“It’s just a simple apple. Something that can be found at every grocery store in the fall. It’s familiar and comforting. And they come in a variety of flavors and colors.”
That was the reply of pastry chef Sierra Axtell of The Anchorage after I asked her about the attraction and popularity of apples. In front of me was one of her fall desserts at one of Greenville’s most significant restaurants. Of course this was no simple apple dessert. This one was poached, stuffed with a handmade ricotta and white chocolate filling reminiscent of a cannoli, and garnished with an apple jelly that reminded me of a Jolly Rancher. I would expect nothing less from The Anchorage’s new pastry chef.
The apple’s ancestral home is Kazakhstan. Its capitol, Alma Ata, literally means “full of apples.” This time of the year, our town’s best apples are grown in and around Hendersonville, North Carolina. The mountain air is dry and crisp, which helps keep the pests at bay…