January 22nd, 2014
Looking forward to a cold, and snowy winter day at the Delaware Beaches. And, good morning to you too wherever you are. It is 9 degrees in Rehoboth Beach as I sat down to write this post. Can’t wait until this p.m. when temperatures will be soaring to a mere 18 degrees!! Love the changes in season, that’s why I can’t wait for Spring!! By the way, they say if you want to be warm today, you have to go to Phoenix, Arizona. No mention of South Florida.
It is what it is….so how about some Scrapple Muffins this morning. I am sure you have Scrapple in your refrigerator. Love the RAPA brand. The two brothers Ralph and Paul Adams many years ago developed it and it is the largest scrapple producer in the world. It is located in the town of Bridgeville, Delaware. Please note that you can order scrapple from RAPA from November through February. To read more about it, please visit http://www.rapascrapple.com.
I have made these Scrapple Muffins before. Besides the original Scrapple from RAPA, others are now in the market; Chipotle, Bacon, and their newest…Turkey Scrapple. It is really good and definitely lower in fat.
The recipe is a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Want it hotter? Then add the jalapenos, just like I did.
First cook the scrapple….well done; crispy. Take out of frying pan, chop and save.
Chopped onion…about 1/2 cup.
Chopped pickled jalapenos…that’s your call.
Add to the onions in the frying pan.
Once that’s done, add the chopped scrapple.
The muffin mix can be store bought or you can make your own. Therefore, you will need eggs, and milk. I like evaporated milk because it makes a delicious muffin. Add 1/2 cup of grated extra sharp cheese. My pan was deep and 6 big muffins is all I could get.
Add the scrapple mixture to the muffin mix and pour into your favorite lightly greased muffin pan. Sprinkle with extra grated cheese.
It took about 1/2 hour or so to bake these muffins. Just test them by inserting a knife in the middle. If it comes out clean…they are ready!!
Take out of the oven….let them cool a bit.
Enjoy!!
October 16th, 2011
I was looking forward to this festival that is now in its 20th year. Our first stop was at T.S. Smith & Sons where we had some fresh apple cider. But, my party was getting restless. They wanted to get to the actual festival.
Bridgeville was crowded; streets were blocked. We were lucky to find a parking space in the high school. And, to the streets we took off. My party? John, Michael, and Matt. If you know me personally, you know who these are.
They were hungry. No time to see craft vendors or the car show, you know. They were wondering if they had beer; not really, it is a family festival.
It was packed. Shoulder to shoulder with people. There was no way I was going to be able to get a scrapple sandwich. The lines were too long; I was not waiting.
The music was playing. We found a stand with roast beef that was gorgeous. My companions had each one of those. They were like hoagies. Huge. The roast beef was delicious.
I decided to get a crabcake. Actually, it was very good. Not a lot of filler, but some.
Still no scrapple. We kept on going towards the ferris wheel. Lines on both sides of the street. Then, we saw the sign for ribs. Matt thought we should get half a rack; John decided that a full rack for all of us would be best. Then we heard: “A full rack for Mel Gibson”. We started laughing with them and they could not believe John looked like Mel and started kidding him about him being at the festival in slower lower. This is not the first time this has happened, though. Funny it happened here.
The ribs were probably one of the best we had all had. Perfectly cooked; crispy and with just the right amount of sauce.
We tried to get John to do the “skillet toss” competition using reversed psychology but he did not take the bait.
On the way out we picked up an oyster sandwich. I will admit that I did not like it. Too much dough; not enough oysters.
There was so much food…a lot of fried food too. Fried chicken, fries, funnel cakes. Pastries and pies and cotton candy.
We were ready to go. We were glad we had gone. It had a carnival atmosphere; probably not the way it had originally started.
On our way home we stopped at Hopkins Creamery…we had not had enough to eat. Homemade ice cream right there on the farm on Rt. 9. Pumpkin pie ice cream and rum raisin and chocolate too.
Hopkins Creamery is located at 16186 Dairy Farm Rd., 3 miles west on the Lewes-Georgetown Highway. The Website? http://www.hopkinsfarmcreamery.com.
Ending the evening with Nicola Pizza was too much to take in one day.
That’s okay; I did not get the scrapple at the festival, but I do have it in my refrigerator.
In retrospect, I thought it was too commercialized. Too bad; I would have loved to have seen more of the scrapple and apple representation; that’s why the festival started.
Talk to you later…
October 13th, 2011
Finally, I am making it to this annual festival in the town of Bridgeville, Delaware. Bridgeville is about 45 minutes away from Rehoboth Beach. The town was settled in 1684 and was incorporated in 1871. It is an agricultural-oriented community.
