Blogfinger

Eileen Goldfinger ‘s image of sunflowers. Scobeyville, NJ  . Delicious Orchards.     Click photos once  to enlarge.

Paul Goldfinger’s version of the Scobeyville sunflowers. 9/15/17

October 29, 2019. Paul Goldfinger on a rainy day at Delicious Orchards.  All photos with iPhones.  This is with the iPhone 10XS–a superior camera; the iPhone  Pro is probably even better. Click to enlarge

Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger.net   Re-post from September 2017.

We decided to stop at Delicious Orchards  in Colts Neck.  I wanted coffee and to split a piece of their famous coffee cake, but Eileen had to have some gourds.  Gourds have been around since 13,000 BC, but there still are a few left for Eileen. They have a wide variety of gourds there in all shapes, but she was choosing from the small 6 inch variety.  Not that she was out of her gourd, but she picked 5 of them in different shapes and colors.  One of them seemed to have leprosy, with bumps all over its surface.

Eileen’s bumpy gourd. Blogfinger photo.  9/16/17

Even though I am the Dean of the Blogfinger Off-shore Medical School in Ocean Grove, NJ,  I had never seen a case of leprosy, and I wanted to ship that gourd off to Johns Hopkins.

Anyhow, as we drove onto the DO property we spotted a long row of sunflowers in bloom.  It’s the sort of incredible sight that you might see in France. But actually, many NJ farmers plant fields of sunflowers and then harvest them, usually in October.

Delicious Orchards is about 20 minutes away, allegedly in Colts Neck, on Rt. 34.  Go there to see this sight and also to buy anything  with whipped cream.  And their pies are something else. People stand in line for their many varieties, but you do not have to pre-order them.

You see, they have a fabulous bakery there….it’s not all cucumbers, tomatoes and figs.  Their apple selection is amazing. At Delicious Orchards, they will offer you a free cup of their wonderful cider.  Find that in the apple room.

It’s also a fine  place to order a superior Thanksgiving turkey.

So we parked our car, whipped out our iPhones and took some pictures. The lighting was very harsh and contrasty, so we obtained different results  (see above).  To avoid any charge of liking my pictures more than her’s, I decided to post one photo from each of us. Mine is a little more Van Gogh-esque, while her’s is more Andy Worholish.

They have a coffee/snack bar and a juice bar there.  And don’t miss the room that has chocolate, coffee, candy and even licorice.

But, the funny thing is that while we were  tiptoeing through the sunflowers, we came upon a sign  (below) which said Delicious Orchards, Scobeyville, NJ.  But everyone knows that DO is in Colts Neck.

Scobeyville

Well, it turns out that Scobeyville is an unincorporated community within Colt’s Neck.  It was settled in the 1700’s by the Scobey family. It has been a large apple growing region, and Apple Jack alcoholic beverage has been made there all these years, and even today, the Laird family still operates a distillery in Scobeyville.  Apple Jack was known as “Jersey Lightening.”

During prohibition, the Feds raided an illegal distillery in Scobeyville.  Until recently, the only place in America where Apple Jack was made, was at the Laird family distillery.  In Normandy, France, they make an apple brandy called Calvados.

And the best apple cider (non-alcoholic) we have had is in Chester at the Hacklebarney Farm Cider Mill   (worth the trip.)  And you can hike through Hackelbarney State Park and visit the Nathan Cooper Grist Mill where you can get some grist to take home.

Here is a link to another of our Delicious Orchard  posts:

Delicious Orchards. before Thanksgiving

BARRY MANILOW.    From his album Singin’ With the Big Bands.      “Apple Blossom Time.”