- "Washington Grown" is made possible by funding from the Washington State Department of Agriculture and the USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant Program and by the Potato Farmers of Washington.

Learn why Washington is home to the world's most productive potato fields and farmers, by visiting potatoes.com.

- Hi everyone, I'm Kristi Gorenson and welcome to "Washington Grown."

Washington may be called the Evergreen State, but we are known around the world for our amazing apples.

In this episode, we celebrate Washington's orchardists who are producing the freshest, highest quality apples around.

Tomás is visiting Kenoyer Apple Orchard.

- Farming is a gamble and it can be scary from year to year.

- I'm outta diced to roll.

- And I'm making apple pie macarons at miFlavor in Spokane.

- I think this size batch makes about 40 macarons.

- Okay, that's enough for me in one day.

- Yeah.

Oh!

[laughing] - Then Tomás is judging an apple pie contest at the Central Washington State Fair.

- It's such a tough job, you know, eating all this apple pie.

So rough.

- All this and more, today on "Washington Grown."

[upbeat music] It's a flavor-cation for your mouth.

- Flavor-cation.

- And I'm just gonna hold on.

[pilot laughing] - You got a long ways to go.

- Okay, sorry, I know, get with it.

- You were not kidding about a party of flavors.

Wait a minute, where are all my pears.

- Eat two, pick one.

- Exactly.

- I'm gonna stick around a while.

[laughing] - We're changing hearts tonight.

- Yes, we are.

- Wow.

I got work to do.

- Yeah, you do.

- All right, let's go.

[upbeat music fading] [upbeat jazzy music] - Stepping into miFlavor here in Spokane, you might feel like you walked into a different country.

Bright decor, relaxed atmosphere and especially the counter full of amazing French baked goods, all serve to transport guests to somewhere memorable.

Where you can leave the world behind and the treats look as good as they taste.

- It's so perfect.

I mean, everything looks so beautiful - And you just wanna take a sample of everything.

[laughing] - It's that good.

- What do people say when they walk in?

- Usually, wow.

[both laughing] Or "I didn't know this place existed."

"Wow, the desserts are too pretty to eat."

[laughing] - Ella Piskun uses her skills with baking, her love of French baked goods and the fresh ingredients grown in Washington and combines them into something unique to Spokane.

When a guest opens that door, they're going to find this place hard to forget.

- We wanted to make sure to bring the French-style dessert to Spokane, but also have a modern spin on it.

So in our cafe you'll notice we have a lot of white and a lot of clean lines so that our desserts really shine and pop instead of our decor necessarily.

- Their presentation is spectacular.

- Everything just looks exquisite and it tastes beautifully.

- Everything here is good.

- I believe French desserts are the best.

[chuckling] - I agree.

- So, we definitely needed something like that in Spokane.

Equally as beautiful as it tastes, and I think in a lot of times in dessert, that's not easily attainable to have both delicious flavor and a beautiful product.

- Yeah.

The wow factor.

- Yes, exactly.

And I believe French dessert really does encompass all of that.

- Stick around, because later in the show I'm learning how to make a Washington apple pie macaron with Head Pastry Chef, Courtney.

- Now what we have in our bags today, is our salted-caramel french buttercream here at miFlavor.

It's really good.

[Kristi laughing] It tastes super good.

It's very rich.

[light upbeat music] - Here in the Wenatchee Valley, the aromas of fresh fruit fill the air and that just means one thing.

It's harvest time.

The orchards are full of apples and pears ready for picking.

And here at Kenoyer Orchards, that's when the fun begins.

- An orchardist is everything.

It's shovel work, it's accounting, it's everything.

- Kelli Green and Darrin Kenoyer work side by side to produce some amazing fruit.

They love everything there is about working in an orchard, but that doesn't mean it's always easy.

Farming is a gamble and it can be scary from year to year.

- I'm outta dice to roll.

- Right.

I mean, you mentioned this was a meek year.

- Yeah, extremely.

