Apple Pie

(door shuts) - Pop, come on, let's go, come on!

My name is John Bunker and I live on Super Chilly Farm in Palermo Maine.

We grow vegetables and many different fruits including three or four hundred different apple varieties.

(calming music) I got into farming by accident.

While I was in college I bought this land with two friends it was 180 acres, and back then which was 1971, they were practically giving it away.

Immediately upon moving here I started to notice the old apple trees around town.

They were everywhere and I noticed the apples were falling, they were dropping all over the lawns of people around town and no one was doing anything with 'em.

There was just apples everywhere, so I'd knock on people's doors and say, you know, "I noticed your apples could I have some of them?"

And they would say invariably, "Sure, take 'em all."

So I had cardboard boxes and bags and baskets and whatever I could find and I'd start collecting apples.

I didn't know one apple from another, I mean I knew there was green ones and red ones.

One by one I began to learn the varieties, and to be fascinated by the histories and the stories.

The vast majority of these old varieties are for cooking, and I would go to meetings of commercial apple growers and they would all poo poo the old varieties and say ya know "Cut 'em all down, get rid of 'em they're no good, plant Macs and Cortlands."

And so I thought, you know, these trees that I'm getting to know, these ancient trees.

These were gifts to us from people who are long gone.

It was to me, arrogant to see this gift and then let it die.

What I love most about apple growing is the partnership that I feel between me and the tree.

Agriculture in its broadest sense is a partnership between a person and a plant, and for me with the apples and the apple trees it's about that partnership.

(birds chirping) Growing a great apple requires a commitment.

It's not easy but it's not hard either.

It's not that much different than learning to take apart and put together an engine or learning to play a violin.

They are all skills that require a love and a commitment.

I started making apple pies about 20 years ago.

I had been fruit exploring, looking for apples, grafting them, saving them for, you know nearly 20 years before I realized you know I really need to focus on making apple pies.

I started to make pies with every apple I came across, every one of these old varieties that I'd find I'd make a pie.

When you make an apple pie, the variety that you use is very important.

Each one has its own distinctive flavor.

Find good pie apples.

Go to commercial orchards that have farm stands, find what varieties near you are known as being good pie apples, and try making single variety pies.

Ultimately the best pie will be a blend of varieties, but you can't learn until you begin to make single variety pies and start to sort out which ones behave the way you want them to and taste the way you want them to.

Today I'm going to make an apple pie using three different apples.

Somerset of Maine, Redfield it has red flesh and a sort of Duchess type.

The perfect pie apple is usually somewhat on the acidic side.

They need to bake fairly quickly, we want it to hold up the crust, we want to stay firm and it needs to taste great.

The way that I measure how many apples to cut out is I put 'em in the pie pan with no crust at all and then when it looks like it's nicely rounded then there are my apples.

I like three spices in particular, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.

I'm not really a dessert person, I guess you might say I don't even really consider apple pie a dessert.

I consider it a dish or a food.

It's wonderful to be able to go pull a carrot out of the garden or a tomato off the vine or an apple of the tree, and without being too corny I mean you're really partaking of the Earth on which you live.

This is the product of the ground on which you stand.

(calming music) If there was one thing that I wish more people knew about apples it would be that it's okay to stop by the side of the road when you see an apple tree and take a bite (laughs).

(calming music)