And still more farm-raised, apple cider Nuts. The first one comes to us courtesy of Treelicious Orchards of Port Murray, New Jersey.

These donuts are most Treelicious. While caked in cinnamon and sugar, the dough comes through as the most interesting flavor component. A very simple fried dough taste, the sort usually reserved for funnel cake, is somehow not overshadowed by its sweet surroundings. And in what I assume is a result of the ridiculous amount of oil contained in dough, once structurally comprimised with a hearty bite, the remainder of the Nut wobbles about like Jello.

Visit Treelicious Fridays at the Union Square Farmer’s Market and Saturdays at the Grand Army Plaze Farmer’s Market in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Our second offering is fried up by the kind people at the Just Rugelach Bakery in Kearney, New Jersey, who bill themselves as Not Just Rugelach at the Borough Hall Farmer’s Market, so as to not dissuade variety seekers. While loads of cinnamon and sugar makes for a tasty experience, we should warn potential eaters that NJR’s donuts are extremely hard. Initially we thought perhaps we had a stale Nut on our hands, but after closer examination, the fresh flavor led us to conclude that they were just super-dense. While certainly not the best apple cider Nut we’ve tasted, they are a nice change from organic vegetables and other such healthy crap offered at most farmer’s markets.

I almost forgot, if you find yourself at the Union Square Farmer’s Market enjoyng a Nut, make sure you wash it down with a bottle of Red Jacket Orchard’s delicious Fuji apple juice.

Donut Scores:

Treelicious - 8.4
Just Rugelach - 6.6

Our first guest-blogger spot by The Beta Blognut was so successful, we’ve decided to once again pass over the keys - please say hello to Friend of Blognut.

Saratoga Apple
1174 Rt. 29
Schuylerville, NY
(Near Saratoga Springs)

Friends of Blognut travels to Upstate New York to investigate the well-hidden Nut scene so Blognut doesn’t have to. Saratoga Springs is a lovely, classy, horseracing town, with all that implies. The restaurant-and-wine-shop-to-resident ratio is ridiculously high, gambling is incredibly important, and (as follows naturally from the former conditions) the living is good. Potato chips, one of the foods most dear to FOB’s heart, were invented here. These people know fried carbs, FOB thought.

FOB was wrong. Really wrong. Alarmingly, there seemed to be no doughnut offerings in Saratoga. In fact, she had to leave town to find some non-Pop-Nuts to try. Luckily, a Saratogian FOB remembered Saratoga Apple, a nearby orchard that cooks up apple cider doughnuts. On a drizzly late morning, FOB went to check it out. The short drive out to the orchard goes by the Saratoga battlefield and monument, where the British wisely laid down their arms and surrendered to the feisty, pissed off Americans in the Revolutionary War. History, schmistory.

We knew we were in good eating parts when we saw the oddly imperative sign at the orchard FRUIT OUR OWN PORK. What could it mean? Was that something we were meant to do? No matter: How would the Nuts compare to the cider doughnuts at Carter Mountain Orchard in Charlottesville, VA, some of FOB’s favorites? The stakes suddenly seemed high. In the small orchard store were apples, honey, cherries, beeswax products, and a tray of apple cider Nuts resting in a pack under a gauze sheet. We bought half a dozen; fewer would have seemed risky.

These cider nuts are classic in style: smallish (by today’s Gluttonous American Size standards), reddish golden-brown, coated with a sandy layer of sugar crystals. The first bite is barely, ever-so-slighly crisp. The sugar layer gives way to the creamy, yellowish cake center. Moist, sweet-but-not-too, cider-y, essential, pretty close to perfect. Saratogian FOB lets out a little cry/yelp of pleasure, pacing the room to try to contain himself. The only thing they lacked that Carter Mountain’s Nuts (sometimes) have is warmth. These had been cooked earlier in the morning; had they been hot, they might have given their Southern brethren a run for their money. But a cool doughnut has its own pleasures. They were worth the trip up here.

Doughnut score:
Apple cider donut-9.3

There is a simple theorem for understanding why Blognut so thoroughly enjoys a good farmer’s market:

1) A decent farmer’s market is most likely to have at least one booth run by a local apple orchard.
2) Apple orchards generally produce apple cider.
3) Apple cider can be combined with flour, sugar and egg and fashioned into a delicious donut.
4) Many apple orchards offer apple cider donuts.

——————————————————————————–

Saturday Morning, Union Square – While most New Yorkers navigate the Union Square Farmer’s Market in search of locally-grown produce, Blognut arrives with one thing on our mind – donuts.

After passing countless booths peddling unfried edibles like organic berries and vine-rippened tomatos, we finally encounter our dealer of choice - Breezy Hill Orchard and Cider Mill out of Straatsburg, NY. While Breezy Hill is best known for their extensive collection of freshly-picked apples, they also happen to fry one of the best cider donuts in the area. Blognut orders a bag of three.

Our natural response to any orchard-born, apple cider donut is to immediately compare it to those brought to life high above Charlottesville, Virginia at Carter Mountain Orchard. Carter Mountain donuts are, without a doubt, some of our all-time favorite Nuts. Freshly-made all day, these bite-sized donuts emerge from the fryer soft, warm and delicious. They are then doused with a ton of cinnamon and sugar and stuffed into a paper bag which quickly becomes saturated with oil. (Sorry, I’m getting carried away, I forgot this post is about Breezy Hill). Breezy’s donuts are much more subtle than the Carter variety. With no external frills, these dry cake rings rely on just slightly sweet, cinnamon/cider dough to please their eater. Overall, the flavor is mild, but pleasingly fresh, light and outdoorsy - a perfect compliment to a bushell of fresh vegetables.

The Union Square Farmer’s Market is open year round and operates Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m..