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Midstate apple crop could set a record

apples

(Harrisburg) — The fall season brings the start of football, less daylight, and brisk nights.For many midstate farmers, it’s apple harvest time and this year could bring a bumper crop.

Some don’t just call it Adams County; it’s also dubbed the Fruit Belt, for all the juicy goodness grown there, like apples, peaches, cherries and nectarines.

Right next door, in Mount Wolf, York County, sits Forge Hill Orchards, and sales manager Laura Brown is happy with what she sees.

“It’s looking very good, we’ve got a lot of apples in the sales room right now, the early summer apples: we’ve got some Ruby McIntosh, and Gala, and Summer Rambo and we also have a beautiful yellow apple called Blondee.”

Julie Bancroft, executive director of the Pennsyvlania Apple Marketing Program, says without any late spring freezes, the crop has been progressing nicely.

“The weather was incredibly favorable for really great color and delicious fruit and fruit size as well.”

The season runs through November, and more than 100 apple varieties are grown in the commonwealth.Bancroft says different apple varieties ripen at different times, so there’s no actual peak to the season.

But a big crop also means more work.

“There’s a common misconception that apple harvest is an automated process, but literally every apple that a consumer picks up at a farm market or at a grocery store has been picked by a person, individually hand-picked,” says Bancroft.

The state is the fourth largest producer of apples in the country, behind Washington, New York and Michigan.

Recipes and tips on apples are available here.

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