VTGRANDPA HELPS OUT AT VERMONT MYSTIC PIE COMPANY

Hi All,

Well today's the day we made the pies and what a joyful day it was.

Above is the mixer they use to make the crust - not your typical Kitchen Aid, but I didn't get a picture of it yesterday.

I'll bet you think this a cement mixer - wrong!!!!! this is used when they use the frozen apples. They let the apples thaw just a little and tumble them in this tumbler to break them up so they can add the sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice and lemon juice.

Jay Goude takes the prepared apples from a cellophane bag and weighs them prior to placing them in the bottom crust.

On the other side of the table, Maxine Kelly of Waterville, also weighs apples and places them in the bottom crust while Laura Nedich packs them down and places the top crust on them.

Here's a closer look at what Laura Nedich is doing - They sure make it look easy don't they.

Now for the top crust.

In the back ground is Todd Houston of Georgia. I had never met Todd before and I have to admit he did give me a few weird looks when I started asking him a few questions about himself. Jay was no help in trying to make him feel comfortable about my questions. Todd's job was to press the crust down and then place the pie in the crimper.

Nice job Todd - Notice he is playing it doubly safe with the hair net plus the cap.

This is a close up of the crimper that comes down and seals the edges of the pie crust.

Well, as you can see with all the empty bottom crust sitting on the table, it was time to call in some extra help and get them out of this bind, so here as you can see, I pitched right in and no time flat had the production line moving again.

They were so grateful for my help as you can see by the look on Todd's face.

Oh well!!! I'm always willing to lend a helping hand and I'm so glad I was able to help them out of a bind. I know they will always be so grateful that I dropped in. I'll be back again and help them with the packaging or whatever I can do to help them out.

Have a great day,
Henry