- Two years ago it was a very cold fall and leaves froze on the tree.

So I think trees got stressed a little bit thin.

And then that summer there was a hundred degree weather for what, two weeks or whatever.

So another stress.

And then this last winter, it was minus what, 15, 20 for an extended time.

So buds really got damaged.

- How do you know if you have a bad year?

- We'll count buds and we'll notice that the buds are either not developing, you can cut them open and see where they're at.

- On my specific family, we're not even picking two of the varieties at all.

It was a total loss.

- They're are a lot of apple orchards in the area, but here in the valley, pears are king.

That's why many growers are switching out their apples in favor of pear trees.

- Our apples are the older varieties.

I mean, we still have Goldens, Galas and Grannies, but they're old varieties.

- No Red Delicious?

- No Red Delicious.

- Who's gonna make the cuts?

- We used to, yeah.

Over the years we've been gearing up more for pears because this region is the best for pears.

You know, that we can grow in the world.

We haven't put in a new apple block.

If we've taken one out, we've put pears in, but we're all pretty small, so we only do little bits at a time.

- I see and it would take longer to see kind of a return on that, wouldn't it?

- Yeah, you know, you plant it and you're not gonna see anything for five years.

- But that's not stopping me.

We had to try the orchardist special.

A fresh, delicious apple right off the tree.

I actually heard earlier, Darrin, mention that there's nothing like a Golden Delicious - [Darrin and Kelli together] Right off the tree.

- Off the tree.

- They're still green, - It will still be a little bit tart.

But I bet it's gonna be amazing.

- I wanna - Cheers.

- I wanna hear this.

- Here we go.

Ready?

[apples crunching] - You cannot deny an apple off the tree is one of the best things ever.

- Especially a Golden.

- I'm getting the understanding that you guys joined farms.

- Yes, we did.

[laughing] - You joined families.

So you had a farm.

You had a farm.

So now combined, what are we looking at?

- A lot of farm.

No.

[laughing] A lot of paperwork.

[all laughing] He pushed more paperwork on me.

[all laughing] And I was like, wait, now I wanna be on the forklift.

- Typical guy.

- I know.

- Typical guy.

- We're always fighting for the tractor work, but during harvest season, we check in in the morning, and then I'm on a forklift with one crew and he's... - My dad has one.

Then I'll, you know... - We don't get to like just hang out every day.

- Yeah.

I mean, we do, but not like, yeah.

I mean, it'd be pretty difficult if we didn't get along.

- I love the changing, I love all the different parts.

Having something that you've worked all year towards and then there's an actual harvest and you see the literal fruit of your labor at the end, and then there's seasons and you shut it down and have a little rest and get going again.

- I like the idea of being at the front of the food chain.

We're providing that product all the way from the beginning to the very end.

[upbeat country music fading] [soft upbeat music] - Washington farmers started growing apples in the 1820s.

How many varieties are grown in Washington today?

We'll find out after break.

- Coming up, I'm making apple pie macarons at miFlavor in Spokane.

- I think this size batch makes about 40 macarons.

- Oh, okay.

That's enough for me in one day.

- Yeah.

Oh.

[laughing] - And we're learning about Tomás' camping adventure, making an apple tart.

[soft upbeat music] - Washington grows over 30 varieties of nutritious, delicious apples, including the Golden.

[upbeat jazzy music] - We're back at miFlavor here in Spokane.

The incredible display of so many amazing French baked goods is sure to catch the eye of any customer.

I sure hope you're hungry, because there's no way anyone is leaving unsatisfied.

- Feel almost like you're in a little bit of a different world.

- This is something that I would feel like I'm almost in Paris in a sense.

- Once I got in, I was like, "Oh my goodness.

We're coming here."

- We usually call it a modern French bakery, is kind of our tagline.

- Owner Ella Piskun wanted to make her bakery and cafe as authentic as possible.

So she and her husband did their research thoroughly.

