May apple season begin!

The arrival of fall means one thing: the long-awaited return of fresh apples is here! Because there’s truly nothing better than a crisp, straight-off-the-branch apple, our partners are out harvesting daily to bring us the freshest possible fruits. If apple picking isn’t in the cards for you this year, this is as close as it gets.

Scroll through the photos from our most recent orchard visits to learn more about this year’s apple season and how our partners grow them responsibly!

Our partner orchards say no to synthetic pesticides. They’ve long since switched to organic farming methods or rely strictly on biocontrols to create healthy ecosystems in their orchards. On an impromptu bring-your-kid-to-work day, Joé tagged along to Verger Maia (with mom, Yourianne, from the marketing team) to do some extra quality control.

In the orchards, it’s all about balance. When it comes to beneficial insects, our partners introduce just enough of the good bugs to make sure the bad ones do as little damage as possible. On top of that, each orchard has an array of other responsible tools like the sticky traps and pheromone ties you can find at Verger Maia.

Dozens of cultivars to come before the end of the season. Following the Quebec apple calendar, new apple varieties (like the Lobos Anais and Wendy from our purchasing team are harvesting and of course, taste testing) will be added to the Marketplace weekly until the end of October. Meanwhile, Warner’s Farm in Ontario is sending us the first of his 25-ish varieties so that we’re making the absolute most of crisp apple season.

Daily harvests for crisp, fresh-off-the-branch apples. Once harvested, our partners keep busy sending them our way two to three times a week! This means the apples go from branch to basket in less than three days - if you ask us, that’s as fresh as it gets without picking it yourself.

With how well they store, it’s easy to forget how short apple season really is. Most varieties are only harvested for three to six weeks - each ripening at their own pace between August (believe it or not) and late October. The season has started strong with Paula Reds, Lobos, and Ginger Golds, with more varieties like the classic McIntosh and fan favourite Honeycrisp coming soon.

No small or imperfect apple is left behind. Verger Maia and Warner’s Farm send us the best of their apples, using their not-so-pretty fruit to make freshly pressed farmstead juice while Domaine Labranche turns them into cider.

And remember folks, an apple a day!

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