America the Bountiful

This is Virginia life.

[Capri] The food that represents early America.

The apple really is almost the immigrant story captured in a fruit.

Indeed it is.

[Capri] The drink of choice of our founding fathers.

[man] It's the origins of this great country.

It's the most patriotic beverage you could possibly drink.

[Capri] In Virginia, there's a movement to bring back the varieties that are rarely seen today.

The old quality over quantity, and that's certainly what you are doing here.

And to pass on knowledge paired with flavor of the inequities of the past.

There is so much more to learn.

I cannot tell you how good it smells in here.

I'm Capri Cafaro and I'm on a mission to uncover the incredible stories of the foods we grow... ...harvest, create... ...and celebrate.

Beautiful, amazing meal.

So, I'm traveling America's backroads to learn our cherished food traditions from those who make them possible... Look at that.

...and are helping keep them alive.

There is so much more to learn.

[man] It's just a tradition here in this area.

-[gunshot] -[woman] Mmm hmm.

[Capri] On "America the Bountiful."

[announcer] America's farmers have nourished us for generations, but today they face unprecedented challenges.

American Farmland Trust works with farmers to help save the land that sustains us.

Together we can work to keep America bountiful.

[Capri] The apple, a quintessential staple in the tapestry of America, and perhaps something taken for granted today in the half dozen varieties available at the grocery store.

It turns out the apple has an infinitely varied past in our nation's history.

No better demonstrated than here in Virginia, one of our most richly historical states.

The apples are a universal fruit today, but it has deep roots in the past, in the American past.

[Capri] Peter Hatch, as a historian, lecturer, and retired director of Gardens and Grounds at Thomas Jefferson's famous estate.

After 35 years of service, he is ripe with wisdom on the subject.

[Peter] Founding fathers like Benjamin Franklin imported American apples to England.

George Washington had large apple orchards at Mount Vernon, both for eating out of hand, but also for cider making.

And Thomas Jefferson was a discriminating lover of the apple.

And here we are today on the West Lawn at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's lifelong home in central Virginia.

[Capri] Monticello, meaning "Little Mountain," was the 5,000-acre plantation estate that Jefferson designed and built on top of a peak in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Charlottesville.

Jefferson considered landscape gardening as among the seven fine arts with music, sculpture and poetry.

I love that.

[Peter] Jefferson grew 170 varieties of the finest fancy fruit that was known in the young United States in the early years in the 1800s, including a collection of apples that was most impressive.

Why did the founding fathers love the apple so much?

The real reason was because of the importance of apple cider.

It was a universal beverage that was shared.

And we're not talking about sweet cider.

We're talking about hard cider that's been fermented.

One historian has made the tongue in cheek true remark that it was a significant event when Americans began eating their fruit rather than drinking it.

[Capri] And whether they wanted to eat or drink their apples, there were plenty of options to choose from.

[Peter] If you look at the emergence of thousands and thousands of apple varieties in the young Republic, there are some 17,000 names.

There was an apple for every season, for every purpose and for every region.

So, the apple became kind of America's fruit because of this sort of regional diversity.

There's so much diversity, just like Americans all across the United States.

The apple really is reflective of who we are as Americans.

We call it the democratic fruit.

[Capri] And like our nation of immigrants, the apple didn't originate here.

It's believed to have been native to Kazakhstan and grown for centuries throughout Europe before making the trip to America.

It really is almost the immigrant story captured in a fruit.

Right.

Indeed it is.

[Capri] It eventually became as American as, well, apple pie.

Monticello sourced its apples from many places, including nearby orchards like this.

[Peter] This is an apple called Rome Beauty.

[Capri] Is that what these are here?

Yeah.

It was discovered in 1860 in Rome Township, Ohio.

It's one of the oldest varieties I can think of that's still being cultivated today.

It's considered the number one baking apple in the country by some people.

I find it pretty sweet myself.

[Capri] Okay.

Great to taste off the trees, though.

It's actually sweet.

I think it's sweet.

Yeah, I think of it as a very sweet apple.

It's good.

It's one of those really old varieties that has persevered because it looks like the apple that people want to eat today.

We need to preserve the past for the future.

Old apples in particular have survived a long time, and they have qualities that might be really worthy of producing apples in the future.