- We went to Paris to get inspired and make sure that when we do open a cafe, we can confidently say that we are offering a genuine French experience.

- It's so perfect.

I mean, everything looks so beautiful.

- And you just wanna take a sample of everything.

[laughing] - It's that good.

- As far as items go that you sell, what's the most popular?

- Definitely our macarons.

That's definitely what we're known for.

- Tell me about the perfect macaron.

- The filling needs to be very vibrant in flavor, because the shell doesn't have too much flavor to it, and the texture needs to be chewy.

- And you make all of yours like just extra special.

- We do, we like to decorate each one to make sure that people see it as like a one dessert where they can enjoy the dessert and they feel like, "Wow, someone put so much effort into this."

- Yeah, I'm hungry now.

- Yeah.

[laughing] - Yeah.

Sounds so good.

Speaking of macarons, I get to go back into the bakery to learn how to make macarons with Head Pastry Chef, Courtney, - There's a macaroon or there's a macaron.

Today we are making the macaron.

- The macaron.

- Mm-hm.

They are the sandwiched cookies, not the coconut ones.

- Okay.

We start by making a simple syrup using sugar and water.

In a mixer, we add egg whites and slowly add sugar.

- This is a very small batch.

Now normally we do batches of 500.

- Big.

Yeah.

- I think this size batch makes about 40 macarons.

- Oh, okay.

That's enough for me in one day.

- Yeah.

Oh!

[laughing] Yeah.

- Next, Courtney slowly and carefully pours the hot simple syrup into the mixer with the egg whites.

Then we let it mix.

For the filling, we start with some lemon juice, a mixture of cinnamon, sugar and nutmeg and some cut up Washington apples.

- And then we're just gonna cook it down just like you would in apple pie.

So basically we're basically just making apple pie filling without the crust.

- Now the meringue is done and it's time to add the coloring.

How do you know that this is gonna be the lovely green that you want?

- Well, I did it this morning - [laughing] Okay.

- And so I can attest, it does look like an apple green.

The first batch I did was too dark.

It was too too green.

- Too dark.

Forest green.

- It was more forest green.

Yes.

This combination will make it a nice Granny Smith color.

- I love it.

Okay.

We add the colored egg mixture to some almond flour and powdered sugar.

Then Courtney takes the meringue and folds it into our batter.

Now it's time to pipe our cookies.

- Straight down?

- Straight down.

- Okay.

- And just squeeze just very lightly.

Now lift up.

Yep.

- Oh, I don't think it's supposed to quite do that.

I'm concentrating so hard.

- No, they look great.

[chuckling] - After sitting to dry, the cookies go into an oven at 325 for 20 minutes.

- So we are ready to fill our macarons.

Now what we have in our bags today is our salted-caramel French buttercream here at miFlavor.

It's really good.

[Kristi laughing] It tastes super good.

It's very rich.

So what we're gonna do is we're just gonna take this small round tip, and we're gonna make a wall to hold all the apple filling in.

And we're just going to put some in the middle.

- And you don't want it outside the circle.

- You wanna try to get it in.

- That's the problem that I'm having.

- I know.

Oh, that one looks really good.

I feel like you got a good placement on that one.

- Thank you.

- Kinda looks like a Krabby Patty.

- It does.

[chuckling] This one may have had too many apples in it.

- And that's okay, 'cause it'll taste really good.

- Yeah, that's good.

- Now we're ready to decorate the top.

- That was hard.

Already.

[chuckling] Oh, that's so pretty.

- While it's still warm.

We'll sprinkle that apple crisp topping.

- I love that.

Look how beautiful it looks.

- It looks beautiful.

- Yay.

[upbeat music] - And just be prepared.

- It's gonna be messy.

- It's a little messy.

- Yeah, it's gonna be really messy.

- But that's okay.

That was so good.

It's so pretty inside.

- And the apples, in the middle you get that tart apple pie filling and then you get that apple crisp, like yummy crisp topping on the top.

- Yeah.

It's so delicious.

