Pie Tonight

A delicious new pie recipe. Put together, baked, and out of the oven this afternoon. For our dessert tonight. Topped with vanilla ice cream. Oh my! Was it ever GOOD!

Hatch Green Chile Apple Pie

One unbaked 9″ pie crust

Six medium sized apples, peeled, cored and chopped into 2″ pieces. Place into pie crust.

Top the apple pieces evenly with 4 oz. El Pinto Hatch Valley Green Chile.

Pie Topping

  • 1 cup unbleached flour
  • 1/2 cup butter at room temperature
  • 1/4 cup white sugar
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon allspice
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Cream together flour, butter, the sugars, salt and the spices. Sprinkle on top of the apples and Hatch chiles. Bake in preheated 425° oven for 15 minutes. Turn oven temperature down to 375° and bake for another 45 minutes, or until the edges of the pie are bubbling. Let the pie cool, or serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

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Dressed For Autumn

Sassafras (Sassafras albidum). Putting on an eye catching show in the mountains.

Rich yellows, golds, reds, oranges and purply-browns.

Summertime, they produce a black berry supported by a scarlet cup-like stem. Seldom noticed. They’re there though. Just look for them. But these autumn leaves, no search is necessary. That color can’t be missed.

Extremely Rare

Extremely rare, but they do exist. American Chestnut (Chestanea dentata).

Before 1904, this fast growing, tall tree ruled swaths of eastern US forests. I mention the year 1904 because that is when the chestnut blight fungus (Cryphonectria parasitica) was first discovered at the New York Zoological Gardens. The blight was introduced to the US by accident from East Asia and it nearly wiped out the whole population of these wonderful trees over the course of just a few decades.

It brings great delight to me though, when I find a large American Chestnut tree growing in the woods. They are truly rare but they are out there.

The American Chestnut Foundation is working diligently to develop a tree that will survive. I have great hope that they will see success and again American Chestnuts will survive in great numbers in our woods.

A Little Yellow Mushroom

Yellow Unicorn Entoloma (Entoloma murrayi). A cute little mushroom that looks as if it ought to be right next to the Pixie Cup Lichens for the pixies’ and fairies’ enjoyment.

A cap that is cone-shaped, or bell-shaped, that is pointed at the top. This pointy top is referred to as an umbo in the fungus world. The width of the cap is generally between .5 to 1.25 inches. A nice bright yellow or yellow-orange that fades as it ages.

The stalk, also yellow, is 1.5 to 3 inches.

These mushrooms grow in eastern North America, Central and South America, and also southeast Asia, in wet areas of deciduous and coniferous forests.

This blog gives no information about the edibility or toxicity of any of the mushrooms that are written about.

Scarlet Berries

July finds them emerald green, blending in with other greens. Not to be noticed by the dedicated hiker. I find them though. The dedicated nature photographer. Understated berries of Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum).

But come October, contending for attention, in competition with the colorful leaves, the berries have become a brilliant shade of scarlet. Maybe even the dedicated hiker won’t miss them. What say you, Gary?

Slowly Slowly

Slowly, slowly, autumn’s full blown color palette is creeping in. Right now it is: “Oh! Look at that tree!” Not a hillside of color but just a few leaves here and there turning with all their might to a spectacle of hues.

Changes in a leaf’s world, encourages slowing and stopping of photosynthesis which makes the leaf lose its chlorophyll and its green coloring. Depending on what compounds are most prominent in the leaf, determines its autumn color.

Carotenoids, and flavonoids both contribute yellows, while carotenoids also include oranges and reds in their repertoire. Both these compounds deminish, like the chlorophylls, but more slowly, allowing their colors to shine through autumn.

Another set of compounds, anthocyanins, a member of the flavonoids family, plays a part in some autumn leaf color. While carotenoids and flavonoids are present in the leaves during the growing season, anthocyanins are not. Autumn is the time for some leaves to manufacture this compound through increased sugar concentrations exposed to sunlight. This gives way to rich red, purple and magenta coloring in the those leaves.

Soon we’ll be at peak leaf season. I can’t wait.

Oh The Things One Can See

Oh, the things one can see, as one walks along a barely used dirt/gravel road!

Keep your eyes open for the little things. Or in this case the big things. This is an Imperial Moth Caterpillar (Eacles imperialis), which can reach a length of 4 inches. As it grows it eats the leaves (or needles) of a variety of trees, including pines.

As with some caterpillars, the Imperial Moth Caterpillar is one that has irritating hairs, that cause an itching stinging rash.

The adult of this species, the Imperial Moth, is an elegant yellow, and brownish purple, with an incredible wingspan of 7 inches.

As an adult the moth’s only purpose is to reproduce, and lives a very short life of just one week, eating nothing during that week.

Keep in mind, if you don’t really know what caterpillar it is that you have encountered, it could be one that will irritate your skin. Leave it be. Don’t pick it up.