Here are some of Jefferson's favorite, favorite apples.

Esopus Spitzenburg, Newtown or Albemarle Pippin, the Hewe's Crab, the cider orchard apple, and the Ralls Genet.

Is there a place where I can actually try cider made with these apples today?

Oh, yeah.

There's become this burgeoning interest in cider.

And in our region here in central Virginia, we have a number of great cideries that are making some national award-winning cider, and we're very proud of that new industry that brings so much from the past to go into the future.

[Capri] Twenty miles from Monticello in Keswick, Virginia, Don Whitaker and Rob Campbell of Castle Hill Cider are proud to pour a creation they call Orchard Select.

This is a wonderful ode to the history of Virginia cider making.

Cheers.

-Cheers.

-Cheers.

It is nice and both dry and slightly tart.

Exactly.

Perfect.

Want a drop?

You know, maybe.

It's a full-bodied cider with a full circle history here at Castle Hill tied to Thomas Jefferson and Monticello.

[man] So the story goes back over 200 years.

And this estate was founded by Thomas Walker back in, I believe, in 1764.

[Capri] Thomas Walker was friends with and served under George Washington in the Revolutionary War.

And we believe that after the French and Indian War, he brought back scions of the Newton Pippin.

And scion in the context of an apple is?

Yeah, so scion is basically wood from an apple tree that's cut off.

So, it's almost like a pruning.

What are you going to do with that?

Are you going to stick it in the ground?

No, you would graft it onto an existing tree.

[Capri] Grafting is the ancient horticulture practice of cross-breeding plants.

[man] Grafting is an amazing art.

So, that is what Thomas Walker did, and that's how it turned from the Newton Pippin to the Albemarle Pippin.

[Capri] Named for Albemarle County, where Castle Hill resides, and enter Thomas Jefferson.

Thomas Walker became the legal guardian of Thomas Jefferson when Jefferson's father passed away.

Mm-hmm.

So young, wee lad Thomas Jefferson was running amuck on the property, eating apples.

So, when he established Monticello, he wanted to make sure that he had the apples that he enjoyed here.

[Capri] So, likely through scions and grafting, Jefferson brought Castle Hill apples to his orchard at Monticello, where he grew them successfully for years.

When Don and Rob wanted to honor that history in a cider, they partnered with Jefferson's estate to acquire apples.

We actually picked them from the orchards of Monticello.

Really?

They let us onto their estate and we picked the fruit and brought it back here, mixed it with the same varietals from our orchards.

So, this cider is a celebration of those two worlds.

That relationship, that friendship, all expressed in the glass.

[Capri] Living history.

-Yes.

-In a glass.

I'll drink to that.

Cheers.

All right.

Sounds marvelous.

[Capri] The history in these glasses harkens back to the time when cider was the preeminent drink of America.

[Capri giggles] So, now we start to get into the 1900s, and this evil thing called prohibition.

Folks wanted to just destroy anything that had sugars-- -That could be fermented.

-That could be fermented.

And that happened here.

[Capri] Like many others, Castle Hill's orchards were destroyed by the temperance movement.

Prior to that point, cider was the nation's drink.

Everyone drank cider.

[Capri] But when prohibition was repealed, apple orchards, including Castle Hills, were replanted.

But commercial cideries didn't yet exist, and the popularity of cider had dwindled as beer and wine moved to the forefront with Americans.

After that in the 1980s, the apple guru Diane Flynn, resurrects the cider in Virginia, sleuthing for these heritage Virginia apples, these heirloom apples.

Okay.

I like a good sleuth.

So, she ends up finding several of these apples, starts grafting.

The heirloom apple?

The heirloom apples.

So, then she starts making cider.

She becomes really the first cidery in Virginia, Foggy Ridge Cider.

And then it starts branching out.

And it sounds like the cider industry is growing.

It's huge.

There's over 45 cideries here now.

Cider's back in Virginia.

Cider is back, baby.

People are starting to recognize that it's just like a good wine.

It's a little bit different than beer.

Everyone always thinks that it's beer, but it's actually fermented the same way that a good wine is.

Apple wine, basically.

[Capri] Once the apples are harvested from their orchard and pressed into juice, the juice comes to the tank room to age and ferment.

[man] This is the most recent one that we made.

It tastes earthy.