What a great way to showcase Washington apples too.

- Yeah, yeah.

And then our tongues are green - They, hm?

Yeah, they probably are.

[Kristi laughing] - To get the recipe for miFlavor's, Washington apple pie macaron, visit us at wagrown.com.

Somewhere deep in an orchard, there's a gathering of minds all dedicated to one purpose making agriculture that much better.

This is Smart Orchard Field Day, an event held to celebrate agriculture and show off new technology that can help orchardists.

- We're focused on empowering growers with data.

- Steve Mantle is the founder of Innov8 Ag as a tech company in the agricultural field, today is the perfect day for his team to share what they're working on with people in the orchard business.

- Companies that are flying in from all over the world.

We have multiple people that have flown in from Israel, from Netherlands.

- We have so many people coming from all kinds of different directions that shows us that this concept has been something that is needed and that everybody's interested in.

- Ines Hanrahan is the Executive Director of the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission.

The goal for today is to bridge the gap between scientific research and application in the field.

- Oftentimes we have technology that works really well in the lab, but then when you put it in a field setting, something happens.

So this is a really nice collaboration between the growers, the tech providers and the scientists, to make sure the technology that we want actually works on the real life conditions.

- We have three key focus areas.

So, one is water/irrigation, one is on the data collected in terms of crop load and soil data.

And then the third is around autonomy and autonomous equipment to actually be able to act on all of that data and close the loop.

- FairPick is a pay by weight scale system.

So pickers have RFID badges that link them to a portal account.

Additionally, this speaks eight different languages.

So if you have overseas workers, it's no problem.

You just scan a badge, you change the language.

- This is, it's called Soil Optix.

It's a gamma-ray spectrometer.

It helps farmers to understand what types of nutrients are in the soils so that the farmer has an exact understanding of what their soil is and how it varies throughout the field.

- We really wanna make sure we engage the young generation and show them that farming is not so much about shoveling dirt anymore.

It's about being a data scientist.

- If you are interested in environmental activism, get involved with the farmers, get on the farms and learn about it.

We want to embrace you.

We want to help you figure out how you can apply your IQ to solving the challenges that we have out here with regards to growing, particularly Mother Nature.

[upbeat music ending] - Coming up, Tomás is judging an apple pie contest at the Central Washington State Fair.

- It's such a tough job, you know, eating all this apple pie.

So rough.

[light upbeat music] Here in Pioneer Square.

There's no shortage of delicious food to be found.

And though this Korean deli may be small, it's packing huge flavors into every bite.

Sara Upshaw is the Owner and Head Chef of Ohsun Banchan Deli and Cafe.

In order to combine her love of the Northwest with her Korean heritage, Sarah decided to combine Washington's superb produce with Korean flavors inspired by her grandmother.

Her specialty, Korean side dishes called Banchan.

- The way I like to describe it is punctuation marks in a sentence.

So it moves the meal along.

Sometimes it makes it a little bit more savory.

Sometimes it gives a little bit of pop.

I like to have variety, because you need variety in a meal.

I am a half Korean woman, but I grew up in the Pacific Northwest.

We have so much lovely produce in the Northwest.

I mean, it's insane.

Apples, for instance, are aplenty in the Northwest.

So I was like, why not make an apple Muchim?

Because it's like nice and tart and fresh and has sweetness but you can mix it with like ginger and red onion just to make it a little bit more balanced.

- So then what do the traditionalists say when you are presenting this with green apples?

- Yes.

They usually go, "That's not traditional."

[Tomás laughing] And then they go, "But it tastes good."

- But it tastes good.

[chuckling] Well, I'm gonna try it.

I'm gonna try this.

[Sara laughing] - You get that heat, but then you get that lovely sweet of that Granny Smith.

- This place is not traditional, but it's the food I grew up with.

So it just warms my heart to see people be able to have different varieties.

So when we bring our personal touches to it, we're kind of showing that there's so many different levels and aspects to different cuisines.

It's still Korean, but it's just different.

