Agri-tainment

     There was still daylight left on Tuesday so I decided to take in one more Vermont culinary attraction before dinner.  I headed up Route 100 toward Stowe and turned into the Cold Hollow Cider Mill.  It was recommended to me by Bob, the tour guide at Ben & Jerry's.  I wasn't sure what to expect except that Bob mentioned free cider samples and cider donuts.  I found a parking spot by the front door and took a look at the place:

 

Immediately the phrase "crass commercialism" came to mind.  And as I walked through the front doors I found my suspicion to be accurate.  There was a viewing window through which tourists could watch bakers preparing foods to be sold at the counter where a tiny donut frying machine cranked out miniature cider donuts.  I was able to get one for free since I had a coupon from a map guide I had received earlier.  Then I had to wade through aisle after aisle of merchandise in order to get to the rear of the facility where the apple press was in operation.  There were some apple related food items for sale, like jams and jellies, but for the most part it was just a lot of stuff you could find at a bargain basement sale, including outdated cookbooks at discounted prices.  And of course there was the ever present Vermont maple syrup for sale, too.  All this was billed on their brochure  with the words, "Experience REAL Vermont Agri-tainment."  It was unfortunately about as unreal as it gets in Vermont terms.

     When I did finally get to the back of the building I looked through another large viewing window to observe the antique cider press squeezing out every last drop from a large multi-layered rack of apple mash called pomace.  



 Then as I turned around I spied a large container of chilled apple cider that I could sample in a tiny cup.  It was indeed good and I dared to take a second sample.  That was the highlight of my stop to Cold Hollow.

     I came away from my visit there feeling as if their entire business goal was to extract as much money from unsuspecting tourists as possible.  For my part, I did not assist them to achieve that and spent not a dime.  There was one brief educational moment there, however.  Here is a sign on the wall that helps to explain the process of producing apple cider: 

 

So I concluded Tuesday having seen the best and worst that Vermont has to offer.