Like literally.

-Because it's-- -Yes.

So, what inspires you as a liquid artist?

Possibility.

I'm inspired by nature.

This completely rich cider history, and all of that gets reflected into the glass, and I just want that to echo.

And you know what I'm hearing?

-What?

-I'm hearing history.

-Yay.

- I'm hearing history.

Let's cheers to history.

Yes.

And to Virginia cider.

I'll drink to that.

[clicks glasses] All right.

[Capri] From heirloom apples used for cider to heirloom apples celebrated for eating.

Well, good morning and welcome to Vintage Virginia Apples.

[Capri] Vintage Virginia Apples as a family business in North Garden, Virginia, run by Charlotte Shelton and her brothers.

We're going to start today and look at a selection of heirlooms which we're known for.

[Capri] They operate an orchard dedicated to the diverse slate of heirloom apples and provide education in the form of their popular group tastings.

Charlotte runs tastings regularly, and as a teacher by trade, loves sharing her deep knowledge of the fruit, many varieties of which can't be found commercially today.

This is the Ashmeads Kernel.

Ashmeads Kernel is an old English apple, 1730 origin.

And people look at this and think it's unusual because of the scar skins, the brown.

This is typical of so many apples.

They just don't happen to be on the commercial market today.

In fact, into the 19th century, russeting, which is what this is called, was considered a mark of flavor.

-Thank you.

-Uh huh.

I get a tart at the back of my mouth.

Yes.

It's tart and sweet and winey all at the same time.

I can see the wine.

Apple start out starch which converts to sugar.

This one's been off the tree a month or so, and so those sugars are beginning.

They will get sweeter in storage.

So, this would be sweeter if we waited a few weeks or a month?

Yes, it would be.

This is the Albemarle Pippin, which is probably the best apple ever grown.

[Capri] And also, one of Jefferson's favorites.

So, this is a late ripening, long keeping apple.

This is just off the tree.

So this is going to be quite crisp.

Okay.

Thank you.

But it's a positively wonderful, complex apple that's great for dessert.

It's a good culinary apple and it makes a fabulous cider.

This is another tart one, but I think it's a little bit sweeter, and I do agree with the crisp or clean flavor.

This will get sweeter.

Some people say it's best in February.

So, why is it important to you to keep these heirloom varieties grown and consumed?

The genome of the apple is almost intimately varied.

For the same reason that you want to maintain biodiversity in any organic medium in the world, you want to preserve varieties for the future.

Right.

Biodiversity is worthwhile on many different levels.

So, the other thing is, the variety of flavors, if not infinite at least is huge.

And that's-- You know, we eat better and more cheaply in this country than anywhere in the world.

And that's because we have an industrial agricultural system, which is hugely efficient.

But that efficiency means that you are channeling your energies into a limited number of varieties.

And that serves, of course, the mass distribution system, but what you sacrifice is a variety of flavors that I'm demonstrating here, and I think that's worth preserving.

It absolutely is.

The old quality over quantity.

And that's certainly what you are doing here.

Mm-hmm.

So, this is a price we pay, and some of these are not that difficult to grow, but they're not commonly available.

If you want an Ashmeads Kernel, well, you better let me sell you a tree.

Oh, I might be in the market.

Did they grow in Ohio?

Indeed they would.

And we operate a nursery here as well as a cidery.

That was one one justification for maintaining the plethora of varieties we've got.

[Capri] They grow about 75 to 80 varieties a year.

They also graft new apple trees for customers and ship them across the country.

Another way to preserve and expand these cherished heirloom apple varieties.

So, how did you decide that you wanted to go into the Apple business?

Well, we started plating apples as a hobby.

[Capri] Charlotte's interest grew after an apple tasting years ago at Monticello, run by Peter Hatch and an old friend, Tom Burford, a legend in the Virginia Apple world.

[Charlotte] My brother Chuck, the next year he went with me to the apple tasting and we ended up with 50 trees.

[Capri] How do you choose which apples to actually grow?

We did a lot of trial and error early on.

So, we have 240-250 varieties out here in this orchard.

What's your favorite variety?

I have a bunch of them, but for cider, I got to say, it's Harrison and Hewe's Crab.

Okay.

He is responsible for the ciders.

I support and applaud, but I don't make it.

