Apples are here, a little early

Despite the ups and downs of this year’s growing season, the local apple harvest has turned out to be pretty typical after all.

Even with the heavy downpours of spring, some overly dry patches in the summer and an autumn that has varied wildly in temperature and moisture from day to day, “We’re pretty much on par with the last five-year average,” said Cynthia Haskins, president of the New York Apple Association.

“We did have some farmers who experienced some challenges,” Haskins said. “For the most part, we have an abundant supply of all apples and all varieties.” At 28.5 million cases (boxes containing a bushel of apples each), the crop is a little higher than average, Haskins said.

The harvest began in the Hudson Valley region a week to 10 days earlier than usual, and some later varieties are coming in early and all at once, said Craig Kahlke, a specialist in fruit quality management with the Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Lake Ontario Fruit Program.

That has made it really important for growers to pick the apples at the right time, Kahlke said.

“Apples go from under-mature to overripe rather quickly,” he said.

Normally, no matter what happens early in the season, which begins in August and runs through late October, the late varieties follow the calendar rather than weather patterns, Kahlke said. Not so this year. Even the late varieties have been arriving early.

“This is an indication to us that a lot of these trees are really stressed,” Kahlke said. “That’s kind of a – maybe not a red flag, but a kind of caution… .”

A wet fall could affect the quality of fruit, but the apples seem to be bearing up OK, Kahlke said.

“A good chunk of apples go to the fresh-cut, or fresh-slice, industry,” he said. Rain-swollen apples are sometimes softer than usual and don’t hold up as well in storage. School lunch programs, McDonald’s Happy Meals and supermarkets all feature pre-sliced apples now, a more lucrative market for growers than selling apples for juice.

“But we’re confident that we can store the apples,” Kahlke said.

Unlike the No. 1 apple state — Washington — No. 2 New York runs out of stored apples each year. So now’s the best time for a really crisp eating apple.

Haskins said consumers can go to the New York Apple Country website to find places to pick apples or just buy them.

One trend in apple growing this year that’s destined to continue is planting varieties specifically for the hard cider industry, which favors the kind of bitter, sharp-tasting apples that aren’t grown for eating out of hand. Cider makers are starting to grow or work with growers to produce old-fashioned varieties specifically for cider.

A 2014 law making it easier for cideries to get started has prompted a 275-percent increase in cideries in New York, according to Jenn Smith, executive director of the New York Cider Association. There are now 80 of them licensed across the state.

She wrote in an email: “Each year we are seeing more cider apples in the crop. But demand is still outpacing supply!”

That’s good news for New York apple growers and growers in surrounding states.