After a
traditional Pennsylvania breakfast of sautéed ham loaf and a fried egg sunny
side up we left for the Great PA Flavorfest at around 11:00 a.m.
It was about a 30 minute drive along back roads to the Mount
Hope Estate and Winery in Manheim, PA. There was no admission charge for the
event, which included fifteen to twenty wineries pouring free tastes of their
wines and selling their wines. It is
much like the Vine and Wine Society tastings in New Mexico. When we arrived at around 11:30 the place was
already very crowded with long lines waiting at each winery’s booth. The Mount Hope venue was a pretty Rennaisance
Village built next to the Mount Hope Winery to attract people to the winery,
with buildings built by or for food vendors and some shops that sold candles
and other souvenirs that apparently lease the spaces year round. There
were six of us, Don and Bev, Mr. and Mrs. Lindemuth and Suzette and me. We went sampled wines at at least 10 or 12 of
the booths by 2:30 p.m. Most wines were the
northern sweeter varieties and many were mixed with fruit flavorings. There were lots of elderberry, blueberry,
strawberry, black berry and other berry wines. There
were also lots of Gewurtztraminer, etc. and not many dry reds of note. We bought a bottle of Spring Fling produced
by Peace Winery located at Chalfone, PA
that was a semi-sweet white wined flavored with the herb, Sweet Woodruff, that
was a delicious May Wine, especially when served in a pitcher of strawberries.
The other wine we bought was a Vignoles produced by Red
Shale Ridge Vineyards in Hegins, PA. Red
Shale Ridge’s Vignoles had a light crisp flavor and was clearly made by a
competent winemaker without any additives or sugar. Their Pink Catawba, a famous grape native to the Eastern U.S., was also very good. Don
bought two bottles of it.
After about 10 wineries we came to the Crab cake stand and
bought crab cakes and Suzette and I split a ginger beer. The crab cakes were made with lots of egg and
were very soufflé like. Pretty
delicious.
After another five or six wineries at around 3:30 we wandered homeward.
At around 6:30 we put together a salad and went down the two
blocks to Don and Bev’s house, because Don had promised to show us how to make
kettle corn.
After a leisurely dinner of salad at around 8:30 or 9:00 p.m.
Don began setting up his corn popping equipment. He cooked three batches of corn until around
10:00 and we helped bag and label it. Here are some pictures of various stages of the process.
His business name is Derby Don’s Kettle Corn and he sells
his small bags with one large scoop for $2.00, medium bags with three scoops for
$5.00 and large bags for $8.00.
By 10:30 p.m. when we departed his house we were veteran
kettle corn baggers.
The kettle corn cooking process is amazing to watch. Don uses a corn kernel called mushroom corn
that pops into a round spherical shape.
He heats oil in the pot and, when it is hot, adds the corn
and sugar and then stirs it like crazy to distribute the heat evenly and keep
the corn from sticking. The corn begins
to pop in ones and twos, but within another fifteen seconds the whole pot erupts
into a cloud of white as the rest of the kernals pop. Here is a video to give you an idea of the process.
Bon Appétit
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