It’s peak apple picking season in northern Virginia. I was thinking about posting tips for apple picking but found that there are already some excellent posts out there… my favorite is 10 Tips for Organizing an Apple Picking Outing with Kids. One of the tips is to plan to get lots of apples and plan what you’ll do with them. So, to help with those planning efforts, here is a list of apples ripe in northern Virginia in mid-September. We’ve added photos, descriptions of their qualities and tasting notes. Now you’re ready to pick lots of apples!
At Great Country Farms, all of our apple trees have been planted in the last 15 years so we are considered a “modern orchard” with dwarf trees designed for easy pick your own. No ladders required! Our varieties are names that you may not recognize but they have been derived from some of the best classic apples. Take a wander through our varieties below and decide which options are best for you and your family.
Candy Crisp Apples
Candy Crisp®
- Description: This glossy yellow beauty is shaped like a Red Delicious apple with the top wider than the bottom and knobs on its flooring.
- Parentage: This tree was discovered as a chance seedling growing in a Red Delicious orchard in New York. Hence, Candy Crisp is thought to be related to and has a similar shape to Red Delicious but the skin color is golden yellow.
- Tasting Notes: Firm, juicy and sweet with a somewhat pear-like flavor.
- Uses: Sweeter apple great for eating & dessert baking. Keeps well for 1-2 months refrigerated.
Jonafree apple on the tree
Jonafree
- Description: deep red with creamy, white flesh and crisp, juicy eating quality similar to old-fashioned Jonathan, with 100% Jonathan flavor.
- Parentage:Introduced in 1965 this apple was developed as a Purdue Rutger Illinois Coop from Golden Delicious, Jonathan and Rome Beauty PRI 855-102 x NJ 31
- Tasting Notes: Flavor is Jonathan-like, but less acidic.
- Use: Great for Eating and holds up nicely for baking. Great lunch box size apples.
Jonagold apple on the tree.
Jonagold
- Description: this lovely red apple often shows golden striations.
- Parentage:Golden Delicious and Jonathan
- Tasting Notes: The Jonagold apple has a balanced blend of both its parents’ flavors offering the sweet-tart taste found in the Jonathan and the aromatic honey-like scent of the Golden Delicious.
- Use: A great choice for cider, juicing and cooking. This apple stores well for 1-2 months refrigerated.
Ruby Jon Apples on the tree.
Ruby John
- Description: This more petite apples is deep red with creamy, white flesh and crisp, juicy eating quality similar to old-fashioned Jonathan, with 100% Jonathan flavor.
- Parentage:Sport (natural mutation) of Jonathan
- Tasting Notes: Biting in reveals, well, a Jonathan which is an old classic, sweet and balanced and cidery, with flashes of spice.
- Use: This smaller apples is great for lunches and snacks.
Shizuka Apples on the tree.
Shizuka
- Description: This tall, large, yellow-hued apple that is mostly yellow with some green or red flush.
- Parentage:Golden Delicious cross with Indo (Same parents as the Mutsu Apple)
- Tasting Notes: This descendant of the golden has an almost buttery flavor that is mostly sweet with a hint of tart.
- Uses: Eating, apple sauce and great for making dried apple rings.
Now that you know all about the apples ready to pick this season, here are some great links to Savor Apple Recipes and 15 Things to Do with all the apples you pick this fall. Enjoy!
The Wall Street Journal runs an article series called Second Acts, which profiles people who have taken up second careers later in life, and last fall they included Bill Bundy, our beekeeper, in that series. Julie Halpert’s 
According to Virginia’s Legislative Information System, “The bill authorizes the Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services to adopt regulations to carry out the purposes of the law and gives the Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services free access at all reasonable hours to any farm to inspect the farm and take samples. The Commissioner also is authorized to seize certain produce that he believes to violate the federal regulations or state law. The bill authorizes the Board to levy a civil penalty of up to $1,000 per violation, to be deposited in the Stormwater Local Assistance Fund.”
us at any time and confiscate produce that violates one of its strandards. So the question isn’t whether we should be subject to surprise inspection, but rather should inspecting authority belong to Washington or Richmond?
The simplest way to make the most of your group site is this: rely on each other. CSA people tend to be idealists who set the bar pretty high: we’re going to use every leaf of spinach and every broccoli floret to the greatest possible advantage, with no waste ever. New creative dishes every week, delicious ones! Yes we will love every vegetable we get, even the ones we’ve never seen before, and we’ll make our children love them too!
Organize a you-pick rotation. If you belong to a group site, you probably don’t live close enough to the farm to drop by whenever you feel like it, and that means you sometimes leave your you-pick bonus in the field because you just can’t get here. Help your group-mates out with that. With six members, for example, each of you would come to the farm and pick for the whole group once every six weeks. That way you get the bonus even when you can’t get to the farm.
