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How 'bout them huge, juicy apples?
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| Farmers have faced endless setbacks due to heavy rain and hail this summer, but there's a red delicious lining to every raincloud. This year's apple crop is expected to be bountiful, delicious, and juicy. Francesca Olsen/Hudson-Catskill Newspapers |
By Francesca Olsen
Finally, something good has come out of the summer’s buckets of rain: This year’s apple crop is expected to be bigger and juicier than ever, according to the New York Apple Association (NYAA).
The apple harvest began last week and will continue through the fall. The NYAA says growers are predicting a crop size close to last year’s 29.5 million bushel crop; along with this comes batches of cider, applesauce, apple butter, apple pies, and anything else you can think of with “apple” in the name.
Apparently, heavy rain has made this season’s apples larger and juicer (while, of course, saturating the ground, causing some trees to collapse, bringing hail that does ruin fruit, and a variety of other serious growing issues including troubles with pesticide application, and troubles with plant diseases).
“That’s true! It’s beautiful,” said Gillian Sherrington at Smith Farms in Livingston. “Except for the hail and tornado, we had beautiful fruit.”
Sherrington said the farm had a “mini tornado” that destroyed quite a few of their apple trees. “Over and above, the quality of the fruit is excellent,” she said.
Smith Farms is already open for pick-your-own apples, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., seven days a week. They grow about 10 varieties of apples. “My husband is the grower. I’m the pick-your-own coordinator,” Sherrington said, adding that depending on the weather and the specific weekend, hundreds of people usually show up for apple picking.
“The basic rule is, the more water, the more juice,” said Michele Brown of Cherry Ridge Farm in Greenport. Her uncle owns the farm. “What you really want is a balance. The more water they soak up, the bigger they get, the juicer they get, but also the more diluted the taste.”
“The tiny ones will be less juicy, with more taste. The bigger ones will have technically the same amount of taste, but in a bigger area,” Brown said.
Some fields have been too muddy at Cherry Ridge Farm to properly ascertain the status of the whole apple crop. From the fruit she’s been sorting, “some totes look great, and some totes are not even worth sorting,” said Brown.
Cherry Ridge Farm is open every day except Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. To pick your own apples, come before 4 or 4:30 p.m., so there’s enough time really get into it.
“The size is nice this year. The rain did help. Anybody that escaped the hail, they should have a nice crop,” said Arnold Feller of Taconic Orchards in Hudson. “There’s a lot of orchards that were hit by hail. Not everything is rosy, that’s for sure. The ones that escaped, they should have a decent size...hopefully, we’ll get a good price.”
Feller had no hail on his orchard. He grows over 20 varieties of apples. “The summer varieties, the fall varieties, and the late winter...we’ll be picking apples right into the first of November, usually,” he said.
Taconic Farms does not do pick-your-own apples due to a lack of available staff; he retails and wholesale his products, which also include other tree fruit, berries, Christmas trees, vegetables and more. Feller said that at the moment, the farm is harvesting McIntosh, Honeycrisp and Golden Supreme varieties.
“(A lot of) Rain is certainly no good for crops in the ground, but for crops on trees, there’s really no problem,” said Peter Gregg, spokesperson for NYAA. “In general, we would have liked to see more sunshine, but we have gotten some payback with the sunshine we’ve had over the past three weeks. The one problem we have had in Columbia County is some sporadic hail, early in the growing season, that did hit some of our orchards.”
Lots of rain helps apple crops because “the moisture gets absorbed. More rain means fatter apples,” Gregg said. Three components are the basics of apple growing: rain equals size, sun equals flavor, and chill equals color. Cold nights help put the color into the apple crop.
The NYAA is also doing its part to promote local apple sales; the organization is providing sales materials to retailers across the state “to direct consumers to the New York apples. It’s a way of helping retailers identify the fruit that’s grown locally,” Gregg said.
All the large supermarket chains will be included. “We have tremendous support from all the major retailers in the Hudson Valley. They all recognize that consumers want local apples, as opposed to apples from 300 miles away.”
Gregg said that this year’s apple crop will be “on par” with last year’s. “Last year’s quality was also very good and the size of the crop is going to be about the same overall. It’s an excellent crop this year...it helps us keep up with consumer demand, which is extremely strong.”
