By Lauren Wanko
Correspondent
When you slice into one of these it’s hard to imagine all the work that went into it. That is, if you didn’t bake it. At Delicious Orchards in Colts Neck they know plenty about pies.
“It’s a perk of the job is taste testing. I have to have a doughnut everyday and and I have to have some pie everyday to make sure everything’s perfect,” said Delicious Orchards Vice President and General Manager, Chris McDonald.
The family-run business sells about 3,000 pies during fall weekends. They hire extra employees to keep up with the demand.
“We employ about 100 seasonal employees starting in September through December,” said McDonald.
Lots of customers come in for pumpkin pie. It starts with cans of pumpkin.
“You should always use can pumpkin. It’s best for pumpkin pie,” he said.
It’s emptied into a commercial mixer. Secret spices are added followed by pounds of sugar, lots of eggs and milk. This will be enough for 105 pies. The dough is made here, too, and are placed in a pie press.
“Pie press is essentially just a hydraulic press that flattens out the dough and makes its into a perfect pie crust,” McDonald said.
They’re stacked and wait for pumpkin filling. This pump is a Delicious Orchards invention, says McDonald. It’s operated by a foot pedal. The filling is pumped through a hose directly into individual pie shells that are resting in a toasty oven.
“They are pretty skilled bakers. They know what they’re doing. They have a sight line that they use on the actual crust and that’s where they try to fill it to. If it’s too little, the pie will burn, it it’s too much the bottom of the pie or inside won’t cook all the way,” he said.
150 pumpkin pies rotate in this deck oven for about an hour. Fortunately there’s plenty on the shelves for eager customers.
“It’s delicious!” said customer Win Lyon.
“I am anxious to taste it pretty soon and take it home and try not to eat it too fast,” said Grace Scanlan.
Staffers at Delicious Orchards are gearing up for their busiest time of year: Thanksgiving. The bakery transforms into a 24/7 operation. They typically sell about 50,000 pies for the holiday, and there’s always a friendly competition — will they sell more apple or pumpkin pies?
“I’m not sure who’s going to win this year. Pumpkin’s been gaining some speed so we’ll see,” McDonald said.
Why chose one when you can try both?