The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Dessert is king in Julian, a town known for its fruit
Imagine an entire town devoted to apple pie. Soft, melting apple goodness under a buttery, flaky crust. Welcome to Julian, California (population 1,500), about an hour east of San Diego.
About a dozen bakeries, restaurants and cafes serve up their best versions of the all-American dessert. Many have developed hybrid pies to include cherries, berries or even mango.
I was getting my hair cut not far from Julian when the stylist told me about the pie town. How could anyone resist? The next morning my partner and I revved up our BMW K1200LT motorcycle and leaned into winding roads leading up the mountain. As we climbed from an elevation of 1,000 feet in Temecula, California, to 4,200 feet in Julian, the temperature dropped from 70 to 49 degrees.
The temperature drop is key. Apple trees need cold winters, and Julian has them. European settlers recognized that as an opportunity as early as 1851 and established apple orchards in this microclimate before a town was even founded.
The town came along after 1870 as two groups of settlers established homes. Five former confederate soldiers from Georgia — three Bailey brothers and their cousins the Julian brothers — moved into town. Around the same time, freed slave Fred Coleman discovered gold and built the first road into the area.
Both gold and apples made the town famous. Gold was found in two When Anita Nichols, “mom” to four children, started Mom’s Pie House more than 30 years ago, she peeled all the apples. Today, the much larger shop has a staff to help make a variety of apple fruit combinations served in a cozy cafe.
the fruit crops of unirrigated orchards in Julian. Only 200 acres of trees remain, down from 600 acres
a century earlier. Fewer apples mean Julian pie makers have to turn to outside farmers for fruit within
months of harvest. Real Julian apple pies are usually available from September through November.
As the era of the big apple growers was ending, the era of Julian pie shops was just beginning.