Figures from the NYAA report that New York’s 695 apple orchards produce an average of 25 million bushels of apples each year, on 44,000 acres. McIntosh is the most abundant variety grown in New York, with 17 percent of total apple production.
The apple harvest began last week and will continue through the fall. The NYAA says growers are predicting a crop size close to last year’s 29.5 million bushel crop; along with this comes batches of cider, applesauce, apple butter, apple pies, and anything else you can think of with “apple” in the name.
Apparently, heavy rain has made this season’s apples larger and juicer (while, of course, saturating the ground, causing some trees to collapse, bringing hail that does ruin fruit, and a variety of other serious growing issues including troubles with pesticide application, and troubles with plant diseases).
“That’s true! It’s beautiful,” said Gillian Sherrington at Smith Farms in Livingston. “Except for the hail and tornado, we had beautiful fruit.”
Sherrington said the farm had a “mini tornado” that destroyed quite a few of their apple trees. “Over and above, the quality of the fruit is excellent,” she said.
Smith Farms is already open for pick-your-own apples, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., seven days a week. They grow about 10 varieties of apples. “My husband is the grower. I’m the pick-your-own coordinator,” Sherrington said, adding that depending on the weather and the specific weekend, hundreds of people usually show up for apple picking.
“The basic rule is, the more water, the more juice,” said Michele Brown of Cherry Ridge Farm in Greenport. Her uncle owns the farm. “What you really want is a balance. The more water they soak up, the bigger they get, the juicer they get, but also the more diluted the taste.”
“The tiny ones will be less juicy, with more taste. The bigger ones will have technically the same amount of taste, but in a bigger area,” Brown said.
Some fields have been too muddy at Cherry Ridge Farm to properly ascertain the status of the whole apple crop. From the fruit she’s been sorting, “some totes look great, and some totes are not even worth sorting,” said Brown.
Cherry Ridge Farm is open every day except Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. To pick your own apples, come before 4 or 4:30 p.m., so there’s enough time really get into it.
“The size is nice this year. The rain did help. Anybody that escaped the hail, they should have a nice crop,” said Arnold Feller of Taconic Orchards in Hudson. “There’s a lot of orchards that were hit by hail. Not everything is rosy, that’s for sure. The ones that escaped, they should have a decent size...hopefully, we’ll get a good price.”
Feller had no hail on his orchard. He grows over 20 varieties of apples. “The summer varieties, the fall varieties, and the late winter...we’ll be picking apples right into the first of November, usually,” he said.
Taconic Farms does not do pick-your-own apples due to a lack of available staff; he retails and wholesale his products, which also include other tree fruit, berries, Christmas trees, vegetables and more. Feller said that at the moment, the farm is harvesting McIntosh, Honeycrisp and Golden Supreme varieties.
“(A lot of) Rain is certainly no good for crops in the ground, but for crops on trees, there’s really no problem,” said Peter Gregg, spokesperson for NYAA. “In general, we would have liked to see more sunshine, but we have gotten some payback with the sunshine we’ve had over the past three weeks. The one problem we have had in Columbia County is some sporadic hail, early in the growing season, that did hit some of our orchards.”
Lots of rain helps apple crops because “the moisture gets absorbed. More rain means fatter apples,” Gregg said. Three components are the basics of apple growing: rain equals size, sun equals flavor, and chill equals color. Cold nights help put the color into the apple crop.
The NYAA is also doing its part to promote local apple sales; the organization is providing sales materials to retailers across the state “to direct consumers to the New York apples. It’s a way of helping retailers identify the fruit that’s grown locally,” Gregg said.
All the large supermarket chains will be included. “We have tremendous support from all the major retailers in the Hudson Valley. They all recognize that consumers want local apples, as opposed to apples from 300 miles away.”
Gregg said that this year’s apple crop will be “on par” with last year’s. “Last year’s quality was also very good and the size of the crop is going to be about the same overall. It’s an excellent crop this year...it helps us keep up with consumer demand, which is extremely strong.”
Figures from the NYAA report that New York’s 695 apple orchards produce an average of 25 million bushels of apples each year, on 44,000 acres. McIntosh is the most abundant variety grown in New York, with 17 percent of total apple production.
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