Hours

Weekend of 10/16

taproom

3-8 Thursday

3-8 Friday

11-5 Saturday
Closing early for a private event

11-6 Sunday

Farmstand / PYO

3-7 Thursday

3-7 Friday

9-5 Saturday

9-5 Sunday

*Please refer to Events Calendar or Google listings (Farm / Cidery) for private event closures or special holiday openings which may occasionally affect these hours.

What’s Pickin’?

Weekend of 10/16

A wide range of apples are available this week—22 varieties between what we have available for pick-your-own and what we have pre-picked at the farm stand!

Apples

ELEVEN varieties of apples are now available for pick-your-own:

● Keepsake: New this week! This is the second year that we will be offering this variety for pick-your-own. Keepsake was introduced by the University of Minnesota breeding program (same program that introduced Honeycrisp, Chestnut Crab, and many other amazing apples) in 1978. It is a cross between Northern Spy and Frostbite, two incredible apples in their own right. Their offspring is really phenomenal. It is good straight from the tree, and it is excellent after some time in storage. It would be great to grab these, put them in the refrigerator and forget about them for a few weeks. It is a very firm apple, very sweet with molasses and cane sugar flavors, and also a little fruity flavor on the back end. Let's go! These apples can be found going up the secondary orchard road in the Pines Block, just below the Mutsu.

● WineCrisp: New this week! Released in 1990 by the disease-resistance breeding program at Purdue, Rutgers, and Illinois universities. Rough, matte, dark maroon, almost purple skin. The flavor is sweet and complex with a rich juice. Great for fresh eating and baking, as well as storage as the flavor only gets better. An amazing tasting and very durable apple. This variety is located in the lower Pines Block next to the Royal Court trees. 

● Mutsu aka Crispin: A cross between Golden Delicious and Indo. Released by the Aomori Apple Experiment Station in Japan in 1937. A sibling of Shizuka as they share the same parents. A large green apple with light yellow and crisp flesh. Extremely sweet and faintly tart. Great for fresh eating and noted for making pies. This variety is located up the main orchard road and is the last row in both the Center Hill and Pines Blocks.

● Fuji: A cross of Virginia Ralls Janet and Red Delicious, made and selected in Japan, and was introduced in 1962. Orangish-red, kind of pink colored skin, white flesh, crisp, juicy, very sweet, slightly sub-acid. Two rows of Fuji can be found on the eastern side of the Pump Pond Block, between the old strawberry field and the Gala rows.

● Fortune: A cross between Schohairie Red Spy and Empire made in Geneva, NY at the Agricultural Experiment Station and introduced in 1995. Also known as NY 429. Large to very large fruit in size, mostly red in color, creamy colored flesh, crisp, subacid, and slightly aromatic. Such a wonderful apple and oh so susceptible to the bitter rot fungus due to its tender thin skin. Most farms ripped these out of the ground soon after they started bearing and began calling the variety "Misfortune". We have done our best with this variety and there are some very nice fruits on the trees. This single row can be found in the Lower Center Hill Block, 5 rows up from the pond by the blueberries.

● Jonagold: A cross between Jonathan and Golden Delicious. Released by the NYS Agricultural Experiment Station in 1968. These large dark-red streaked over yellow background apples are very sweet and crisp. Beautiful and tasty. Not great for storage, but great for baking. Although not very complex in flavor, Jonagold is a pretty exceptional piece of fruit for eating fresh. This variety is located in the Seymour Block, which is all the way up the hill, to the right, on the back of the property, right next to Phil Seymour's old property. There is also a separate row found in the Lower Center Hill Block, three rows up from the pond. 

● Cameo: Discovered as a chance seedling in between a Red Delicious orchard and a Golden Delicious orchard in Washington State in 1987. Red streaked skin over a green, sometimes orangish background. Sweet, mildly tangy flavor. Good for fresh eating, salads, and baking. A great storage apple. This variety is found up the main orchard road on the left in the Farm Stand Block, rows 3 and 4.

● Golden Delicious: No crosses here. A chance seedling found on the Mullins' property in West Virginia and first marketed in 1914. A fairly large and conic apple with light green to yellow skin. Very sweet in flavor with some complexity to the sweetness—somewhat fruity with a touch of honey flavor when fully ripe. Great for fresh eating, sauces, and salads. This variety is found up the main orchard road on the left in the Farm Stand Block, rows 5 and 6.

● Red Delicious: This variety had a 50-year streak of being the most propagated variety in the US and needs little introduction. Dark red skin and yellow flesh. Sweet flavor. Some people love them, some people don't. I will attest that when pressed, it has been some of the sweetest tasting juice of the culinary varieties found here. This variety is located in the Pines Block. One in the Lower Pines Block, between the Royal Court and Cortland rows.

● Shizuka: A cross between Golden Delicious and Indo, this modern Japanese apple is light green turning slightly yellowish with a crisp and light texture. A sibling of Mutsu. Large fruit amd very sweet, almost no noticeable acidity. Turns color from green to light green to yellow. The two rows of this variety are located up the main orchard road on the right, just above (East of) the Honeycrisp. *The lighter colored green fruit will be more ripe. Similar to how the Ginger Gold ripens.

● Empire: A cross of McIntosh and Golden Delicious, made in 1945. The seed was produced in Claverack, NY (about 20 minutes drive north of here), then propagated in Geneva, NY by Roger D. Way and introduced in 1966. Creamy white flesh with both a sweet and tart flavor. Juicy and crisp. Good for fresh eating, salads, baking, and sauces. This variety is located up the main orchard road on the right. There are two rows below the Jonamac and two rows above the Jonamac. *The darker colored fruit will be more ripe.

