In the land of the apple pickin'

I honestly thought we were in the middle of nowhere...the road kept getting narrower and narrower, and then our two vehicle caravan entered a forest....and you know us Americans with our minivans and SUVs in Belgium (or Europe for that matter)...it got tighter and tighter....and just when I wondered how I was going to turn around or back up, there it was!  A big apple painted on a tree!...and cars coming in from all directions....we had made it!  Here in Belgium, we are surrounded by farms of all kinds and today, we discovered an apple farm with apples just waiting to be picked and eaten....

The first thing my 11 year old said was....cool....and he meant it.  Rows and rows of different types of apples all neatly labeled.  I am no apple connoisseur, but what in blazes are suntan apples?  Booskop...ahhh, I recognize that one.....I've forgotten all the other names as I had never heard of them before, but one yellow/red apple was half the size of my son's head!  I am using two of those right now to bake a wonderful Pearl's Apple Crisp.  Since I am lazy when it comes to piecrust and the packaged stuff just doesn't taste homemade, I make this crisp instead with its rich and thick buttery crunchy topping...it can't be beat and tastes great with ice cream!

Here's the recipe:

Pearl's Apple Crisp

2 lage apples (enough to cover a pieplate; I use a glass one)
1/2 cup white sugar
2 TBS lemon juice
1 cup flour
sprinkling of cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), partially melted

Preheat oven to 325 deg F.  Clean and cut up the fruit into pieplate.  Stir in white sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon.  Combine flour and brown sugar; cut in butter until it is nice and crumbly.  Place mixture over fruit and pat down.  Bake until golden brown, about 50 minutes.  Serve by itself or with vanilla ice cream!

Back to the farm.  You take your bag or crate (bring your own), and walk (or if you have boys.....RUN)....up and down the rows and start picking and packing it in.  When you are done, go see the nice lady in the barn and put your bag on the scale.  I spent about five Euros for around six kilos of apples....there will be a lot of apple eating in this house the rest of the week!

To find this place, if you are coming from the SHAPE/Casteau area, start heading on the main route towards Braine-le-Comte and Soignes or else your your GPS will take you off on some serious goatpaths!

The farm is called "Culture Fruitiere du Pont du Jour", 7090 Henripont, Belgium. The farm is off Chemin du Servoir to help your GPS find it, but by then, you should see the cars and signs:-)

I'm not sure what their hours are, but we went on a Sunday afternoon, and I do know they are open Saturdays too. Thanks Nicole for taking us there! We enjoyed the afternoon!