And he's done a wonderful job, I think.

And big sister saying little brother does a wonderful job ought to count for something.

I totally agree.

Well, I can't think of any place I'd rather spend a fall afternoon than in an apple orchard.

So, thank you for having me out.

I get to spend a lot of them out here.

[all laughing] [Capri] From drinking and eating apples to cooking with them.

Dontavius Williams is a historical reenactment chef, dedicating his career to education around slavery through the lens of the foods grown and cooked on southern plantations.

[Dontavius] Here at Point of Honor, this kitchen is called an Orchard Kitchen.

[Capri] Point of Honor is a historic plantation in Lynchburg, Virginia, dedicated to preserving the area's history.

Here in the Orchard Kitchen, Point of Honor slaves would prepare meals for their owners.

Thank you for taking me back in time.

We're going to make two things today.

What are we starting with?

We're going to start with buttered onions another way.

Buttered onions another way.

So, what's that other way?

We're adding apples to it.

Oh!

Apples and It's going to be delicious.

This is a colonial dish that just transcends time and location.

What are we going to start prepping here?

First of all, we have to peel our apple.

This recipe here comes down a couple hundred years.

[Capri] Dontavius acquired it from historical records in Williamsburg, Virginia, one of the first settlements in colonial America.

This would be called a skilled laborer job.

In the 19th century, it was outlawed for slaves to be able to read, so they had to commit these things to memory and make it work.

But what you want to do is you want to slice your apple and cut it into little wedges.

[Capri] Dontavius was first drawn to historical reenactment work as a student at a historically Black college in Southern Carolina.

when a teacher presented an opportunity to volunteer at historic site in lieu of taking a midterm.

She said, "If you do it, you don't have to take the midterm."

-Oh!

-Score!

That's motivation.

So, I did it and fell in love with the historic site.

I eventually went to work for the site.

After I left, I was still called to continue the work.

The work kept calling me.

It sounds like the ancestors were calling for the story to continue to be told.

And I just continued to tell the story of our ancestors.

So, what we're going to do is we're going to peel the onion.

[Capri] I know that in some places, at least, this is my understanding, that enslaved people would be picking the apples, cooking the apples, making meals like this.

But can't eat it.

But then can't actually eat the food that they make themselves.

Isn't that crazy?

Now the recipe calls for currants.

Currants are very difficult to find in local grocery stores.

Absolutely.

Raisins are very good replacements.

[Capri] And tell me what-- [Dontavius] The recipe calls for sugar.

Just add it with some cinnamon.

That was two good pinches of cinnamon.

This family was rich.

They could afford the cinnamon.

Each kitchen tells a different story.

Yeah, each slave quarter tells a different story.

Are we missing anything else?

The best part, butter.

Oh, yeah.

Take that butter and put about half of it in there.

I mean, these are some of my favorite things.

[Dontavius] So, what we're going to do now, we've got a nice hot oven here.

We're going to put this in the hot oven now.

Again, we're feeding this family here, right?

So, we're thinking about a full-fledged meal.

So, in this oven is a pork loin that has been prepared.

That chutney will be served to the side of it.

[Capri] I cannot tell you how good it smells in here.

That is nice and caramelized.

It smells like fall.

Wow.

Go ahead and put a serving on the plate.

Okay.

While we do that, I'm going to slice this up a piece of this pork loin.

[Capri] Alrighty.

You go with the apples and I'm going to go with the pork since I got it in my hand.

Oh, my gosh.

Man.

This is so tender.

It is so fresh.

I love that balance of the sweet and salty and, you know, the raisins, or it would have been the currants, really brings out the sweetness of the apples.

And of course, the butter makes everything that much better.

Of course.

But it also elevates the herb flavor that comes out in the pork.

It is amazing that something so simple can be so delicious.

But still, my heart is heavy that this would be made by people that wouldn't necessarily maybe have the opportunity to eat it themselves.

It definitely is a sobering fact that those who prepared these meals that shaped the future of America couldn't enjoy them themselves.

But today we stand on their shoulders for the giants that they were, making the sacrifices they did.

That's right.

And this meal is telling their story.

[Dontavius] I'm forever grateful for them.

Absolutely.

You got to leave some room for dessert.

Always room for dessert.

Always.

You have a dessert recipe for me?

