Stemilt’s signature apple variety, Piñata, was the star ingredient on Seattle chef Ericka Burke’s menu during Stemilt’s first-ever Meet the Grower blogger dinner held on Sept. 17 at Beecher’s Loft overlooking Pike Place Market and the waterfront in Seattle. The event brought 12 popular food bloggers together for an evening of food and conversation around the multi-generational family-owned fruit company and its many proprietary products and programs.Stemilt Marketing Director Roger Pepperl talking to bloggers at the company's first-ever Meet the Grower blogger dinner.

Held on the eve of the start of the International Food Bloggers Conference in Seattle, the dinner began with a warm welcome from Stemilt Marketing Director Roger Pepperl and Tate Mathison, fifth-generation grower and director of sales. Mathison shared a bit about his family’s rich farming history in Washington state and the innovative varieties and products the company has been bringing to market over the past several years.

The group then settled down for a dinner featuring the flavors of Stemilt’s recently harvested Piñata apples and Rushing Rivers pears. Prepared by Chef Ericka of Seattle’s Volunteer Park Cafe, Chop Shop Cafe & Bar, Canal Market, guests enjoyed a four-course menu that included a red pear and heirloom cucumber salad, roasted butternut squash and Bartlett pear bisque, pork tenderloin with celeriac puree, white chanterelle mushrooms and candied Piñata apple-fennel salad, and a Piñata apple pie with brown butter ice cream for dessert.

Among the blogger attendees were Alyssa Brantley of Everyday Maven, a blog devoted to real food recipes for the everyday family; Lynne Feifer of 365 Days of Baking and More, a Phoenix-based blogger who shares everyday recipes; and Holly Nilsson of Spend with Pennies, a blog featuring comforting family recipes, household tips and more. Throughout the dinner, bloggers turned to social media to document their dining experience with Stemilt by using the hashtag #stemiltfruit and the company’s social media handles.

“The Meet the Grower dinner was a continuation of our work in connecting our proprietary products, like Piñata apples, with influencers in the food world,” Pepperl said in a press release. “It was a great evening filled with excellent food and conversation about farming, Stemilt and up-and-coming, consumer-favorite varieties like Piñata apples. We enjoyed helping these well-known bloggers kick off their weekend in Seattle for the International Food Bloggers Conference and sharing with them the passion our company has for growing wholesome and flavor-first fruits.”

The Meet the Grower blogger dinner also helped kick off the new season of Piñata apples, which are coming off the tree now in Washington state and expected to be available in November. First introduced to the U.S. and Canadian marketplaces back in 2009, Piñata is Stemilt’s exclusive apple variety and available from November to May each year. The apple was bred in Germany in the 1970s and is a cross between Golden Delicious and two heirloom varieties, Cox’s Orange Pippin and Duchess of Oldenburg. The fruit’s thin skin and unique sweet-tart-tropical flavor profile make it a great choice for fresh eating, but as Chef Ericka discovered, Piñata apples are also a standout in any culinary dish.

“This was my first time tasting and cooking with Piñata apples and I was totally impressed," she said. "The fruit has a unique flavor profile and tropical essence that stands out, and I love that it’s grown in the Northwest. Piñata is going to be one of my go-to apples to use in the kitchen.”