By Jimy Beltran
Apple season is coming up soon so get your baskets and recipes ready because this year’s harvest will bring the best apples in recent years!
Because of our hot summer, growers expect to have their harvest ready for your pies and picking pleasure a bit earlier than the traditional NB season, usually just after Labour Day through the end of October.
“The apple crop in New Brunswick this year is going to be extremely high quality” said Andrew Lovell president of the River View Orchard in an interview with Fredericton’s Daily Gleaner.
Lovell said “New Brunswick has one of the best growing climates in Canada for apples”. Apple Growers of New Brunswick’s website said due to the unique micro-climates in Atlantic Canada, apples get a distinct taste with attractive coloration, making them unique in the international apple market.
Local Fredericton´s farmers like Wynn Everett, from Everett family Orchard, have been asked by residents from the capital region about their fruit. “The season is coming along; our apples are sizing up nicely” she said in the same article.
The NB apple industry has a history of 100 years of commercial production, but some apple farms date back to the 18th century. The industry exports more than 28 varieties of apples to destinations across Canada and the United States.
New Brunswick is home of 12 well-established apple growers and the government estimates the industry’s annual economic value to be three million dollars. Apple growers also rely on the sale of apple-based products such as apple pies, sweet and hard cider, apple juice, apple wine. Additionally, some apple farmers offer on-farm activities to the public such as u-picks, farm wagon tours and horse rides.
Local farmers like Everett are thrilled for the season to start “we’ve got beautiful apples out there, we’re just waiting for people to come and pick them” she said.
Want to know where are the closest u-picks and farmers markets? Search in our BuyLocalNB directory.