Liberty Orchards
Encyclopedia
Liberty Orchards is a candy company located in Cashmere, Washington. Founded originally as an apple farm in 1918 by Armenian
immigrant couple Armen Tertsagian and Mark Balaban, the company moved into canning and then confectionery during the 1930s and 1940s. Their products include a variety of jellied fruit candies resembling Americanized versions of Turkish Delight
.
Aplets & Cotlets are Liberty Orchards' oldest and best known products. These two types of confection
are mainly sold together in a single box; they are produced from a recipe for locoum
using local apple
s and apricot
s.
Other flavors produced by the company include pineapple
with macadamia
nuts, strawberry
with walnuts, orange
with walnuts, peach
with pecan
s, blueberry
with pecans, and raspberry
with pecans. They also produce sugar-free, nut-free and chocolate
-covered varieties, as well as a number of traditional filled chocolates (truffle
, caramel
, and mint
, for example). In 2009, the company has introduced a cherry
-pecan locoum, as well as four varieties (mango
, strawberry, watermelon
and papaya
) dusted with a sweet-sour-spicy coating.
In September 1997 Liberty Orchards drew criticism for threatening to move production out of Cashmere unless the town met certain demands that the company hoped would increase their brand profile. These were reported by the New York Times at the time:
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
immigrant couple Armen Tertsagian and Mark Balaban, the company moved into canning and then confectionery during the 1930s and 1940s. Their products include a variety of jellied fruit candies resembling Americanized versions of Turkish Delight
Turkish Delight
Turkish delight or lokum is a family of confections based on a gel of starch and sugar. Premium varieties consist largely of chopped dates, pistachios and hazelnuts or walnuts bound by the gel; the cheapest are mostly gel, generally flavored with rosewater, mastic, or lemon...
.
Aplets & Cotlets are Liberty Orchards' oldest and best known products. These two types of confection
Confectionery
Confectionery is the set of food items that are rich in sugar, any one or type of which is called a confection. Modern usage may include substances rich in artificial sweeteners as well...
are mainly sold together in a single box; they are produced from a recipe for locoum
Turkish Delight
Turkish delight or lokum is a family of confections based on a gel of starch and sugar. Premium varieties consist largely of chopped dates, pistachios and hazelnuts or walnuts bound by the gel; the cheapest are mostly gel, generally flavored with rosewater, mastic, or lemon...
using local apple
Apple
The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...
s and apricot
Apricot
The apricot, Prunus armeniaca, is a species of Prunus, classified with the plum in the subgenus Prunus. The native range is somewhat uncertain due to its extensive prehistoric cultivation.- Description :...
s.
Other flavors produced by the company include pineapple
Pineapple
Pineapple is the common name for a tropical plant and its edible fruit, which is actually a multiple fruit consisting of coalesced berries. It was given the name pineapple due to its resemblance to a pine cone. The pineapple is by far the most economically important plant in the Bromeliaceae...
with macadamia
Macadamia
Macadamia is a genus of nine species of flowering plants in the family Proteaceae, with a disjunct distribution native to eastern Australia , New Caledonia and Sulawesi in Indonesia ....
nuts, strawberry
Garden Strawberry
The garden strawberry, Fragaria × ananassa, is a hybrid species that is cultivated worldwide for its fruit, the strawberry. The fruit is widely appreciated for its characteristic aroma, bright red color, juicy texture, and sweetness...
with walnuts, orange
Orange (fruit)
An orange—specifically, the sweet orange—is the citrus Citrus × sinensis and its fruit. It is the most commonly grown tree fruit in the world....
with walnuts, peach
Peach
The peach tree is a deciduous tree growing to tall and 6 in. in diameter, belonging to the subfamily Prunoideae of the family Rosaceae. It bears an edible juicy fruit called a peach...
with pecan
Pecan
The pecan , Carya illinoinensis, is a species of hickory, native to south-central North America, in Mexico from Coahuila south to Jalisco and Veracruz, in the United States from southern Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, and Indiana east to western Kentucky, southwestern Ohio, North Carolina, South...
s, blueberry
Blueberry
Blueberries are flowering plants of the genus Vaccinium with dark-blue berries and are perennial...
with pecans, and raspberry
Raspberry
The raspberry or hindberry is the edible fruit of a multitude of plant species in the genus Rubus, most of which are in the subgenus Idaeobatus; the name also applies to these plants themselves...
with pecans. They also produce sugar-free, nut-free and chocolate
Chocolate
Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...
-covered varieties, as well as a number of traditional filled chocolates (truffle
Ganache
Ganache is a glaze, icing, or filling for pastries made from chocolate and cream.Ganache is normally made by heating cream, then pouring it over chopped dark semi-sweet chocolate...
, caramel
Caramel
Caramel is a beige to dark-brown confection made by heating any of a variety of sugars. It is used as a flavoring in puddings and desserts, as a filling in bonbons, and as a topping for ice cream, custard and coffee....
, and mint
Mentha
Mentha is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae . The species are not clearly distinct and estimates of the number of species varies from 13 to 18. Hybridization between some of the species occurs naturally...
, for example). In 2009, the company has introduced a cherry
Cherry
The cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus Prunus, and is a fleshy stone fruit. The cherry fruits of commerce are usually obtained from a limited number of species, including especially cultivars of the wild cherry, Prunus avium....
-pecan locoum, as well as four varieties (mango
Mango
The mango is a fleshy stone fruit belonging to the genus Mangifera, consisting of numerous tropical fruiting trees in the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae. The mango is native to India from where it spread all over the world. It is also the most cultivated fruit of the tropical world. While...
, strawberry, watermelon
Watermelon
Watermelon is a vine-like flowering plant originally from southern Africa. Its fruit, which is also called watermelon, is a special kind referred to by botanists as a pepo, a berry which has a thick rind and fleshy center...
and papaya
Papaya
The papaya , papaw, or pawpaw is the fruit of the plant Carica papaya, the sole species in the genus Carica of the plant family Caricaceae...
) dusted with a sweet-sour-spicy coating.
In September 1997 Liberty Orchards drew criticism for threatening to move production out of Cashmere unless the town met certain demands that the company hoped would increase their brand profile. These were reported by the New York Times at the time:
- "They want all road signs and official correspondence by the city to say "Cashmere, Home of Aplets and Cotlets. They have asked that one of the two main streets in town be changed to Cotlets Avenue, and the other one be renamed Aplets Avenue. The candy maker also wants the Mayor and Council to sell City Hall to them, build new parking lots and possibly go to the bond market to start a tourism campaign on behalf of the worldwide headquarters of a company that says its story is 'America in a nutshell'. "