Member Login

Become A Member!

Cynthia is a Seattle-based food writer who specializes in Northwest food traditions. Her latest cookbook is Salmon, in her Northwest Homegrown Cookbook Series. Cynthia also contributes to a number of magazines, including Cooking Light, Alaska Airlines Magazine, and Seattle Magazine.

Apples are big business in Washington, no doubt about it. They've long been the number one agricultural crop in the state which, in turn, is the largest producer of apples in the country. The 2004 apple harvest of just over 3 million tons was valued at close to one billion dollars, about $250 million of which comes from export sales. The key commercial varieties include Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Fuji, Gala, Granny Smith, Braeburn, Jonagold, and Cameo. Enough of them are grown to supply large chains and big box stores across the country twelve months of the year - enough to make about 1-1/2 billion deep-dish apple pies.

But at the same time, apples are small business. A growing number of small farms in the state are avoiding the web-like distribution networks, instead selling their apples directly to consumers. Grouse Mountain Farm near Lake Chelan in Eastern Washington, for one, counts about 150 apple trees, with at least 15 different heirloom varieties that include Spitzenberg, Northern Spy, Gravenstein, Newton Pippin, and Prairie Spy. With such a small operation, "it lets us really fine tune things to what our customers want, rather than what the industry wants," co-owner Liz Eggers explains. They're catering to a niche market that appreciates distinctive, organic, small-farm-grown local products. Seattle's celebrated University District Farmer's Market has been their exclusive retail outlet for the past 13 years.

Les and Talea Price purchased an abandoned dairy in the early 1990s in Washington's Skagit Valley, about 70 miles north of Seattle. Today, their Jones Creek Farms grows peaches, plums, garlic, pears, and about 4 acres of apples. The Prices count an astounding 180 or more varieties of apples. In the next year or two, Les hopes to be hosting "walking-tasting" tours, so farm visitors can wander the orchard rows, tasting fresh picked fruit side-by-side to appreciate the difference between an Ambrosia and a Winter Banana, between a Hawaii and a Melrose, or a Calville Blanc d'Hiver and a Belmac.

Oregon's slice of the national apple pie is quite a bit smaller (they dominate in pears, however), with 2004 harvest figures of 80,000 tons valued at just over $26 million. But its role in the heritage of west coast apples is strong. Most Oregon Trail travelers in the mid-1800s were happy to arrive with their families and belongings intact. The 1847 arrival of Henderson Luelling's family featured a nursery wagon that carried hundreds of fruit vines and trees, jumpstarting the fruit industry in his new home. Among his early customers were weary-and hungry-Gold Rush prospectors who reportedly bought Luelling's apples for $5 apiece.

Today, the Hood River Valley area along the Columbia River east of Portland is where the bulk of Oregon apples are grown, key varieties there include Granny Smith, Fuji, Gala, Braeburn and Golden Delicious. Down in Medford in southwest Oregon is Fox Run Farms where Duane Goodman has about 215 apple trees. Everything he harvests is sold right there on the property, where visitors from May through December can take in the whole apple orchard experience...and just maybe take home a jug of their apple cider.

Apples may not be the first thing you think of when California agriculture comes to mind, but 2004 produced 195,000 tons of apples from their 27,000 acres of orchards, making it the fourth largest United States producer. The primary commercial varieties are Granny Smith, Gala, Fuji, and Pink Lady. Gravensteins are the hallmark apple of California, first planted in the Sebastopol area just north of San Francisco in the late 1800s. Many of the area's apple orchards have given way to vineyards over the years, and today San Joaquin County is the top producer in the state. Farmers markets, farmstands, and other close-to-the-source outlets offer apple lovers Spitzenberg, Calville Blanc, Cox's Orange Pippin, and Belle de Boskoop among the season's selections.

Apples provide liquid assets on the west coast as well. One notable example is the Eau de Vie de Pomme (apple brandy aged in French oak) made by Clear Creek Distillery in Portland, Oregon. Owner Steve McCarthy uses Golden Delicious apples from his family's orchard in Hood River, and plenty of orchards press their own sweet cider each fall, while some go the extra step to turn that into the Anglo-inspired treat of hard cider. Among west coast producers are White Oak Cider in Oregon, Westcott Bay in Washington, and Ace Cider in California.

Consumers may have tired of the common, everyday apple which we have come to consider a seasonless commodity, often insipid and uninspiring. But there's no better time to rediscover the all-too-uncommon experience of an apple plucked fresh from the tree: perfectly ripe, deliciously crisp and bursting with flavor.