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One of my favorite times of the year, a time when the foliage colors change, leaves blow up on the roadways as I drive, and it seems as if there are more days than not filled with a chilled rain. Root vegetables come into season, squashes and gourds are for sale everywhere from roadsides to markets to farm stand and prepared for every course of a meal service. It's a turning point for more comfort foods, heartier meals for fall and into winter. We see more wonderful rich soups (and you know how much I love my soups). And of course apples, and pears are plentiful. It's a time that you almost want to hibernate, dig in, snuggle in a soft blanket in front of the fire and immerse yourself in a great book and some steaming hot aromatic cinnamon spiced apple cider. You can feel it, right? Even if you live in a warm year-round climate where you don’t see such noticeable changes, you can see a shift in attitude of people, you can see a change on the horizon.
I suggest that we look at apples. Although available year round, their true season is now. Did you know the apple is thousands of years old? They originate from the Tien Shan Mountains of Kazakhstan between the Caspian and the Black Sea. History records that apples were the favorite fruit of ancient Greeks and Romans. They considered the apple the symbol of love and beauty . . . and charred apples have even been found in prehistoric dwellings in Switzerland. What better food to keep on board the aircraft than such a proven favorite over centuries and one that represents love and beauty? I suppose I had never given any thought to biting into an apples that centuries ago our ancestors ate as well. In order to appreciate the apple I felt a few trivia facts would be in order:
Apples are regarded as sacred and magical in almost every country where they are grown. One of the magical properties blesses the farmer who could see light through its branches on December 25, then the farmer would be blessed with a healthy, abundant crop. Apples were also used in money exchanges. In centuries old Ireland, an apple tree could be purchased only in exchange for another living thing - and in England it was almost sacrilegious to destroy and orchid. In Yorkshire it's unlucky to remove all the fruit off the tree, so a piece or two is always left on the tree as a gift for the birds.
Apples come in all shades of reds, greens, and yellows which is wonderful when creating that “pop” of a desired color on your serving platter or as part of your meal. Textures and tastes may vary which also adds to the planning dynamics of the meal. Apples are a member of the rose family. Amazing, right? If you need to speed up the ripening of apples you have on board, leave them at room temperature rather than chilling them. They will ripen six to ten times faster at room temperature than if they were refrigerated. An apple a day . . . You have heard the saying, “An apple a day, keeps the doctor away.” We can thank the English. The saying originally meant “To eat an apple before going to bed, will make the doctor beg his bread. ”Science is behind this one . . . apples are low in calories, fat free, cholesterol free and sodium free. They are full of fiber (20% of your daily requirements), and numerous anti-oxidants, vitamins and minerals. They have potassium, folate, niacin, Vitamin A/B/C/E and K. Unbelievable!! If this isn’t enough, the apple has been proven to protect the brain from developing Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Don’t think of tossing the peel from your apple. Two-thirds of the fiber and lots of antioxidants are found in the peel. Antioxidants help to reduce damage to cells, which can trigger some diseases. How can anyone find a better and more tasty and beautiful way to get all of these good things? Desserts
Appetizers
But, what if you are 35,000 feet in the air and don’t have any of these on board. Straight lemon or lime juice will leave a sharp citrus taste and make you pucker up. I have a solution that we use at Tastefully Yours. We slice the apples and drop them into a can of Sprite Soda, it can be any soda where citric acid is one the first ingredients on the label. This little trick will hold sliced or cut apples overnight without discoloring as long as they are covered. Years ago, I saw another trick about making a beautiful cored apple. Use a melon baller to make a perfect scoop of the seeds and then, using a knife, make a V cut from the stem to the bottom of the cut apple. Before I was taught this while working on a photo shoot for a fruit company, my apples always looked like I had wacked them with a hatchet! Salads
We can’t forget about breads either. Have you ever broken into a freshly baked apple muffin with moist bits of apple throughout? Or a croissant folded over sautéed ginger apple slices, dusted with powdered sugar. There is nothing like it. Trust me on this. Have fun indulging in apples this fall while they are at the peak of their natural season.
Let me introduce myself . . . My name is Paula Kraft and I am founder and President of Tastefully Yours Catering, an aviation specific caterer, located in Atlanta, Georgia for over 35 years.
Currently I am an active member of the NBAA Flight Attendant Committee Advisory Board and the NBAA International Flight Attendant Committee, Women in Corporate Aviation, Women in Aviation International, National Association of Catering Executives, International Flight Catering Association, the International Food Service Association and the International Caterer’s Association. I have coordinated training programs and clinics for NBAA, EBAA and BA-Meetup conference attendees for over 10 years, created mentoring programs for caterers and flight attendants to broaden their aviation culinary skills, and to assist them in adapting to the unique challenges and constraints found in catering for general aviation. I recognize the need for training and have worked closely with flight departments, flight crews, schedulers and customer service reps at the FBOs to ensure that catering specific training provides information and skills necessary to reduce risk while assisting them in their job duties that include safe food handling, catering security, accurate transmission of food orders, and safe food production, packaging and delivery. I fell into aviation catering quite by accident. I was the in-house caterer and bakery supplier for Macy’s department stores in Atlanta when catering was ordered for a Macy’s customer which was soon to change my life. After the client enjoyed the catering provided, I was summoned to the client’s corporate office to provide several of the items delivered through Macy’s to the executive dining room. Within a week, I was providing food for the flight department and my first order was for the President of a foreign country (as I was too be told soon after). So, here I am, some 35 years later, still loving every minute of every day in aviation catering.
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