Apples are as much a part of a splendid Virginia autumn as a crisp nip in the air and the symphony of vibrant leaves. The history of apples in Virginia is storied and, naturally, sweet.
First brought by European colonists, apple trees flourished, resulting in nearly 10,000 trees by the end of the 17th century. By the time Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Madison from Paris in 1780, extolling the superiority of Virginia’s apples, his horticultural adventures had resulted in at least four varieties being grown at Monticello.
Historic apple lore abounds in these parts, from tales of Queen Victoria rewarding a shipment of Albemarle Pippins from an Afton mountaintop with a cherished set of bone china that survives to this day, to the remnants of historic heirloom varieties, supposedly lost, but still hidden away in the folds of the Blue Ridge mountains near Old Rag, just waiting to be stumbled upon and perhaps even cultivated once again.
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Some facts are unarguably true: Virginia is the nation's sixth largest grower of apples, with over 100 commercial orchards stretching through the Shenandoah Valley but also in the Roanoke Valley and in Patrick and Carroll counties too.
Virginia’s apple harvest is sold internationally as the fruit itself, along with such products as apple sauce, apple juice, and that beloved spread, apple butter. And that’s not even including the flourishing business occasioned by Virginia’s reentry into the hard-cider industry — again, a love affair first engendered in colonial times.
Nowadays, a huge variety of apples are grown here, including Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Rome, Stayman, Gala, Winesap, York, Granny Smith, Jonathan, Ginger Gold, and even Fuji, which may be directly tied to Thomas Jefferson’s horticultural handiwork.
There are numerous ways to partake of this bounty. Certainly you can find some fine specimens of local Virginia apples at farmers markets. You can spend the day at a pick-your-own establishment up toward Charlottesville or even visit the Graves Mountain Apple Harvest Festival in Syria, located in Madison County the first three weekends of October, an event still going strong after more than a half century. And even though they started in the Northeast and aren’t a local tradition, I’ve noticed that apple cider doughnuts have increasingly been spotted in Virginia apple country where, traditional or not, they are proving a hit.
I like to sample all of the above and, at least once a year, prepare an apple cake. The scent wafting about my kitchen of apples and cinnamon signals that the seasons are officially changing. And, if you ask me, this cake provides more apple bang for the buck than you can possibly imagine.
Clare’s Madison County Apple Cake
Ingredients
2 cups sugar
1¼ cups vegetable oil
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons vanilla
1½ cups chopped pecans
3 medium tart Virginia apples — peeled, cored, and chopped (about 3 cups)
¼ cup confectioner’s sugar
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°.
Grease and flour a bundt pan and set aside.
In a large bowl, mix sugar and oil with an electric mixer. Add remaining ingredients except for the nuts, apples, and confectioner’s sugar, and mix for 2 minutes. Fold in the nuts and apples and pour into the prepared pan.
Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, after approximately an hour. Let the pan cool on a rack for 10 minutes before inverting on a plate. Allow to cool and sprinkle sieved confectioner’s sugar over the top of the cake. Serve at room temperature.
