Apples to Apples
Colette Rossant
Posted: June 1, 2011
Maurice Levier poured three glasses of 25 year old Calvados from a plain bottle, with a medieval-style label that read “Calvados du Grand-Père 1939.” After my husband and I received his toast, the aroma of Maurice’s apple orchards heralded the welcome taste of a year’s sunshine in each amber sip. “Welcome,” Maurice said.
Levier is our neighbor in the Le Perche region of Lower Normandy in France, where we spend six months of the year. Le Perche is a part of one of 50 regional government sanctioned nature parks that account for 13 percent of France’s land. Le Parc Natural Régional du Perche is one of the most successful, due to an energetic campaign to encourage the region’s agricultural traditions and protect its landscape. The Parc was instrumental in revitalizing le baguette du Perche (the first baguette to receive the Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée), les escargots du Perche, and, of course, the apples that produce the Calvados that the Levier family and others have been crafting for over two centuries.
The other six months of the year, we live in upstate New York, near the town of Hudson in the heart of New York’s “apple belt.” In the spring, driving along the winding roads, miles of apple trees covered with white flowers transform the landscape into gossamer, anticipating the fall’s apple harvest. In the winter, the apple trees are covered with ice, turning the landscape into a fairyland of shimmering icicles.
Coming home in late 2007, however, we were dumbstruck by the changes we saw: fields of apple trees were gone, hundred year old trees lay on their sides, cut into three-foot logs, waiting to be stacked in large wooden crates. Big signs glared out balefully, “logs for sale.”
Neighbors said that apple farmers were going bankrupt, selling their land to developers. Here, unlike France, there was no government support, and with Chinese apples flooding the New York markets with cheap frozen apple juice and applesauce, Hudson Valley apple producers couldn’t compete.
What could we do to help? We thought of Le Perche. Apart from government support, why was Le Perche’s apple industry faring so well by comparison? There, most producers grow several different kinds of apples; some are destined for local consumption, but the bulk goes into the making of sweet and hard ciders, Pommeau (an apple wine), and Calvados, the region’s celebrated apple brandy. Le Perche ciders have consistently won gold, silver, and bronze medals in French and European competitions.
With the help of the Parc, their products sell in supermarkets and liquor stores around the country. The Parc organizes tastings and trade fairs to raise public awareness, and cider producers have made alliances with other local farmers whose produce marries well with cider. Growers of snails make confit with cider, saffron producers make jam with cider, and local confectioners make cookies with cider. They all work together—and the area thrives.
My late husband, James Rossant, an urban planner and architect, posed the pivotal question: Why don’t we help each group share their know-how? (Unfortunately Jim passed away shortly before Christmas in 2009, but I’m still carrying on with our projects.)
Since we were in Hudson at the time, we looked into the equation from the American perspective. Our apple producers could invite their French counterparts to come to the Hudson Valley and introduce techniques for high quality apple spirits with little or no investment. In turn, the Americans could travel to France and share their expertise in marketing eating apples (versus cooking and heirloom apples), and developing value-added products like apple butter.
I contacted Kathryn Bamberger, the international trade specialist at the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, who was all for the exchange but could offer no funding. After continued discussions, Bamberger gave me a letter stating that the governor of New York was interested in the project. My husband and I returned to France and presented the letter to the president of the Parc, Jean-Pierre Gérondeau, who responded enthusiastically. The French apple farmers, and producers of cider, snails, saffron, and honey, among others, were all eager to partake. The only thing missing was the seed money from America. The French had government support through the Parc, but who would help the Americans?
Enter Glynwood, a private organization whose mission is to help communities in the Northeast save farming. Glynwood agreed to host seven French apple growers, distillers, and cider makers for a weeklong exchange, after which seven Americans would go to Le Perche to see the French techniques firsthand and share their own knowledge and marketing techniques. Glynwood’s president, Judith LaBelle, brought in their director of special projects, Sara Grady, to develop the project’s specifics.
“We intend to use this exchange as a springboard to create a community around regionally made hard cider and apple sprits amongst apple growers, entrepreneurs, and other agricultural and culinary professionals. Our goal is that a cider community will coalesce as a result of the ideas and inspirations seeded during the exchange,” says Grady.
Glynwood’s Apple Projects, which include the Apple Exchange as well as the creation of a Hudson Valley Cider Route, seek to increase demand and production of value-added apple products in order to benefit apple growers, draw tourists to orchards, and help orchards to diversify. According to Grady, hard cider was an American tradition—particularly in the Hudson Valley—until the early 20th century, when it was lost to urbanization and Prohibition, but a renaissance for hard cider is underway.
“Some growers in the Hudson Valley are already beginning to revive older heirloom and cider apple varieties. Increased attention to these apples, through projects like this one, will lead to greater demand for and production of regional ciders and spirits. Hard cider is one of the fastest growing segments of the beverage market, and there is great potential for these products to find a place in retail shops, restaurants, and wine lists. Chefs and wine directors will no doubt find that high quality regional ciders will find a valuable niche in their kitchens and restaurants,” says Grady.
American chefs are certainly stepping up to the plate on this project. Tom Colicchio, Daniel Boulud, Matteo Bergamini, and many more have shown interest in the project. The French participants, one of whom is Levier, will privately tour the Hudson Valley orchards, cideries, and distilleries with their American counterparts, who will then travel to France in early November. On October 17 there will be a private industry-only event held at Glynwood. For those wanting a piece of the (apple) pie, Glynwood will co-host an apple and cider showcase at New Amsterdam Market in New York City on October 16.
“Cider and agritourism can help orchards to remain economically viable. In turn, orchards and their cider can build public appreciation for the Hudson Valley’s agricultural legacy, shaping the region’s identity as a place where farming persists and orchards thrive,” says Grady.
Colette Rossant is the author of several cookbooks and memoirs, the most recent of which is The World in My Kitchen: The Adventures of a (Mostly) French Woman in New York.
