FORAGING
Go for the Cider, Stay for the Doughnuts
Wednesday, July 12, 2006; Page F05
THE APPLE HOUSE IN LINDEN, VA.
It's nice to know that after about an hour's drive from downtown D.C., you can enter a country store where the lady behind the counter calls you "honey," and the owner calls you "ma'am." The Apple House in Linden, Va., just a few miles down the road from Front Royal, offers these pleasantries in its gift shop surroundings --and its adjacent cafe has some tasty offerings, to boot.
  Co-owner George McIntyre, with his apple doughnuts and Alpenglow ciders. (By Len Spoden For The Washington Post) |
Perhaps the fanciful and delicious sparkling ciders will entice you to travel westward, as the family that runs the Apple House also owns Linden Beverage Co. next door. There, they bottle an all-natural sparkling apple cider called Alpenglow, which comes in the traditional apple flavor, as well as pear; cider with mulling spices; two varieties that mix apple cider with grape juices; and a new peach variety released in May.
"Most of the time there are seven different apples involved in the blends that we use," co-owner George McIntyre says of the ciders. "If you use one apple, sometimes it seems like it loses its flavor, it gets too mellow. But if you use a blend, it just sort of keeps it alive."
The price for a 25.4-ounce bottle is $2.99, while the 6.3-ounce bottle costs $1.09, with the peach and pear ciders running a few cents more.
While you're there tasting the bubblies, you're sure to get a whiff of the pork barbecue smoking out back. McIntyre, a Tennessee native, uses apple butter in his spicy barbecue sauce to appeal to Virginia tastes. "People up here don't like the vinegar too much," he says of his home state's traditionally tangy barbecue sauce.
McIntyre's vegetarian baked beans also benefit from the apple-butter barbecue sauce, as well as from pineapple and six varieties of beans. A popular way to sample the pork and the beans is the barbecue platter ($7.29), served with coleslaw, chips, a pickle and a drink.
The small restaurant sells whole pies ($7.99), too, but the best way to cap a meal like this is with homemade apple-butter doughnuts (55 cents each, $5.49 a dozen). Moist and delectable, these doughnuts are fried, tossed in cinnamon sugar and utterly irresistible.
The Apple House, 4675 John Marshall Hwy., Linden, Va. Open Monday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Tuesday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and Sunday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Call 540-636-6329 or visithttp:/
-- Rina Rapuano
Freelance writer Rina Rapuano last wrote for Food about From Scratch Baking Co. in Charlottesville.