Rapa Scrapple and T.S. Smith & Sons are two companies that are from Bridgeville. Rapa represents the scrapple and T.S. Smith & Sons represents the apples.
T.S. Smith & Sons is 104 years old. I wrote a post on this farm and apple orchard on 9/23/11. If you would like to see it just click on the month of September and scroll down to the 23rd.
Rapa is the largest producer of scrapple in the world. It was created by Ralph and Paul Adams. Their recipe has been used since the early 1920s. For more info. on Rapa, please visit www.rapascrapple.com.
Every time I talk about scrapple noses wrinkle or there is an exclamation here or there. I truly love it and I like it well done; thin and crispy.
Scrapple is made out of pork scraps and trimmings combined with cornmeal and flour, often buckwheat flour and spices.
So, the two companies will be celebrating and about 30,000 visitors will be joining them.
Friday will be the start of the Festival at 4 p.m.
At 4:30 p.m. they will be announcing on the Main Stage who the winners of the Apple Dessert Baking Contest.
At 6 p.m. there will be an Opening Ceremony.
The night’s entertainment will feature a street dance and the Little Miss Apple Scrapple Contest.
For more info. and a complete schedule, please visit http://www.applescrapple.com.
Saturday will start with an All You Can Eat Scrapple Breakfast at 7 a.m. I usually eat a couple of pieces; cannot imagine “all you can eat scrapple”.
I am going to go first to T.S. Smith & Sons because they will be offering a full day of apple activities on the farm.
They will have available, farm tours, hay rides, you-pick apples and pumpkins, informative talks and demonstrations.
Some of these activities will require the purchase of a ticket.
The farm market is located in the historic apple packing house where apples are still graded and packed for market. You can find it easily at the intersection of Redden Rd. (DE 40) and US 13A (N. Main St.).
Farm tours will be held every hour on Saturday, beginning at 10 a.m. through 4 p.m. These tours double as hay rides pulled by a tractor, allowing participants the chance to enjoy a longer ride and see the farm and its historic attributes.
Two presentations: At 11 a.m. Big Apples from Little Trees. It explores the change in apple propagation and cultivation. At 1 p.m. Roots, Shoots, & Fruits: These are not your Grandfather’s Trees. Shedding light on different apple varieties, newer methods of grafting and propagation. And, why it is necessary.
More info. and details? Please call 302-337-8271. You can also find them on Facebook as www.facebook.com/tssmithandsons.
Please enjoy the Festival, its food and its music. Hey, The Greaseband will be playing on Saturday evening, beginning at 7 p.m. They are a lot of fun.
See you….maybe there…
September 23rd, 2011
I have been so hooked on Gala apples for months. I do love them. But, I was just introduced to an apple called the Jonagold. It is a cross between a Golden Delicious and a Jonathan apple. Jonathan apples are known to be tart; the result is that combination of sweet/tart.
So, my post on Friday, on that first day of Autumn, will start with my experience visiting the State of Delaware’s oldest apple orchard. T.S. Smith & Sons is located on Redden Rd., in the town of Bridgeville, Delaware, home of Rappa Scrapple. Another of my favorites.
I got an e-mail from Greer, who works for T.S. Smith & Sons. She invited me to visit this progressive farm that has been in existence since 1907. You can find them on Facebook, www.facebook.com/tssmithandsons, on twitter as tssfarms; their website will be launched very soon.
It was a really scenic drive. From Rehoboth I took off towards Georgetown, DE,and from there north on 113, a left on Redden Rd. If you recognize the name Redden is because Redden State Forest is Delaware’s largest state forest, located right here, in central Sussex County. It is massive and historic.
Greer and Charlie were waiting for me. Then, she sent us off to explore.
It was beautiful at the farm. I was so lucky to have Charlie all to myself. He is Charlie Smith, one of the sons. Only someone who has lived in the farm and knows it inside and out can give you the kind of tour that comes from the heart. As I heard him talk about the farm, all I could think was; if you have a passion you will never work a day in your life.
I think I met my match. He could talk as much as I could. Then, we stopped in front of a tractor. He said this is a 1953. Well, I don’t get that excited about tractors except that this is one of two orchard sprayers and vintage tractors still in use at the farm. For over 50 years helping the farm and still valued and used today.
Let me tell you about T. S. Smith & Sons:
It was established in 1907. It is Delaware’s oldest apple orchard and the only one in Sussex County. I was amazed to find out that in 1938 Delaware had 92 apple producers. Now there are only 2. This farm being one of them.
Some of the apple trees are over 40 years old. Check the trunk on this one.
It is also Delaware’s only solar powered century farm. Conversion of power supply to solar in order to use renewable energy for cold storage, which consumes largest amount of electricity on the farm. The company used? Solair, a Delaware based company who designed and installed Delaware made solar panels.
