A sweet, fruity scent mingles with the smoke of the fire crackling in a covered outdoor area on Dorsey and Brittany Kordick’s farm. In a long steel pan, apple juice from several heirloom varieties boils down as mother and daughter skim foam off the top to make apple cider syrup.

Dorsey grew up climbing apple trees on her family’s farm in Connecticut, and as an adult, she always had fruit trees and bushes. In 2009, after years spent working in veterinary pharmaceuticals, she decided to start an orchard in the gently rolling hills of Westfield, just north of Pilot Mountain. Her daughter Brittany moved from Pittsboro to grow vegetables on the same land; each helped the other when one needed a hand. As the trees grew, the pair focused on the orchard. They now grow more than 200 heirloom apple varieties, including regional favorites like Buckingham, Ralls, and Yates.

Dorsey had always made apple cider sweetener for herself. To pay homage to their family’s Russian heritage, the Kordicks named their product Baba Yaga’s Apple Cider Syrup after a character from Slavic folklore. The syrup can be used to make baked goods or salad dressings, drizzled like molasses on biscuits, hardened into candies, spooned into yogurt or onto a baked sweet potato, or brushed over salmon as a glaze. It’s sweet, tangy, and, of course, tastes strongly of the heirloom fruits of Stokes County.

Kordick Family Farm
1259 Joyce Acres Road
Westfield, NC 27053
(336) 351-5186
kordickfamilyfarm.com