Apple picking at Brace's Orchard | Jeremy's Journeys

LUZERNE COUNTY, Pa. — Last fall, Jeremy and his mother visited Brace's Orchard in Dallas in Luzerne County . With apple-picking season once again upon us, Jeremy takes you on a journey through the orchard.

Brace's has been around since the early 1800s. For nine generations, the Brace family has been picking apples.

Paul Brace, owner of Brace's Orchard, beamed with pride, "We've been farming for over 100 years, and in 5 years, we will be 200 years farming in Franklin Township. It's quite an honor to be able to survive all of the problems of being a fruit grower because you're at the mercy of mother nature."

It is 1 of only 2 family fruit farms still operating in Luzerne County, and is comprised of a sprawling 200 acres of land. 100 of those acres are jam-packed with peach, pear, and apple trees as far as the eye can see.

At Brace's Orchard, there's over 30 varieties of different apples, and the "honeycrisp" is the most popular. And it turned out to be the most popular with Jeremy and his mom as well. His mom was left speechless after crunching on a honeycrisp larger than the size of a grapefruit, picked right off the tree.

They were whisked on a tour of the orchard by Ron Wickizer, a longtime Brace family friend, and his faithful dog, Bella, who had become the canine orchard overseer.

Next up were the Rubymacs—a tart, yet sweet variety with a deep red skin and snow white flesh—a cross between a McIntosh and Rubinstar apple. As they approached the rows of "RubyMac" trees, Jeremy's mom remarked that they looked more like plums than apples.

While holding his dog Bella, Ron explained that RubyMacs were special for a number of reasons. "The taste! And the color. It's an excellent eating apple. Very good for sauce, very good for just about anything! Baking!" he remarked. Jeremy thought the RubyMacs were a perfect blend of sweetness and tartness.

Some of the apple crop was negatively affected by the weather in 2023. Despite all of the severe thunderstorms we had that summer, Brace's was spared from hail, which would have sliced through their apples as it fell. However, there was a frost in May last year. And that created something called a frost ring, a ring of scarred skin on the apple along the bottom.

Frost rings do not affect the taste of an apple. They form when ice wedges itself between the surface tissue and outer skin of the young apples just as they are starting to develop.

Ron also taught Jeremy and his mom the best way to pick an apple. Contrary to popular belief, pulling down is not as effective as pushing up, and twisting.

Along the way, they also tried the Macoun, an extra-sweet cross between a Canadian black twig and McIntosh, as well as an Evercrisp—a cross between a fuji apple and a honeycrisp. Each variety matures at a slightly different time during the harvest month of October, thereby extending the season.

Many of the tranquil rows of apple trees they have on the orchard are designated specifically for cider-making. Paul Brace explained that the harvests from all of the bigger trees on the orchard are for turning into cider. Many varieties are mixed together to create the mixture that we all know and love.

At Brace's, they use machinery to vigorously shake the trees, harvest the apples on large tarps, and press them into cider. For every 20 bushels of apples, they can yield 50 gallons of cider.

All of their ciders are "flash-pasteurized," or heated to 160 degrees and then quickly cooled to 40 degrees in just 6 seconds. The pasteurization temperature is just one of the characteristics that separated apple cider from apple juice. At 168 degrees, the color changes. 178 changes the color and the taste. Pasteurization at a temperature greater than 185 degrees creates apple juice.

In addition to the pasteurization temperature difference, apple juice is often from concentrate and doesn't contain any of the solids that apple cider has.

Inside their family farmhouse, they wash, brush, sort, and sell their apples, press and bottle their ciders, and bake goods with the fruits of their labor. At Brace's, the Honeycrisp is king. And they're more expensive because of how fragile an apple they are.

Paul explained that they're so fragile, he actually has to cut the stem. He went on, "It's such a long stem, when it goes through the grater, it punctures the apple. So you really have to treat honeycrisps with more care."

Honeycrisps are used for their homemade pies and for their caramel and chocolate apples, which fly off the shelves every holiday from Halloween all the way through Memorial Day.

Paul's sister, Linda Mancinelli, who also works at Braces, makes the baked goods as well as the coated apples. Holding a big honeycrisp coated in chocolate, she explained with a smile, "We start with putting a caramel finish on them, then we put chocolate, then we drizzle them with white and milk chocolate. So we start with a big apple and finish with even a bigger apple."

The only exception is the candy apple, which the honeycrisp does not work for. "Honeycrisp doesn't work for candy, for some reason, the candy doesn't adhere to the natural finish of the apple, so we use usually, Macouns, Macintosh, something like that with a smoother finish," Linda said.

As Newswatch 16 played in the background, which Paul says they watch every day as he sorts through his apples, he explained how every single person in the family pitches in to help the business run like a well-oiled machine, even his parents, who are in their nineties: "My father and my mother are still helping us. My mom actually peels the peaches for the top of our French loaf peaches. My dad picks all the grapes. He jugs, helps jug all the cider and my sister makes all the baked goods from dumplings, down to pies, down to loaves, down to cookies, they're baking right fresh. You could see them right in the oven. My wife makes all the donuts. She gets up at 3 o' clock and makes thousands of donuts a day."

Paul even offers a product from his orchard in memory of his late son, Paul Brace Jr., who passed away at 24.

Brace's offers a handful of hard cider flavors, the pride and joy brainchild of his late son, and develops a new flavor every single fall. The 2023 flavor was "Orange Creamsicle."

The Braces proudly plan to open a cidery right on the orchard for patrons to be able to enjoy their delicious and fresh concoctions this year.

"We really are fortunate for our customers and everybody who comes and supports us. Because without them, we are not here," Paul said with gratitude.