The farm is also located in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. A stream that runs through the farm is a tributary of the headwaters of the Nanticoke River. Many Nanticoke Indian artifacts were found along this stream and are all at Delaware Tech in Georgetown, Delaware.
Charlie's picture
The water was so clear I had to take some pictures.
T.S. Smith & Sons was one of the first broiler producers in the state. It started not long after the poultry industry took hold in Sussex County. Remnants of the poultry industry still exist on the farm. One of the WWII era chicken houses is still standing, and in need of help. In those times the family that tended the chickens lived on the second floor of the chicken house; the feed was kept directly below the family, on the first floor. Sorry, I forgot to take pictures.
The chicken houses were built by German Prisoners of War during WWII with wood from the farm. An effort to save the historic chicken house still standing is underway. After the war ended letters from several POW’s were received by the family. Those letters are still in existence.
The other chicken house is pretty much gone but still on the property. The family is still waiting to see if at some point it can be removed from the farm.
Instead of burning apple trees that have been removed, apple wood is available for sale.
They continue to expand their use of water conservation measures, such as trickle or drip irrigation.
TSS practices farming methods aimed at soil conservation, such as no till farming and crop rotation. Land in critical areas has been taken out of production and allowed to grow naturally.
Baskets, crates and other items are reused rather than sold or thrown out.
This year they are encouraging to use reusable shopping bags.
Much of the farm machinery is kept in service rather than scrapped.
Besides apples, this farm produces sweet corn, watermelons, cantaloupes, squash, zucchini, lima beans, kale, cauliflower, broccoli, pumpkins and asparagus. Orchards produce many varieties of peaches, and nectarines.
soybeans
Charlie took me through the fields of asparagus. These and the rest of the crops are picked by hand.
We went all over the place, stopping here or there to pick a certain type of apple, or for me to snap a picture. Then, he took me to the family’s home, which was built in the 1800’s. Unfortunaly, his dad, Walt Smith, passed away just recently leaving a big hole in his heart. The farm house was in perfect shape.
Charlie told me that just 2 years ago he planted honeycrisp apples. You really don’t see them in the grocery stores that much. Honeycrisps were developed at the University of Minnesota in 1974.
We then stopped at the apple packing house. It is over 80 years old and serves as the farm market. Its apple grading equipment is also historic. The equipment itself was produced by a company owned by the family. It is an example of automation in the apple industry for that time.
Some of their employees have over 50 years with the company; six have over 30 years; meet Ashley.
If you are within 45 minutes radius of the farm, you are most likely going to be be able to get their produce. But, the best part is really coming right to the farm in Bridgeville, like I did.
This farm has a unique natural features and offers an authentic working farm experience like no other in the area and possibly the state. Its reputation is for quality and value.
You can find them in at their Lewes store, right on Savannah Rd. The Beach Market is open daily from 9 – 6 p.m.
You can also find them at the Farmers’ Markets in Milton and Seaford.
Right near the farm, on Redden Rd. and Rt. 13 there is a site of you pick pumpkin patch and headquarters for you pick fruit. Pumpkins are ready for picking this week-end.
You can pick your own apples and pumkins through October. June and July are for peaches and nectarines. Mark your calendar for next year’s picking.
A produce market has also been opened in Historic Easton, Maryland in the Easton Market House. It opens Wednesdays – Saturdays.
They participate in farm-to-table events that promote their brand as well as the restaurants who serve their produce. They also participate in Farm to School Programs.
They have also partnered with smaller producers, that have local honey, jams, jellies, gourmet rice pudding, flowers and produce they do not grow. This partnership enhances their offerings and supports smaller businesses.
The farm is open to school tours, group tours, and private picking events. Just call 302-337-8271.
On the Calendar:
October 14th – Apple Dessert Baking Contest. Call for more info.
October 15th – Apple Scrapple on the Farm. Lots of fun stuff. You can enjoy everything they will offer on that day and even take the bus to the festival.
December 3rd – Holiday Open House
I hope I got everything. Charlie gave me donuts made at the farm and Suzie, his sister had apple cakes for sale, as well.
Thanks Ruth for helping me. You were so gracious.
And, I really also want to thank Greer. Anyone out there reading this post that would like more information and would like talks about farming, produce, etc. etc. give her a call.
Note: T. S. Smith & Sons is a member of the Delaware Agritourism Harvest Trail. The purpose of this association is to showcase selected working Delaware Farms that provide an array of authentic farm experiences. For more info. please visit www.delawareagritourism.org.
I can’t explain it, but I did smile all the way home. I know, it was the friendly company, the farm; everything it stands for, and just being outdoors.
“We hope that individuals, groups, and families will visit the farm and make a memory here.” t.s. smith & sons
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