches, Summer Produce

When it comes to produce, I’m kind of a snob. Produce items – like corn and peaches – that I eat in the summer as if they were the only food that existed pretty much have no place in my kitchen when they are out of season. This week, I skeptically tried some southern-grown corn…

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…

An Interview with Our Chef, Chuck Smith

By recipesMay 12, 2012May 12, 2017 Featured

Since the summer of 2010, our chef Chuck Smith has been creating delectable new recipes for Wolff’s Apple House. He studied at Baltimore International College and apprenticed at Jeannier’s, a classic French restaurant in Baltimore. No stranger to the benefits of local and in-season produce, he has volunteered at an East Coast organic farm and…

Gardening Aspirations

By rachelvanduzerMay 11, 2012April 24, 2015 Featured, Gardening Advice: Vegetables, Fruits & Herbs, Locally Grown, Summer Produce

I’ve always wanted to be a farmer, or at least a gardener. My parents were raised in the suburbs of Philadelphia and New Jersey and always dreamed of having a place to raise their kids where they could actually see the stars at night and could learn about nature and the responsibilities of taking care of…

IN THE WOLFF’S DEN: PART II

By chucksmithMay 11, 2012May 15, 2012 Farm History, Featured apples, locally grown fruit, locally grown produce

For the second time this year, I’m meeting with one of the Wolff clan in the living room of Ken and Gennie Wolff. Their house sits right across from the recently cultivated Sunny Brae Farm. I have spent a fair amount of time gazing out at this plot of land. Peter Wolff has great plans…

Behind the Scenes of Wolff’s Chef-Made Prepared Foods

By rachelvanduzerMay 10, 2012June 1, 2017 Farm-to-Table, Kitchen Copy, Prepared Foods

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…

Gardening 101: Planning, Preparing & Planting

By rachelvanduzerMarch 23, 2012April 24, 2015 Featured, Gardening Advice: Vegetables, Fruits & Herbs, Hardy Vegetables

When you walk into Wolff’s this time of year, a sea of vibrantly colored flowers greets you. Some of these plants are ready to go in the ground, like Pansies and cold-tolerant annuals like Alyssum, Diascia, Dusty Miller, Lobelia, Nemesia and Snapdragons. Other early season perennials are also waiting for their turn in the dirt,…

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,…

Planting Onion Sets in Your Garden

By rachelvanduzerMarch 9, 2012April 4, 2018 Featured, Gardening Advice: Vegetables, Fruits & Herbs

If you have dreams of planting a garden this year, you can start now by planting seeds indoors and getting started on planting onion sets (partially sprouted onions in a paper bag.) In order to get the best results for your onion sets, we recommend following these instructions: To Produce Big Onions: Select a sunny location…

IN THE WOLFF’S DEN: PART I

By chucksmithFebruary 24, 2012March 1, 2012 Farm History, Featured corn, locally grown fruit, locally grown produce, locally grown tomatoes

There is a narrow dirt road that runs along the edge of the Wolff’s modest Sunny Brae farm. Mostly inactive now, this road used to be heavily traversed by tractors and various farming implements. Currently, three generations of Wolffs live along this stretch. Ken and Gennie, third generation Wolffs, live just across from the farm….