Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
By Zander Frost, Chronicle Staff Writer
Apple orchards prospered again in the era of Covid.
At Hicks Orchard in Granville, owner/operator Dan Wilson said 2020 was abnormally strong. “We were wondering coming into this year, whether the last year was an anomaly…This year we found it has been at least as strong as last year.”
He noted, “Most of what we do is outdoors and safely distanced. At one point in preparing for last season, I even did the calculation to find out how many people we could safely socially distance in an acre of land.”
Nate Darrow, owner of Saratoga Apple in Schuylerville, said, “I can’t complain.
“I mean, we picked a lovely crop of apples. It did rain a lot, but apples are kind of a cool weather crop. They don’t mind getting rained on. It made the apples a little bit bigger than some times. But still very fully flavored.”
What’s the most popular apple? Mr. Darrow said, “Honeycrisp is very popular and Macintosh…there are two Mac crosses…Empire and Cortland. And it seems like people never get sick of those.”
He said, “The demise of the Macintosh variety has been talked about for many, many years. But it never goes away because people actually like it.”
Asked why Honeycrisp are noticeably more expensive than other apples, Mr. Darrow said, “They’re actually a little harder to grow.
“First, there was a scarcity thing, but it’s also that they ripen very slowly and gradually and we generally do five and six different labor intensive picks. Some of the older fashioned commercial varieties like Empire, you can pick in one or two passes.”
Mr. Wilson said supply chain issues are affecting orchards, too. He said, “We scrambled to get enough mix for donuts this year. Our supplier, Green Mountain Produce in Whitehall, did a remarkable job of kind of keeping just ahead of our needs for that. We’ve had a problem with getting packaging supplies, everything from bags to glass bottles for hard cider.”
“It’s always a surprise, though, from one week to the next, what we can’t get a hold of.”
Copyright © 2021 Lone Oak Publishing Co., Inc. All Rights Reserved
