Tri-Fecta Weekend: 3 Crops in 3 Days

This is the BIGGEST weekend of Pick-Your-Own at Eckert's Belleville farm, due to the fact we are celebrating our Tri-Fecta! So why is this weekend so special and deserving of its name. There's three reasons (go figure):

1. Loring Peaches, one of our biggest peaches and a long-time customer favorite, will be available for Pick-Your-Own!


2. We are celebrating our largest blackberry crop in history, and this is the perfect weekend to pick some sweet and plump berries!
   


3. For the first time in our history, Eckert's is advertising Pick-Your-Own tomatoes! Never before have we invited our guests into the tomato field to harvest their own bounty, and we're not sure we ever will again!

The Tri-Fecta begins tomorrow, July 31st and continues through Monday, August 2nd. We couldn't have a Tri-Fecta that only lasted two days, right? One thing we can't anticipate is the crowds the Tri-Fecta will attract, so please check our Harvest Hotline the day you are planning to visit for the most current crop information.

In addition to three crops in three days, we are also celebrating the Tri-Fecta on Facebook. Visit Eckert's Facebook Page for a chance to win a $30 Eckert's Gift Card!

Take Your Pick: NEW Homegrown Recipes!

We hosted this year's first homegrown cooking class in our new cooking classroom on Thursday! Guests were treated to a variety of recipes featuring this season's freshest produce. We thought we would share some of their favorites with you!

Peach Tomato Motz

2 medium Eckert's tomatoes, cut in half through core and sliced

Pearl or small fresh mozzarella balls

1/2 - 1 tsp Kosher salt

Extra Virgin Olive Oil (2-4 Tbsp)

1/2 red onion, sliced very thin

2 medium peaches, peeled, sliced from the pit

Cider vinegar (1 to 2 Tbsp)

Sugar (1 tsp to 1/2 Tbsp)

Layer the tomato slices on a rimmed platter. Salt. Top with thin slices of red onions. Sprinkle sugar across latter. Top with peach slices. Drizzle olive oil. Drizzle withe cider vinegar. Top with mozzarella balls. Serves 4.

Sweet Lime Watermelon Bites

1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (about 4 medium limes)

1/2 cup honey

watermelon, cut in 1/2 inch chunks

mint sprigs for garnish

Place lime juice and honey in a saucepan over low heat or on the side burners of a grill. Bring to a boil and let boil for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Place watermelon slices on a large platter and drizzle with the lime syrup and garnish with mint.

Peach Blackberry Cobbler

Filling

1/2 cup sugar

2 Tbsp all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

3 cups peaches, peeled and sliced

2 cups blackberries

Topping

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3 Tbsp chilled butter, cut into small pieces

2/3 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine sugar, flour and salt in a large bowl and mix. Stir in fruit. Spoon into a greased 8x8 pan and bake for 15 minutes.

To prepare topping, pour 1 1/3 cup flour, 1/3 cup sugar, baking powder and salt in a food processor: pulse to combine. Add pieces of butter and pulse until it resembles a coarse meal. Pour in buttermilk and pulse until just incorporated.

Remove fruit from oven and top with irregular spoonfuls of dough. Place baking dish on a rimmed pan. Return to oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly. Serves 6.

Peaches and blackberries are still ripe for the picking at the Belleville and Grafton farms. Stop by soon and take advantage of our Sale of the Season on homegrown tomatoes... only $.79/lb!!!

Picking & Packing Peaches: Why Eckert's is the Best!

Harvesting peaches is a lot more complicated than plucking the fruit from a tree and selling it in a store. Well, it's a lot more complicated than that if you want the best peach! We pride ourselves on mastering the techniques that result in the freshest, best tasting fruit and we want to tell you how.

We are now in the heart of peach season, and are picking and packing in the greatest abundance. On a typical day, our farm is harvesting and packing approximately 1500 bushels, in other words 75,000 lbs of peaches. That's a lot of peaches! Our farm crew sets out into the peach orchard at 6 o'clock in the morning to start the day's harvest. Each peach is hand-picked from the tree and put in bins on trailers. These trailers transport the peaches back to Eckert's so they may be put through the packing line.

Once a peach is plucked from the tree, in instantely begins to soften. In order to delay this process, peaches must be cooled down. For instance, on an average summer day, the temperature of a peach is between 90 and 95 degrees when first picked from the tree. This is referred to as "field heat." It is at these high temperatures that the peaches begin to soften and risk becoming mealy in texture. Due to this breakdown risk, it is our policy that our peaches are never in transit from the field to the packing line for anymore than 45 minutes to an hour.

