During apple picking season at the beginning of each week we end up spending the early hours of the morning tasting the upcoming apple varieties in order to establish our pick schedule for the rest of the week. We start by first cutting each apple in half and looking at the seeds. Dark brown seeds are one indication that the apple is close to ripe. Then we taste the apple to see if the texture and taste is ripe. An unripe apple can have somewhat of a chalky texture. A few varieties actually have a spongy texture when they are under ripe and then firm up when they are ripe. Of course flavor plays a huge part on whether we think the apple is ready for picking.
This week we will finish picking the last few Sweet Sixteen and start picking Snowsweet, Smoothee, and Chieftain. We will also continue to pick Jonagold and Valstar. Smoothee is our first late season golden that we will be picking and it has all the great attributes of a good golden apple including its honeyed pear flavor.