We will have eleven more varieties of apples pre-picked at the farm stand:

● Esopus Spitzenburg: New this week! Originated in Esopus, NY and know prior to 1776. Believed to be Thomas Jefferson's favorite apple. Usually medium-sized, with greenish yellow skin covered with varying shades of red. Sometimes waxy, sometimes matte finish. Beautiful russet dots and lenticels. Yellowish flesh, with a supremely divine flavor. Sweet and sharp in all of the best ways. Multi-purpose excellence—it eats wonderfully, cooks well, dries amazingly, makes excellent cider. This apples does it all and at the highest standards. Limited quantities.

● Golden Russet: New this week! Originated in Burlington County, New Jersey in the late-18th century. Mostly russeted skin, sometimes with a golden blush on the sun facing cheek. Greenish-yellow flesh with that is crisp, juicy, and aromatic. Sweet with some acidity. A real classic apple that we are fortunate to still have after all these years. Another very versatile fruit that shines for fresh eating, in the kitchen, and cider-making. Limited quantities.

● Northern Spy: New this week! Originated in East Bloomfield, New York around 1800. You may have heard, "Spies make the best pies," or this apple being called "Northern Pie." This large apple carries a lot of sugar and a lot of acidity. Excellent for baking and applesauce, makes great cider, and eats well out of hand if you like an apple on the tarter side. Limited quantities.

● King David: New this week! Possibly a cross of Jonathan x Arkansas Black that originated on the farm of Ben Frost in Washington County, Arkansas around 1893. A gorgeous dark red/maroon skinned apple with yellowish flesh. Firm and crisp, juicy, aromatic, sweet but the acidity is bright and bold. Multi-purpose excellence - eats out of hand well, and excellent in the kitchen and for cider. Limited quantities.

● EverCrisp (MAIA1): New this week! A cross between Honeycrisp and Fuji developed and released by the Midwest Apple Improvement Association. It is what one may conjour up in their mind when thinking of the parents. Crisp, explosively sweet with a hint of tanginess. Stores extremely well. Limited quantities.

● Idared: A cross between Jonathan and Wagener, introduced in 1942 by the Idaho Experiment Station. A wonderful apple with perfectly balanced sweetness and tartness. Fine textured, white flesh, and tastes like an apple in the best way. Richly flavored and juicy. Excellent for eating, applesauce, baking, etc. Multi-purpose apple that does a lot of things really well. Limited quantities.

● Roxbury Russet: This is often believed to be the oldest named variety in North America dating back to the early 1600s in Roxbury, Massachusetts. White flesh tinged with yellow and sometimes green. Green skin that is smooth and often covered with greenish to yellowish-brown russet. Firm, somewhat coarse flesh, moderately tender breaking flesh that is juicy with a bright subacid flavor. Good for fresh eating, but it really shines in the kitchen and cidermaking. Limited quantities.

● Ashmead's Kernel: This variety has a cult following to say the least. Believed to originate in Gloucester, England in the early 1700s, it has traveled the world and has excited and enarmoured many an apple lover. Medium-sized apple that has a honey colored russet usually tinged orange on one cheek. INTENSE sweetness (not a usual sweetness when we think of sweet apples) and acidity (not the usual tartness when we think of tart apples) combines to offer a mind and mouth altering experience. It is not for those who want an easy eating apple, but is an exceptional and amazing experience to eat, cook with, and drink. Limited quantities.

● Winter Banana: This apple originated on the David Flory farm in Cass County, Indiana around 1876. It is a strikingly beautiful apple with a waxy light yellow background and a pink blush. After a month in storage (but doesn't store well into winter as the name might suggest), it tastes sweeter and there is the faintest hint of banana flavor. Not great in the kitchen. All in all, it is a stunner on the eyes and after a month in storage is a great eating apple. Limited quantities.

● 20 Ounce: New this week! Originated on the farm of George Howland in Massachusetts in the 1840s. Very large green/yellowish skin, sometimes splashed with red or dark red streaks. Thick skin, moderately tender and mostly white flesh, juicy, subacid. An old favorite for making pies. Also great sliced with cheese.Limited quantities.

● NY 428: These are INCREDIBLE this year. Notes of banana, fruity, and super rich in flavor. It has the same parentage as Fortune. It never received a name because the breeders thought that it was too familiar in taste to Fortune and allegedly gets "greenish cork light spots". I haven't noticed them so much. It really is a remarkable piece of fruit and oh so beautiful. Limited quantities.

Pumpkins

Pumpkins are here! We source pumpkins from another local farm and place them in a freshly mowed field (between the larger Macoun trees that are on the left as you begin going up the main orchard road and the two rows of Macoun on the left in the Farm Stand Block. We have carving pumpkins as well as the small pie pumpkins. We will also have pumpkins at the farm stand.

On the Radar

More apples (Pink Lady, Granny Smith) coming the first weekend of November.

Join us in the taproom Thursday through Sunday through the harvest season for locally-crafted drinks and food pop-ups. Keep an eye on our events calendar for upcoming live music, featured ferments (tastings by other NYS makers), classes, festivals, ticketed dinners, and more. See you soon!

Browse our Food Vendor and Events Calendar.

See Rajiv Surendra’s recent visit to the farm for HGTV Handmade!

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Find Out More:

Address:  14 Rose Hill Farm, Red Hook, NY 12571

Conveniently accessible from I-87 and the TSP yet peacefully tucked away off the beaten track.

Directions from NYC: Take Taconic State Parkway N to exit 67 (toward Pine Plains/Red Hook). Turn left at NY-199 W. Enter Village of Red Hook, NY-199 becomes Market St. Turn right onto Route 9. Turn right at Fraleigh Lane. Make left into Rose Hill Farm.