- Right, well, and we're constantly moving forward and what better way for our food to evolve too, right?

- Exactly.

Yeah, absolutely.

[Tomás chuckling] [upbeat music] - Today I am here in my hometown of Yakima to see one of the region's proudest traditions, the Central Washington State Fair.

From carnival rides to decadent foods, animal encounters to agricultural showcases, this place is full of fun for everyone.

President and CEO Kathy Kramer took time out of her busy day to walk with me through the agricultural building.

So, you know, I grew up here.

- I know.

Yes.

- I graduated in '95 from West Valley, so this fair I'm very familiar with.

So I'm hoping it's in good hands.

- It's in very good hands.

It takes a community.

Everything you're seeing around us just doesn't happen.

Fairs started a hundred plus years ago.

There's fairs across the country that are 150 years old and it was all about celebrating the harvest and bringing the community together.

Of things that were grown and bragging rights that I've had the biggest pumpkin or the biggest squash.

- Yeah and we're here right now in the agricultural building.

This has always been kind of a centerpiece for me.

My mom used to love coming in here and seeing quilts and all of the displays.

- I have described this building as the jewel of the fair.

When you stop for a second and look at one of these vignettes, look at the creativity on that.

The fun ways that they were able to display agriculture.

I didn't realize before I moved here, about everything that was grown here.

I don't think they know that every nook and cranny across the state, they're growing something and we're feeding the world.

So Yeah.

- Right, with a variety of foods.

- A variety of foods, absolutely.

- You just can't get it elsewhere.

- Yes, I know.

- Now there's a lot of incredible food at the fair, but this year I had the honor of being invited to help judge an American classic.

Now I understand you got a little treat for me.

It's not just about coming here and seeing the incredible fair once again.

But we have some apple pies waiting in the wings, don't we?

- We have some apple pies waiting in the wings.

This is actually the first annual Central Washington State Fair Apple Pie Baking Contest.

That's a mouthful.

- Yes it is.

Well, I'm excited.

I made sure that I didn't eat a big lunch.

So I'm ready to go.

- Good.

[upbeat music] - Look at all of these mouthwatering apple pies, but I'm not alone in this apple throwdown as I have some help from some special folks in the community like Yakima Mayor, Patricia Byers, and an old friend of mine, Sheriff Bob Udell.

All right, here we go.

I got a lot of pie to eat.

Gotta pick the best one we can.

So let's get started.

We were evaluating each apple pie on taste, texture, appearance and originality.

It's such a tough job, you know, eating all this apple pie.

So rough.

Ooh, I like that.

But not all of the pies stuck to the traditional recipes.

They've added something to that.

It's almost like a hint of wine.

Like they've decided to put some white wine in the mix.

It's something real tangy and citrusy.

Almost like they added a lot of lemon juice or something.

It's different.

Let's try 14.

This one almost has like a biscuit-like consistency.

Finally, the pies were narrowed down to the top five.

So might as well have a second bite.

The final five right here.

I'm gonna give a final taste and then myself and all the other judges taking it down to the final winner, which we'll announce later.

Here we go.

Oh good, they gave me a big piece.

They're all unique, that's for sure.

None of these are similar, which I like.

Easier to pick out the one that you really want.

Okay, I got one more.

Gotta stick with my gut, because this is definitely sticking to my gut.

- The winner in the adult apple pie baking contest, Anita Zapien.

[audience applauding] - But it was good.

It was nice.

There was a lot of surprises.

You would look at the pie thinking, I know what apple pie tastes like, and then you get something that kind of throws you for a loop.

But at the end I had to go with the classics.

I have to go with something that just tastes like good old fashioned American apple pie.

It's a classic for a reason.

[laughing] [upbeat music fading] [upbeat music] - We're in The Kitchen at 2nd Harvest and I'm here with the whole Washington Grown gang.

- The entire gang's here.

- I know.

I love it.

We have Val and Tomás and Chef Laurent Zirotti.

