WOODSTOCK — Crisp air. Grandma’s apple pie. The smell of cloves simmering on the stovetop. There’s more to the flavors of fall than pumpkin spice. Just ask Flour & Water’s Chef Jacoby Dinges and co-owner Meredith Norris, where the flavors of the season take guests back to their childhood one bite or sip at a time.
“There’s nothing better than sitting outside on a 60-degree day with a warm slice of apple pie,” Dinges said. “But for me, really, the flavors of fall are like cinnamon, cloves, nutmegs, pumpkin — but not until later.”
As temperatures begin to drop across the Shenandoah Valley, the flavors of the season are taking center stage at Flour & Water, an artisan bakery on Main Street in Woodstock. Take the turkey dinner sammy that blends the flavors of stuffing into the sandwich bread, or the honey cinnamon scone that highlights local honey or the seasonal pizzas topped with butternut squash and sausage.
“Take apples for instance,” Norris said. “I don’t want to miss out on an opportunity because a lot of people think apples are big in November and they’re a winter fruit. But really they start coming in at the end of July, August and September. Those are your big apple months and that’s when they’re typically at their best.”
Apples, pears and beets were among the fall fruits and vegetables used in popular menu items at the restaurant in early fall. Chai tea, a popular yearly item, was topped with pumpkin sweet cream and the bakery case was filled with delicious pastries, marking the changing of the seasons.
As proponents of honoring the seasons, Dinges and Norris agreed that they like to support their local farmers and markets and purchase their apples from Adams Apples in Woodstock. Norris said sourcing locally ensures the best quality.
“I always talk to Cindy, one of the owners when I call,” Dinges said. “I’m like, ‘Cindy, what do you have, what’s available, what can I use?’ She’ll tell me she has apples, pears or squash and I’ll take it.”
But not everything is sourced locally. Norris said Flour & Water is a good combination of European products and the Valley.
The restaurant, which changes its menu monthly, goes through a lot of trial and error. Thinking ahead to crisp mornings, Norris said the bakery will be tying in more traditional fall flavors, but in a more elevated, modern way. For a new oatmeal cookie latte, baristas will use oat milk and make syrup from molasses.
“It’s a lot of knowing what you know but also what’s available and letting them match well,” Norris said. “I think a lot of flavors are very comforting to a lot of people. It takes you back to your childhood. You think about what grandma made or what mom made.”
“Coming off the bus and you walk into your grandma’s house and you’re like, ‘Man, that smells like a pie, just like in a bakery,’” Dinges added. “Those smells just take me.”
Creating those nostalgic moments is the general approach of the business, Norris explained.
“We want you to feel at home and comfortable and feel like it’s an experience,” she said. “We want you to step in and feel like you’re in grandma’s kitchen because that makes you feel better, right? It’s simply on a more elevated level.”
With Thanksgiving just a few weeks away, Dinges said popular flavors like sage and rosemary will begin appearing in menu items and on tables as guests think ahead to the traditional family holiday. His biggest suggestion is to use as much local produce as possible and explore spices that can be used throughout the calendar year.
“The same spices and flavors will be translated in a different way,” he said. “Like with gingerbread, you still have your cinnamon, your nutmeg and your cloves, but they’re all condensed into one. So those flavors of fall will translate into winter but just in a different format.”
Norris said peppermint is among the most popular flavors of the Christmas season. However, some unlikely flavors will be appearing in menu items like rich citrus, vodkas and preserved flavors like cherry, which is generally used in the summer months.
“You can still get those flavors from summer but they’re just preserved in a different way,” he said.
Using his European pastry skills, Dinges expects he will come up with an expanded Christmas menu to create some local favorites using some of the same concepts he used this fall.
“We do an entire European cookie bag as well as a bit more European pastries including holiday flavors like peppermint and mocha and nuts,” Norris said.
With winter looming, the Flour & Water menu will offer tasty soups and sandwiches as well as salads such as a citrus fennel.
“Fall is probably the most important season like spring in this area just because again we’re a huge apple distributor and with fall starting in September, we really get to honor the flavors of the season for a longer period of time.”
Flour & Water is located at 124 S. Main St., in Woodstock. Phone: 540-459-2253. Hours: 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday and also 5 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday.
