This orchard near Bloomington has cider, doughnuts, apples and more

Apples, apple cider, doughnuts, cider slushies and pumpkins — Slaughter Orchard & Cidery has all of that for customers at its farm market at 7288 W. Ind. 45 just a few miles west of Bloomington.

The family owned and operated orchard and cidery has four orchard sites, bee hives, different types of fruit and, right now, 16 varieties of apples, all grown in the family's orchards. While the varieties of apples available change, recent selections included Jonagold, Cortland, Gala, Yellow Delicious, Grimes Golden, Gala, Fuji, Mutsu, Honeycrisp and Zestar. Most of those were harvested at Hainlen Orchard near Converse.

The family presses their own cider. At first it was with a small press at the farm market, but now there's a large press at the Converse orchard that makes much larger quantities.

The farm market has three types of cider slushies churning behind the counter, bins of apples, Hoosier-made soaps, fudge and, if there's any left, doughnuts — $2.50 for one or $25 for a dozen. Other goodies include apple dumplings, applesauce, and a spice-accented apple butter made without sugar. Cider — apple and apple cherry — are available in half quart and quart. There's also hard cider, which requires the proper ID to purchase.

Apples are obviously the main theme, but in addition to apple pie, there's pumpkin, peach and strawberry rhubarb. The pies are $20 each; the apple dumplings are $7.50.

Hours are 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and 2-6 p.m. Sunday. The farm market will be open until Thanksgiving. For more, go online to slaughterorchard.com .

New chef and menu at Farmbloomington

Chantel Adcock has taken over as chef de cuisine at FARMbloomington . Her new autumn and winter menu will be served beginning Oct. 10 at 108 E. Kirkwood Ave. Adcock was born and raised in Bloomington and has been working in the food service industry for 25 years. For the past several years she has been working alongside FARM's Chef Daniel Orr, both in the dining room and in the kitchen.

The new dinner menu has appetizers including muhammara, a Middle Eastern dip containing roasted red pepper, toasted walnuts and pomegranate molasses; stone oven-baked brie with Hoosier hot honey, almonds, Granny Smith apples and baguette; and butternut squash bisque with coconut milk, roasted garlic, toasted cumin and sweet spices.

New pizzas are When The Frost is on the Punkin (named after a poem by Hoosier poet James Whitcomb Riley ) with toppings of roasted squash, red peppers, spinach, garlic cream, mozzarella, provolone and a smoky pepper cream sauce; and Autumn Vinyard with toppings of red grapes, Capriole Farms goat cheese, baby spinach, hot honey and garlic cream sauce.

Entrée selections are roasted salmon with sautéed kale, sweet potatoes, spiced pecans and cranberry/apple cider sauce; pan-seared tuna steak with peppers and tomatoes; and hard-seared pepper-crusted New York strip steak with wild mushrooms, broccolini and bourbon. An international dish is Bangladeshi green tomato, okra and tofu tikki masala with basmati rice.

A vegetarian dish is baked Santorini eggplant stuffed with Parmesan, tomatoes, feta, bell peppers and served with tzatziki sauce and a Greek salad. Another option is massaged orchard kale salad with roasted squash, apples, aged cheddar and pumpkin seeds. Patrons can choose to add salmon, steak, grilled chicken or bacon to the salad.

Saturday evenings Adcock will roast whole bone-in pork loins to be cut into chops and served with a Native American corn pudding, sautéed greens and a sauce made from the pan-drippings finished with sage and Hoosier bourbon.

Desserts, including ice cream, will change each week. A seasonal ice cream at the start will be paw paw ice cream created using local fruit.

“I have said many times that feeding people is a very intimate experience," Adcock said in an email. "I have learned from my time in the industry that the staff often know their patrons better than their friends or family. Remembering their preferences and concentrating on the details that make people truly feel like honored guests and often family."

Adcock has been a board member for Community Kitchen of Monroe County for seven years. "It is an opportunity to give back to the community in a way that nurtures my passion for feeding people. Food and eating is one of our most basic needs, and when we don’t have enough to eat, it affects every aspect of a person’s life," she said.

Truffles wine dinner on Oct. 23

Truffles Restaurant will host a five-course Rombauer wine dinner on Oct. 23. The reception begins at 6:30 p.m. Cost is $135 per person, including tax and gratuity.

The dinner begins with creamed corn soup featuring wine-poached jumbo prawns, followed by asparagus Oscar, with poached asparagus, lump crab meat, béarnaise sauce and Cheddar gougères. Baked salmon served with a Mediterranean yellow rice pilaf, tomato-olive relish and preserved lemon will be the next dish. The fourth will be coffee and black pepper-rubbed and roasted beef tenderloin served with green pepper corn sauce, creamed spinach and twice-baked potato. Dessert will be double dark chocolate mousse.

Truffles is at 1131 S. College Mall Road. Seating is limited; for reservations, call 812-330-1111.

Contact Carol Kugler at ckugler@heraldt.com

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: This orchard near Bloomington has cider, doughnuts, apples and more