Friday, October 8, 2010

Opening Day at Dixon's Mountain Grown Apples

September 23 was opening day at Dixon's Apple Orchard. The orchard lies in a mountain canyon up in the Jemez Mountains just beyond Cochiti Pueblo. Just the trip up there is a wonderful scenic drive.

Located in the 6,200 foot-high, lava rich Rancho de Cañada in Peña Blanca New Mexico, this 50 acre orchard has been producing excellent apples for over 60 years. This particular Cañada has proved to be one of the really rare apple growing spots in America. The volcanic ash soil and a sunny southeast exposure results in the delicious popular Champagne apples, which some consider to be the best apple in the world. Dixon's Orchard also produces a very good cider.

So it is no wonder that the road from Cochiti to the orchard is bumper to bumper traffic on opening day, and you sit in line for at least an hour waiting to arrive at the orchard. And you do need to get there early because the apples are sold out in days.

I used the apples this year to make pies, applesauce, fritters, cobbler, and apple cake, as well as putting them in fruit salads and eating them fresh.

Here are some pictures John got of opening day at Dixon's:


The road up to the orchard:










Dixon's Mountain Grown Apples.

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