New York apple growers enjoyed a good season this year on the back of ideal weather conditions as well as good demand. For most growers, all apples were harvested a month ago and they are now busy packing and shipping them.
"We finished picking a month ago," said Paul Woolley, of Honeycrisp.com in New York. "The season was great and we saw good volume on all varieties. Fruit sizes were larger overall this year and growing conditions were great thanks to the weather. The fruit got lots of sun at the right time as well as water at the right time and were also not affected by any freezes."
Candycrisp apple "a chance seedling"
The Northeast region in the United States is well known for apple varieties such as Honeycrisp and Macintosh, but another local variety has emerged recently. The Candycrisp apple is a yellow apple that is related to the Red Delicious and has a sweet flavor profile. According to Woolley, it was discovered in a hedge row on a local grower's farm.
"The Candycrisp is a newer variety and we discovered it on Mark Greiner's farm among a block of Red Delicious apple trees," Woolley recounted. "It was a chance seedling and looks like a big Red Delicious that's been painted yellow. The Candycrisp is a very juicy apple that has no acid, meaning it has a high sugar level. The sweet and juicy flavor profile is making it popular for cooking, as it is sweet and retains heat on the plate longer."
"It is a later variety and we harvested it in the 3rd week of October," Woolley continued. "All the Candycrisps have to be handpicked as they bruise easily and therefore cannot run over any commercial graders. The Candycrisps are only available in limited amounts and we have sold them to some retailers in the region and you can also see them in farm stands around the state. They do store and ship very well and have been a great addition to our gift boxes."
Gift boxes help in gauging the market
A large part of Honeycrisp.com's apple business revolves around preparing and shipping apples in gift boxes. They ship them around the country and they have found them to be a reliable gauge as to what varieties of apples do well in particular locations. This has given them information that has proven useful when it comes to brokering to retailers.
"With our website, Honeycrisp.com, we ship apple gift boxes right across the country," Woolley said. "We are able to ship apples almost all year, usually from late August right through to June. We pack several different varieties as well as counts in a typical gift box, including many of our well known varieties such as Honeycrisp, Cortland, Macintosh, Fuji, Candycrisp, among others."
"The gift boxes give us the pulse of the consumers and the demand for particular varieties," he continued. "We are also a broker and wholesaler so we get a good feel of what customers are buying. It's very informative to see what is going on in a particular region and market. For example, we often get a lot of requests for Macoun apples from places like Texas and Florida. Certain varieties are very hard to find in such places and people that have moved away from the Northeast are looking for familiar varieties. This is just an example and it's something that allows us to get to know the market and to share that information with retailers."
For more information:
Paul Woolley
Honeycrisp.com
Tel: +1 (518) 695-4517