Apple Delight

There is also information for you-pick enthusiasts, as the official apple-picking launch was August 15. Julia Stewart, spokesperson for the association, predicts 2014 will be a great year for apples. “We’ve had fantastic growing weather: the right amount of rain, plus warm sunny days and cool nights,” which she says, has New York’s grower-shippers “well positioned for the future.”

Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania also produces a good-sized annual crop, coming in with 469 million pounds last year. Apples are grown from Adams County in the southern part of the state to Erie County in the northwest, covering all of the Keystone State’s 67 counties. Top producing counties are Adams, Franklin, Bedford, Berks, York, Cumberland, Lancaster, Lehigh, Snyder, Schuylkill, Erie, Lycoming, Centre, Columbia, and Chester.

More than a third of Pennsylvania’s apples are produced for fresh market with the rest going to processors. Top varieties range from commercial favorites such as Gala, Red Delicious, and Fuji, to the more obscure Smokehouse and Winter Banana.

Other Eastern States
Despite having some of the first apple trees in America, Massachusetts ranks far behind most of the country’s top apple producing states with 43.5 million pounds for 2013

Historically, apples were grown in the central and western regions of the state. Aside from Massachusetts, a few other New England states produce notable amounts of apples including Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

Vermont brought in 34 million pounds, Connecticut and Maine had 27 million pounds each, and tiny Rhode Island produced 2.5 million pounds. Other notable growers along the East Coast are Maryland with 33 million pounds and New Jersey with 29 million pounds. Maryland orchards are concentrated in Washington, Frederick, and some adjacent counties.

Down South
The South is not a significant growing region for apples. The highest producing states are Virginia with 195 million pounds, North Carolina with 135 million pounds and West Virginia with 95 million pounds; the only other notable producer in the region is Tennessee with 6.9 million pounds. Virginia apples are grown in the mountainous region of the north Shenandoah Valley through Roanoke Valley, Albermarle, Rappahannock, Patrick and Carroll counties.

Roughly 70 percent of apples in Virginia are grown for processing, and Virginia apples travel to 15 states and over 20 countries. Alternately, North Carolina production takes place in 5 main ‘areas’: Haywood, Henderson, Mt. Mitchell, Northwest, and South Mountain.