The first step in the peach packing line is the hydrocooler. The hydrocooler pours cold water (36 degrees Fahrenheit) over the peaches, which drops the temperature of each peach by about 20 degrees. At these cooler temperatures, the fruit will remain firmer, enabling them to better withstand the packing process.

Once the peaches are cooled, each piece of fruit, individually, is weighed and graded by hand. Peach size varies anywhere to very small, what we refer to as Checks, all the way to Extra Fancy, our largest, prize-winning peaches. There are four sizes in between Checks and Extra Fancy, totaling six weights of peaches. Grading peaches is much less complex. There is #1 fruit, which is any fruit free of blemishes, bruises, mold and decay. The other group is made up of ripes and seconds; fruit that is too ripe (needs to be used immediately) or damaged fruit. Forty percent of peaches that move through the packing line will be graded as seconds. Of those, half will be sold for a discounted price, while the other half of the peaches will be thrown out on the ground of the peach orchard to serve as a natural fertilizer for future peach crops. None of the peaches we pick are ever just thrown in a dumpster!

After our peaches are hand-picked, hand-graded, hand-weighed and hand-packed, they are then taken into our Country Store where they are available for purchase. While it is a complex and tedious process, we strive to move our peaches through the packing line as quickly and as efficiently as possible. Since the freshest fruit comes directly from its source, it is our policy that peaches bought in our store were hanging on the tree less than two hours before you bought it!

The Unveiling of our New Country Store

It was a long and hectic 4th of July weekend, but worth every minute of it. We kicked off the Grand Opening of the new Country Store in Belleville this past Tuesday. Forty-five members of the Eckert Family came from as far as Shanghai to take part in the ribbon cutting and met tons of staff, vendors and guests that have been visiting Eckert's for generations. It was amazing! We are so appreciative of everyone's support and encouragement! It's because of all of you that the Illinois House of Representatives declared July 6, 2010 as Eckert's Day! Here's some of the buzz and videos local media contributed to the Grand Opening of the new Country Store. One thing is for sure... Eckert's will be around to serve you and your families for another 100 years!

Show Me St. Louis

St. Louis Post Dispatch - St. Louis Today

Belleville News-Democrat

KSDK Channel 5

KTVI Fox 2 News

Ribbon Cutting and Grand Opening July 6th!

Our family is excited to announce that the construction of the new Country Store is days away from being complete!

One hundred years ago Alvin O. Eckert, my great-grandfather and member of the fourth generation of the Eckert family to farm in St. Clair County, opened A.O. Eckert's Roadside Market, which was then a simple roadside farm stand. Subsequent generations continued to evolve the family business creating a desitination that millions of families have visited over the years. Today, we represent the sixth and seventh generations of my family to farm in St. Clair County and this project continues that evolution. Eckert's will continue creating family memories for another 100 years with this new facility.

Most of our guests and friends want to know what we like best about the new 22,000 square foot Country Store. Here's is some of the most popular answers from fellow Eckert family members and team members:

Bathrooms
It sounds simple, I know, but the fact of the matter is this is the first time in our 100 year history that we have bathrooms located inside the Country Store. In fact, the new store houses two family restrooms, in addition to separate restrooms for men and women. No more walking to the Country Restaurant unless you want to eat!

Cooking Class
We have been hosting cooking and wine classes for the past three years. Our new store has a 1200 square foot cooking classroom that allows plenty of space and storage to offer more activities, such as private events, birthday parties, and more frequent classes for kids and adults in general. This space is 100 times better than the makeshift classroom we have been previously assembling in the back of the current store.

Space
We now have more retail space and preparation area so that we are able to carry even more fresh meat, produce and specialty items that our guests have been requesting. Plus, there is more room for our guests to safely manuever around the store to find those products. No more traffic jams in the fall!

Garden Center
The Country Store and Garden Center will be adjoined for the first time since the Garden Center opened in 2001. This is much more convenient for our guests and will limit the amount of walking that is required.

Decor

While it is a brand new building, much effort went into emphasizing our farming background and history within the new space. Throughout the facility, guests can enjoy authentic photos, advertisements and labels going back in Eckert's history several decades. In addition, a hand painted family tree adorns a wall of the new facility, starting with Johann Eckert in 1837 all the way to the Eckert children of the eighth generation.

On behalf of the Eckert family, I would like to personally invite you to see the Country Store during Grand Opening Week. Our Ribbon Cutting ceremony is open to the public and will take place at 10:30 am on Tuesday, July 6th. We are continuing the celebration through July 11th with special offers and give-aways for our guests. We hope to see you and your family soon!

Sincerely,

Chris Eckert, President