Thank you so much for being here today - It's so great to be here.

So good.

- Washington Apples, delicious, right?

And Washington always does them perfectly.

Does anyone have a favorite?

- I don't have a favorite apple type, because I'm an equal opportunity apple muncher.

[all laughing] - Very good.

- But I do have, one of my favorite episodes was being able to drive the tractor.

Do you remember that?

- I do.

- And I didn't get your toes.

[all laughing] - He still has his toes.

- I survived.

I survived.

- She's driving a tractor.

So, how fun.

I know, we get to do some fun things and we got to- - I know I missed that.

I wish you'd take me on the field trip with you guys.

- miFlavor though, we did macarons.

- Macarons.

Yes.

- Macarons - Parisian Macaron.

But they're Macarons, right?

It's delicious.

We are very fortunate to have them here.

The owner is an alumni of our program at the college.

- That's awesome.

- So, good for her.

Yeah, I know.

It's great.

It's beautiful.

It's a full circle.

- Yeah.

Do you feel proud?

- I do feel proud.

Of having students being, you know, entrepreneur in the community and it's all about that.

- Well, speaking of you teaching people how to cook.

Tomás used your recipe.

- Thank you, Tomás.

- When you were out in the woods.

Tell us about that, with your daughter.

- Yes, we went out on a camping trip to cook some incredible "Washington Grown" dishes.

And I said, last year you made this incredible tart And I said, can we repurpose that and can we do that out when you're camping?

- In the wild.

- Yes and so we did, you know, it can use some tweaks here and there, but it ended up working out pretty good.

- Better you than me for camping.

I don't know.

I don't know about Val, but I am not a camper.

- Ditto on that, friend.

- Camping is maybe a one night at the hotel, that's camping, you know?

- And so it was fun to just spend some time with her, go out there, have a good time in the wilderness and to eat great food too.

- Eat some good food.

Okay, so let's go ahead and take a look at your little adventure in the woods.

- Yeah.

Here it's.

[upbeat music] - Hey everyone.

Tomás here.

And I'm with my daughter AnnaLucia, and we're camping in the Washington wilderness.

- And today we're making a apple tart with Cosmic Crisp apples.

- So let's get to it.

[upbeat music] [foil crinkling] [birds twittering] [upbeat music continues] [birds twittering] [metal clicking] [hands slapping] - Oo!

- There we go.

[chuckling] Mm, that's good.

- Mm-hm.

[Tomás chuckling] [upbeat music continues] [birds twittering] [light switch clicking] - So there you go.

- Oh, that's, I'm so proud of you, Tomás and your daughter.

- Well, what was funny was last year, when we were here, you made that tart for us.

And I actually recommended, I was like, "Hey, you know, "we could throw some cranberries on that."

- I love the variation.

- So that's what I did.

- That's what recipes are for.

I always say.

- You notice all the butter?

- Oh, that's important.

It's important.

- That's right up your alley.

- Its important.

Better with butter.

- Better with butter.

I like to camp, so I am excited to - Try this?

- Give the apple tart a try out in the wild.

You can do it too.

- And you did it with a grill, a barbecue just because of fire restrictions.

- Exactly, a lot of times here in the Northwest, wildfires are prominent.

But a lot of these can be used on the campfire.

- Oh, for sure.

- If you can, especially with all the foil and stuff that we're using.

- Yeah, foil, a cast iron pan.

And that's it.

- Yeah.

Exactly.

- What a great way to showcase Washington apples.

- Well, thanks Laurent.

That was a good idea.

- Should I call you Chef Tomás?

- Let's see, let's see the next ones first.

[all laughing] - No.

[laughing] - Thanks for sharing.

- Oh, it was our pleasure.

- To get the recipe for this apple tart, visit us at wagrown.com.

Washington's apples are bursting with flavor, whether you're enjoying them fresh, baked into a pie, or adding them to your favorite cookie recipe.

That's it for this episode of "Washington Grown."

We'll see you next time.