April Pairing Issue

What Do You Do When the Chickens Stop Laying in the Coop and Then You Find Clutches of Eggs Hidden Around the Farm Yard?

The Ingredients

Eggs! It's spring! The chickens are laying! If your children succeed in finding a hidden clutch of eggs, you'll want to use them quickly...

The Setting

It's spring at the Beckhorn Hollow Homestead, and just like they do every year, the chickens have become unruly. Almost as if on cue, a few weeks before Easter, they stop laying in the coop and start hiding their eggs all over the farm yard.

Mom has put out a reward: The child who finds out where the bad hens have been laying gets their favorite dessert...made out of eggs.

The race is on. The children scatter. One heads for the bushes. No eggs among the daffodils. Another heads for the pole barn. Why would a chicken lays her eggs on a pile of wood under a board behind the bicycles?

Why did the chicken cross the road?

The Pairing

Leila picks lemon curd. Just eggs, butter, sugar and lemon (recipe here),this lemon curd is made with the vibrant yellow yolks of chickens foraging on tender spring greens and impatient earth worms. It's the miracle of chickens that we get all the wild goodness of the earth but in the form of a rich and decadent dessert that tastes delicious. And since we are feeling decadent, we pair it with a bottle of 2017 Essence. Everyone deserves a little drink after a successful egg hunt.

The 2017 Essence is one of our favorite vintages. The layers of sugar and acid are balanced by salt and savory making for a rather stunning dessert beverage.

From the tasting notes: "Scents of fried apples, sage, and brown butter lead, supported by hints of herbs de Provence. On the palate, salted caramel and lemon curd. The finish is a lingering silkiness of apple butter, acidity, and summer savory."

Do It Yourself

We will ship out your bottles of Essence within a couple days, and you can whip up a simple lemon curd tart from this recipe on our website. Time to put cider on your table!

Buy 20017 Essence

I had an old hen she had a wooden leg
Best old hen that never laid an egg
Laid more eggs than any hen around the barn
Another drink of whiskey wouldn't do me any harm
Cluck old hen cluck and sing
Ain't seen an egg since way last Spring
Cluck old hen cluck and squall,
Ain't laid an egg since way last fall
My old hen's a good old hen
She lays eggs for the railroad men
Sometimes one sometimes two
Sometimes enough for the whole damn crew
Cluck old hen cluck and sing
Ain't seen an egg since way last Spring
Cluck old hen cluck and squall,
Ain't laid an egg since way last fall
Cluck old hen, cluck in the lot
Next time you cackle you'll cackle in the pot
-Traditional Appalachian Fiddle Tune

About The Pairing Issue
If I popped into your house, would I find cider at your table? For a growing number of artisan beverage lovers, the answer is yes! But giving cider a seat at the table continues to keep me up at night. The Pairing Issue is a monthly "how-to" about bringing cider into your life through daily meals and simple friendly gatherings.

Autumn Stoschek
Founder of Eve's Cidery
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