How do you like them apples?
Crispy? Sweet? Maybe with a hint of sour? The Cornell Orchard Store is now selling Honeycrisp (going fast), Sweet 16 (just a few), Gala, Ginger Gold, Jonamac, Macoun, McIntosh, NY 674 (now named Autumn Crisp), Shizuka – and coming soon are Cortland, Empire and more.
The Orchard Store also has a good crop of wine grapes available, including Finger Lakes Riesling, Seyval Blanc, Foch, Pinot gris, Chardonnay, Lemberger, Cabernet franc and Concord, as well as some hybrids that could go into a blended white or red. The store will even press the juice for you.
The store also sells:
• cider;
• such heritage apple varieties as Blue Permain, Chenango Strawberry, Maiden Blush, Northfield Beauty;
• grapes, pears, plums, potatoes, squash, sweet corn, gourds and pumpkins;
• Cornell maple syrup from Cornell’s Arnot Forest and Uihlein Sugar Maple Research and Extension Field Station;
• wool blankets from the Cornell Sheep Program, maple products, local honey;
• T-shirts, sweatshirts, caps, aprons, totes and mugs with the orchard’s logo; and
• Finger Lakes and New York state-produced specialty food and gift items.
The store sells apples usually until mid-April. In the winter, choice apples are preserved in a Cornell-developed controlled atmosphere (CA) room – a sealed cold room where the oxygen level is dramatically reduced to slow fruit aging and preserve fruit firmness, acidity, sugars and vitamin C.
Fruit with the CA label has higher nutritional and sensory quality than regular cold-stored fruit of the same age, according to Cornell pomologists.
Questions? Call or e-mail: 255-4542 or orchards@cornell.edu.
Hours: Tuesday-Sunday, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
Location: Rt. 366 (709 Dryden Road) across from the Vet School.
– Susan S. Lang