Every fall, I take my kids, nephews and nieces apple picking. If I can find a farm that offers berry, peach or vegetable picking — even better! Once all the apples are picked, my family has an apple baking contest and a whole lot of fun tasting everyone’s creations.
[See: 8 Healthy Activities for Fall.]
Fall traditions help us celebrate the fall bounty and also spend quality time with our loved ones. I asked foodie nutritionists and chefs to describe how they celebrate the delicious season. I hope you’ll find inspiration in one or all of their celebrations so you can start a fall tradition for the years to come. Here’s what they said:
1. Jamming
“One of my favorite foodie activities is making jam from fruit I’ve picked myself or bought at the farmers market. Folks are intimidated by making jams and jellies, but the truth is that if you can boil water, you can make a refrigerator jam. In other words, you don’t have to worry about pressure cookers or hot water baths. Instead, you simply place hot jam into a sterilized jar and put it in the fridge. That’s it. I especially love to make jam with my goddaughter, Ruby, in the summertime. We’ll make a three or four pints at a time; there’s no need to cook a bushel of fruit. It’s a way to savor the taste of the season throughout the year.”
— Virginia Willis , chef and James Beard Award-winning cookbook author of “Lighten Up, Y’all: Classic Southern Recipes Made Healthy and Wholesome”
2. Making Doughnuts
“I love the fall season because I get to pick fresh sweet potatoes and pumpkins. With these two ingredients, I make my favorite childhood treat, picarones. A member of the doughnut family, picarones are anise-sweetened, deep-fried pastries from Peru. Making these doughnuts is a process that takes almost all day, so it’s become a ritual in my home to invite friends over and make tons of them. Everyone always wants more!”
— Manuel Villacorta, registered dietitian and founder of Whole Body Reboot
[See: Healthy Homemade Doughnut Recipes.]
3. Cooking Together
“One of my favorite food activities is to prepare and cook healthy dishes with my kids or other kids (and grownups!). The act of cooking brings people together, inspires the senses, gives people the tools to nourish themselves and prompts critical conversation around what and how we eat. With this atmosphere, everyone has the opportunity to shift their viewpoints. We all have different starting points that must be honored, and experience (and fun) in the kitchen is a great first step.”
— Stefanie Sacks, culinary nutritionist and author of “What The Fork Are You Eating?”
4. Making Apple Cider
“Every fall, I love to make cider in the crockpot with homemade apple juice, apple and orange slices, cranberries, honey, cinnamon and cloves. It makes the house smell amazing! My husband and I love to drink this beverage together in the evening as a healthy treat.”
— Megan Roosevelt, registered dietitian and founder of Healthy Grocery Girl
5. Celebrating Local Food
“By far, my favorite fall tradition is our Heirloom Harvest Barn Dinner, an event that brings farmers and chefs together in a five-story colonial barn not far from my restaurant. On the last Sunday in September every year, 110 guests sit down to a spectacular multicourse meal created by talented area chefs who team up on each course. My wife and I created this event nine years ago to help raise awareness of endangered heirloom varieties while rallying community leaders and volunteers around our amazing local food system.”
— Evan Mallett, chef and owner of Black Trumpet in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and author of “Black Trumpet: A Chef’s Journey Through Eight New England Seasons”
6. Cooking Low and Slow
“When the air starts to chill, I love to fill my house with the fragrance of low and slow cooking. It can be a pot of stock, a roast in the oven for dinner or a cauldron full of end-of-the-season tomatoes that I simmer into a sauce to can so I’ll be able to enjoy that flavor all winter long. It’s a great time of year to get in the kitchen and rattle those pots and pans!”
— Sherri Brooks Vinton, the best-selling author of the “Put ’em Up!” series on home food preservation and, most recently, of “Eat it Up!”
7. Decorating Pumpkins
“One of my newer favorite fall food-related activities is going to my local farmers market with my young nephews, Aiden and Rhyus, who don’t live in town, and picking some baby pumpkins to decorate together. I’m so excited that I’ll get that visit from my nephews again this fall so we can do a repeat. Now, if I can only get them to eat pumpkin!”
— Jackie Newgent , registered dietitian, culinary nutritionist and author of “The All-Natural Diabetes Cookbook”
[See: Unusual Uses for Pumpkins.]
8. Festival Hopping
“Birmingham, Alabama, is a melting pot for delicious food, and there is no better time than the fall to take it all in. On top of the fare behind weekly football festivities, September through November marks food festivals at various churches and parks around town highlighting Middle Eastern, Greek, Russian/Slavic, Hispanic, Southern and food truck cuisine. We try to bring my daughters to as many events as possible to allow them to try new foods and get a dose of the special cultures and heritages in our hometown.”
— Holley Grainger, registered dietitian and lifestyle and culinary nutrition expert
More from U.S. News
6 Fruits and Vegetables You Should Eat This Fall
How 8 True Foodies Celebrate Fall originally appeared on usnews.com
