Inspired by Vermont
THE MEAL
(Click on the links above to jump to that part of the post!)
It’s finally starting to feel like summer is over here in Indiana, and this Vermont-inspired meal had so many delicious fall flavors that got me excited for the season ahead! Between this and the New Hampshire-inspired meal, I definitely need to visit New England in the fall sometime. It sounds magical.
Vermont is known best for three things: cheese, apples, and maple syrup.
Maple is Vermont’s official state flavor. Native Americans had many uses for maple sap and are most likely the ones who taught European settlers how to tap the trees and reduce the sap into syrup and sugar. Just before the Civil War, people in the north stopped buying cane sugar because it was primarily made using slave labor, and maple syrup became a popular sweetener to use instead. Vermont has been a leading producer of maple syrup since the early 20th century, and now makes 2 million gallons per year!
The apple is Vermont’s state fruit. Apple trees were brought to the American continent from Europe in the 1600s, and most New England farms had them. They became a major export around the mid-1800s with railroads making it easier to transport the fruit in bulk.
Along with apples and maple, Vermont became well known for its dairy production in the mid-1800s. At one point, it was the butter capital of the world. There are over 500 dairy farms in Vermont, and the Ben & Jerry’s factory is in Waterbury, Vermont.
Each component of this meal had at least one of the Big Three flavors, and the main combined all of it!
MAPLE-APPLE-BACON GRILLED CHEESE
To combine all three of Vermont’s main flavors, I made a grilled cheese sandwich with apples caramelized with maple syrup and apple pie spice, and some bacon for extra flavor. I liked the combined flavors more than I thought I would, and my fear of burning it and ruining a photo made me finally learn the proper technique for toasting grilled cheese sandwiches. I always make them on too-high heat, resulting in the bread getting too dark while the cheese in the middle doesn’t melt all the way. Low and slow is the way to go!
For the most part, this tasted like any other grilled cheese sandwich—crispy, buttery bread and gooey cheddar cheese—but the layer of caramelized apples cut through with a mild sweet flavor that really rounded it out and gave the sandwich so much depth. I probably wouldn’t go to the trouble of caramelizing apples for a grilled cheese sandwich again, but it’s a delicious fancier option if I ever need to impress someone. 😉
Even without burning it, though, it was hard to get a pretty photo of this sandwich! And I didn’t realize how small my bread was until I put the finished thing next to my slice of apple pie! Haha!
VIRGIN OLD VERMONT
For the drink for this meal, I made a virgin Old Vermont—a popular cocktail in Vermont, as you can guess by the name. The cocktail uses gin, but I used ginger ale for the base. The added flavors are orange juice, lemon juice, a dash of cinnamon, an orange peel, and of course, maple syrup.
I noticed the orange juice the strongest, but I loved the notes of cinnamon and maple syrup. I get the appeal of this drink for sure. And it wasn’t hard at all to make. It was a perfect fit for this meal with its autumn flavors.
APPLE PIE WITH CHEESE
Apple pie is Vermont’s state pie, and it’s practically a national dessert. You’ve probably heard the phrase “as American as apple pie,” right? There are so many different kinds of pie in the States—you can tell just by looking at how many I’ve made for this challenge so far!—but if you were to ask an American to name a flavor of pie, apple would be one of the first ones to come to mind. It’s just a classic.
In Vermont, though, they take that classic pie and put a little spin on it. The official legislation naming apple pie as Vermont’s state pie specifies that a “good faith effort” must be made to serve it with a minimum of 1/2 oz cheddar cheese, a large scoop of vanilla ice cream, and a glass of cold milk. They sure love their dairy!
Apparently eating cheese on apple pie is more common than I ever knew. I always think of putting whipped cream or ice cream on pie, but I guess it’s just a form of dairy that’s important, and in New England especially, that dairy addition is cheese. It can be baked into the filling, melted on top, or even just served on the side, but they say that “an apple pie without cheese is like a kiss without the squeeze.” Apples didn’t used to be as sweet as they are nowadays, and the addition of strong cheese brought out the sweet flavors of the apples. And cheese was much more accessible than ice cream.
Instead of just slapping a slice of cheese on top, I decided to find a recipe with cheese baked into the pie. I think this was my first time making an apple pie—it was definitely my first time making a double-crust pie with a lattice top! Keep that in mind when you look at the photos. 😉 I wish I’d had more crust to work with so I could have made a tighter lattice, and I wasn’t sure how to make the edges look pretty. But I’m okay with how it turned out, even though the top got a little too dark.
The pie turned out pretty great! The apples were the perfect consistency for me—soft without being mushy. The cheese was definitely noticeable, but not as overpowering as I worried it would be. I mostly just noticed the texture. The cheese never melted all the way, not even when I microwaved the leftover slices. Chewing on cheese was weird to me when eating an apple pie. But again, the flavor was fine. My dad would LOVE it. He loves cheese with fruit. I think next time I’ll leave the cheese out, but I’m glad that I tried it the way New Englanders love.
So how do you think I did? Let me know in the comments if you have any suggestions for improvement, and be sure to tune in next time for my take on a meal inspired by Pennsylvania! If that’s where you’re from, what do you think I should make to represent your state? Bonus points if you have reliable recipes or pro tips before I make the attempt! Thank you for reading!