Friday, October 5, 2018

More on Apples

The more I dig into the production of apples around here, the more interesting the topic gets.  I started by asking myself why is Grey County (almost entirely the area around Meaford and Thornbury) the top apple producing area in Ontario, by a considerable margin?

 The only apple farm in the area that has a pick-your-own operation.

This region is tops for apples for two main reasons, soil and climate.  Apples like a sandy or gravelly soil, and don't like getting their feet wet.  They are most susceptible in spring if there is a late frost after the apples have flowered (as happened in 2012).  Here the soils are old glacial beach ridges, and the water of Georgian Bay has a moderating influence that delays blooming until the risk of frost is low.  A good combination for apples.

One of the new high density apple orchards, trees grown close together in espaliered style.

It's also important to understand that the apple market is actually divided into different sections.  Most Grey County apples go for juice (as do a majority of Ontario apples).  Among both juice and eating apples, only five varieties provide 75% of Ontario's production, and grocery stores tend to reflect this limited choice (Macs, Spies, Red and Yellow Delicious).  In fact there are at least 20 other varieties available, but they are grown in smaller numbers and in local areas.  To enjoy these you need to shop at farms and farmers markets.  We now always look for our favourite local varieties and enjoy the unique flavours.  As new varieties come on to the market, there are new possibilities.

Red Prince, one of the new varieties grown only here in the valley.

So next time you're looking for apples, check out your local farms or farm markets.


16 comments:

  1. I wish I had a good source for fresh apples. I'll buy mine at the store and make a bit of caramel apple jam next week when I get back home to the cabin. I have all my canning supplies there so it is easiest. Plus it makes our place smell so homey. - Margy

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  2. Gala, in many varieties of that name, are favourites down here, but so many new ones appear each year. Yours look like there was a bumper crop. On the tree or in a barrel or cask, beautiful.

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  3. Hope they have that orchard fenced! Beautiful espaliered trees:)

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  4. No apple farmers here but I do like apples. There are a few varieties that have been developed to grow here.

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  5. We have more citrus fruit growers here plus kiwifruit and avocado, not many apples sadly, but my favourite is rose, very crisp.

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  6. Our favourite is Honey Crisp when we get them.

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  7. I need to get some apples for my freezer!
    Thanks for a bit of the behind the scenes story. Those Red Prince look yummy and I do enjoy the Royal Gala.

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  8. Wonderful pictures of one of my favorite fruits. :-)

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  9. Our local grocery store was carrying Red Prince for awhile. It wasn't a bad apple. We saw that orchard with the espalier trees when we were down your way this summer. We had never seen them grown that way in Canada before so we were quite fascinated. There are a few good sized orchards here in the Ottawa Valley, but all conventional trees. The odd one has a little nook off in a corner with heritage varieties. When I worked for one of the orchards, that was def. my favorite place to hang out.

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  10. My cousin grows several different kinds in his orchard. He does cider too, but only for family as opposed to selling on the market.

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  11. I sure do like apples. Just finished eating one sitting on the porch. : ) My favorites are Honey Crisp.

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  12. Although I prefer large old apple trees, growing dwarfs on wire certainly is much more efficient. An old grower once told me he lost 10% of his crop for every step the pickers had to go up on a ladder. The loss was due to bruising; if a picker had to go up six steps, 60% of the apples were bruised and not saleable for eating apples, only cider or applesauce -- if that.

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  13. We too have orchards in our area. The ability to ship apples in from all over make our apples not so exciting. We have good apples but we too have cider made to of a lot of them. We have “pick you own: in a couple of orchards. Your apples look like they produced great bushels.

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  15. Interesting info. Meant to mention how nice it was to see Mrs. FG in the last post.

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