WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-Taste of the Harvest

South Barre, Vermont - October 29, 2010

At the Vermont Village Cannery in South Barre, 10,000 pounds of apples a day cross a conveyor belt in the busy fall season. "I've been working about 60-70 hours a week for the last six weeks to keep up with the orders," sighed company president Ken Davis.

Davis says the plant can produce 6,000 jars of applesauce in a shift, using a traditional, simple recipe: It was something my grandma did," he said.

Davis starting canning beets, pickles, and jams in the mid-1970s. "The original idea was 'Let's find a way to stimulate the Vermont farm economy,'" he said.

Now, more than 30 years later, that original mission has mainstream popularity. Vermont Village steam-cooks apples in kettles until they break down, then grinds them, runs the sauce through a strainer, and puts it in sterile jars or cups. "The process is really simple," Davis said.

The cannery used to process salsas and sauces for other Vermont brands, but now this is its focus. Vermont Village Applesauce is sold year-round in more than 40 states; this is prime-time for the product. "Fall means apples and applesauce," Davis said.

The company buys many, but not all, of its apples from Vermont growers. It does have a line that promises to be exclusively Vermont fruit, from several apple varieties.

Davis says leaving the peel on the apples gives his sauce a more authentic look than big-name store brands: pinker and with natural variations. It's also pulpier than most major store brands, but about a dollar more expensive, too.

Reporter Jack Thurston, tasting the applesauce: "It's like I just bit into an apple."

Ken Davis: "Good-- that's the idea!"

Vermont Village knows it and Vermont's many other specialty food labels are often the first impression people across the country have of the state. "I feel good here," Davis said.

Food producers want to spread that feeling, with their products labeled "Made in Vermont."

The company has a traditional and an organic line, and also makes specialty applesauces by adding ingredients like banana puree and mango puree. But it says the old-fashioned plain, unsweetened applesauce is by far the best seller.

Click here to visit the company's website.

Jack Thurston - WCAX News