[Dontavius] I do.

I do.

It's the predecessor of my family's favorite fried apple pie.

Oh, wow.

So, it's apple fritters.

As I grew up, my grandmother speaks about fried apple pies quite often and how she remembered her mom making them and rolled out the dough so thin.

It sounds like your family had to have had some kind of influence on your love of history.

Oh, man.

I talk about my grandma and my granddad.

My mom, she helped to feed my love of history.

Going to my grandmother's house was always like walking into a vault of time and I count it a privilege to be able to to know that.

And our family stories, all of them aren't beautiful, but it's those things, those ugly things, that really help us to understand truly who we are.

Well, I can tell you take that spirit of storytelling directly into this work here.

And just like you said about your own personal experience, not every story is pretty, but they still need to be told.

And, you know, a part of our nation's story isn't pretty either.

Yeah, it's ugly.

It's very ugly.

But my granddad also taught me how to tell a good story.

The best grandfather in the world, my superman, he really, really, really taught me the art of storytelling and a good punch line.

You know, you're giving me chills.

Let's do the next thing.

You see that grater right there?

[Capri] I do.

I'm putting you to work today.

[Capri] I am not sad about it.

And just grate some of that lemon in there.

[Capri] A little zest action.

I can smell that lovely citrus.

[Dontavius] Now you're getting ready to smell something even better now.

It's going to be a little stronger.

We're going to add a little bit of poo-yow in there, or pi-yow in there.

What is that?

Brandy.

Oh, a.k.a brandy.

And a cup of wine.

Stir that up.

I'm going to add some cinnamon to it.

The longer you let it sit, the better it tastes.

Because everything gets absorbed into that fruit.

Yes, that apple is just like a sponge.

The recipe calls for two eggs.

Just pour it right into the flour.

So, she says to pour in enough water to make a good paste.

[Capri] I see the flower dancing on the oil.

I have a sieve here.

Mm-hmm.

I'm going to sieve the apples out.

I can feel the heat.

[Dontavius] Mm-hmm.

I have a little bit of flour here I'm going to dust it with just because I really want that to stick.

The recipe says you take these guys and you stick them in hot oil Oh, you stick them in the hot oil.

And then you put a spoon of the sauce over the apple.

So, we'll do that and then pour it right over like a funnel cake.

And as you see, they kind of look like little funnel cakes, right?

You're right.

They do look like little funnel cakes.

[Dontavius] We're going to sit it on high and let the heat crank back up.

Sit it on high, otherwise known as more logs on the fire.

We're not turning up the stove.

Nah, nah.

You just going to sit it right there on those hot coals?

[Capri] I see.

It looks like they're getting pretty crispy.

[Dontavius] It's time.

You know, coming in hot.

Oh!

All right.

I smell the batter.

I smell the sweetness of the apples.

I cannot wait to try this.

-This is powdered sugar.

-Right.

[Dontavius] The last little touch there.

[Capri] I can see these are nice and brown.

[Dontavius] Mm-hmm.

But what do you think?

That brandy and that wine is absolutely absorbed into the apples?

Very crunchy.

Very crunchy on the outside, but very nice and soft with the apples on the inside.

it cooks really quickly, but then the apple keeps it moist and tender on the inside.

So, it's that simple.

You have taught me so much today.

What have you learned as you have been, you know, going on this journey of historical interpretation?

That there is so much more to learn?

It's like that onion.

It's layered.

And we can't move on until we understand that there is something underneath the next layer.

That's right.

And so we have to just keep digging, dig a little bit deeper Dig a little bit deeper.

That's it.

Yeah.

Go deeper.

Go deeper.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

Thank you for educating me today and for feeding me too.

Listen, that's my life's passion.

So here, thank you so much.

I get a hug.

Here in Virginia, the apple has many stories to tell.

The democratic fruit is at once honoring history, tradition and culture to celebrate and learn from the past, and in order to live a richer present and plant seeds for a more diverse future.

But why take my word for it, when you can come experience it for yourself.

"America The Bountiful" is waiting for you and me.

For more information visit Americathebountifulshow.com.

[announcer] America's farmers have nourished us for generations, but today they face unprecedented challenges.

American Farmland Trust works with farmers to help save the land that sustains us.

Together we can work to keep America bountiful.