Winter Harvest Pork Roast

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Harvest season doesn't come to a complete end once the first frost hits. Some Amish have hoop houses and greenhouses where some goodies can be grown and harvested year-round. Amish settlements in southern climates (think Beeville, Texas) have basically a year-round growing season.

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• 🍲 Winter Harvest Pork Roast
• 📋 Instructions
• 🍲 More Amish Pork Recipes
• Full Recipe

But even more northern Amish settlements have something important that they harvest during the winter: ice.

A newspaper in Kidron, Ohio, in the heart of the state's largest Amish settlement described ice harvest season this way:

An annual activity that stocks a family’s insulated ice house for the year also becomes a fun event as friends gather to help out, and children have fun in the snow.

I have seen ice being harvested on Amish farms and often it is taken out of a frozen pond. The ice has to be a certain thickness so it can be cut into blocks. Per the article in Kidron:

First, ice is tested to make sure it was thick enough. Next, chunks are cut out with a chainsaw to make a canal. Blocks of ice weighed about 59 pounds and measured about 16 by 18 inches. The ice is about 7 inches thick and is as clear as ice cubes in your fridge.

The floating ice was pushed along to an elevator chain on a chute that pulled the slippery blocks into the wagon. Steiner estimated a few hundred blocks were hauled to the ice house.

“They have a lot of fun,” Steiner said. “They do it as a family or neighbors get together. It’s their time in the winter.”

I have been to several Amish ice houses and it is amazing how long the ice, in a properly insulated ice house, keeps. I mean, I have been to one in the middle of summer, roasting outside, but the ice is keeping just fine inside. Usually when it is time to get ice, a large pair of metal tongs does the job for carrying it.

Amish families will enjoy a hearty supper after a long day of harvesting ice. Something like this typical winter harvest pork roast becomes a favorite. Carmon Hacker, a great friend and friend of Amish365, tackled this roast a year or so ago and had this to say:

A few years ago, as fall was beginning to color the landscape, I was asked to do a cooking demonstration for the women of the Butler County Farm Bureau.  That was a daunting task, since most of those ladies are skilled cooks themselves.  After talking to my daughter, Rachel, who is a cooking aficionado herself, we devised this recipe.  It has since become a family favorite, and each year as the leaves begin to take on their brilliant hues, I am reminded to get out my roasting pan and get to work on this sweet and savory creation.

So I will share Carmon's recipe for Winter Harvest Pork Roast, it shares similarities to what you'd find in an Amish kitchen on ice day!

🍲 Winter Harvest Pork Roast

• 3- to 4- lb. pork loin roast
• Rub consisting of 2 tsp. sea salt, ½ tsp. black pepper, tsp. each of garlic powder and thyme
• 2 cups sliced apple
• 1 cup coarsely chopped onion
• 3 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, quartered
• 2 cups butternut or acorn squash, unpeeled, cut into cubes of 1”-2”
• ⅓ cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp. sage

📋 Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.  (If your oven cooks foods quickly, lower the temperature to 325 F.) Place roast in large roasting pan (around 10 x 15). 
2. Mix ingredients for rub in roasting pan and push to one side. 
3. Carefully cut roast in half lengthwise and place in pan,  positioning the two halves about one-inch apart, and apply rub to top of pork pieces.
4. Place potato quarters along sides and middle of roast halves, then distribute chopped onion and apple slices over potatoes and atop pork.
5. Finally, do the same with the cubes of squash.
6. Distribute brown sugar over meat and fruits/veggies, then sprinkle sage over all.  Cover with foil and bake for about three to four hours, until meat is fork-tender.

🍲 More Amish Pork Recipes

Baked & Barbecued Pork Chops

Pennsylvania Dutch Pork Chops

Pork Tenderloin

Easy Pork Chops

Full Recipe