Why you can get apples all year round, even when they’re only harvested in the Fall
WOLCOTT, N.Y. (WROC) — While there are plenty of u-pick apple orchards around Rochester, as you venture out further while there are still orchards, most of them are wholesalers. Providing fruit to places like Wegmans, and other regional chains such as Publix. Year in and year out though, almost no matter what time of year, there are always apples in the store. Which leads many to ask, if they all got picked in the fall, how are they here now?
According to Austin Fowler, the Vice President of Fowler Farms in Wolcott, while they store them cold, it's a bit different than you're fridge at home.
"What we do with with a low oxygen storage, we can in fact slow the respiration rate of the fruit down and put the apples asleep and then wake them up, you know, 10, 12 months down the road and have a fantastic eating experience."
To push the oxygen levels down more nitrogen is pumped into the room to adjust the concentration. On average oxygen makes up 21% of the air we breathe, in these rooms it's down to as low as 1%.
Apple picking: Open farms near you for the upcoming season
"Storage is really the key. Maturity, getting the right fruit in the right spot at the right time is really where it's at. We need to harvest the fruit at the optimal maturity. Some of the apples are stored almost 12 months or more out of the season. So, it's imperative that we deliver the best eating experience," said Fowler.
With over 2500 acres of apples each season, it's not hard to believe that not all of them are going to go at once. Speaking of the season, it's a sliding availability for the freshest varieties as the different apples all reach maturity at different points.
"Obviously here in the fall there really is no substitute for a fresh picked apple," said Fowler. "Right now the best thing eating today is probably a sweet tango by far. It's kind of a new apple, but it's just outstanding."
In just a few weeks, another variety called snap dragon is on track to get picked. Snapdragon apples are more than just grown locally, they were also bred right here in New York at Cornell University. According to Fowler the apples they're picking now that aren't headed into storage can be on shelves as little as three days after they come off the tree, and despite some challenges it's a great year.
"The fruit is really great. And I encourage everybody to go out and try some apples this year. It's, it's a new year. We've got, you know, the apples are full of sugar, bricks, just awesome," said Fowler.
Fowler also mentioned to make sure to check the stickers on the apples when you're out shopping, apples from new york will be labeled as "Grown in New York", or if you know what farms are local the name of that farm should also be on there. That way you can be sure that your purchase is going back to local farms like his.
