Warwick, NY: Annual AppleFest 2009

Dear Food Diary:
A couple weeks ago, we drove upstate for the Annual Apple Fest in Warwick. It was a nice afternoon, browsing along the streets filled with hundreds of vendors, and even more fellow visitors. We ate, shopped, went apple picking and did an awful wine tasting (more on that later).
Might be late for apple picking, but check for yourself at www.nyapplecountry.com

We picked are Fuji Apples at Warwick Valleywhich were giant, crisp and sweet like candy.
We also did a $5 wine tasting at Warwick Valley which turned out to be the WORST wine tasting I’ve ever done. We tried about 5 different wines and I spit out each one, there wasn’t any aroma or flavor, even the apple blend was awful. I couldn’t wait to run out of there. I suggest you avoid the wine tasting and just go for the fuji apples: www.wvwinery.com
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Amongst all the food vendors we saw that day (from pickles to kettle corn), the following 2 stood out:
They had these gourmet chipotle jellies that were sweet, smokey with a kick, very good with a little cream cheese on a wheat thin square.
The owner George also introduced us to their Custom Blended Seasonings. They can be used as dip, rub, or sauce. Each pack comes with recipes and serving suggestions on the back. My favorite was the Chipotle and Garlic, spicy, very garlicky and smokey. I’ve been mixing them with cream cheese, as a spread for our free bagel friday in the office, and it’s been a hit. Next time I make steak and chimichurri sauce, I’ll try adding some in.
(they also have a variety of salsas, mustards, pasta and BBQ sauces)
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GO-GO POPS
This is my favorite kind of small business story. The owner Lynn was super bubbly and excited to share her pops creations. I asked about her inspiration for this, expecting to hear a story about how she loved popsicles as a kid yada yada yada, but instead she smiled and described being laid off by giant evil Bear Sterns with her husband and taking that money and starting Go-Go Pops. Basically when life threw them lemons, they made pops instead of lemonade! very creative and “cool”.
There were all sorts of cool flavors, some more “adult” than others, all made by hand. The Juicy Pops had real fruit you could see, they were sweet but not overpowering, chunky and naturally flavorful. Loved, loved, loved. Above is the Blueberry with strawberry (*edit blueberry and peach). I had the Cantaloupe-Ginger which was a little spicy and sweet, very refreshing and addictive. After walking around we went back for more, but they were all sold out.
Hopefully these will come to a store nearby soon.
In the mean time find them at www.go-gopops.com

4 Responses to Warwick, NY: Annual AppleFest 2009

  1. Anonymous says:

    Just a comment on the ice pop…it was a blueberry & peach pop and it was yummy. Thanks for reminding me about it :p

  2. Anonymous says:

    oh yes! thanks for the correction!… those were some good pops! =)

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