Hours

Weekend of 10/9

taproom

3-8 Thursday

3-8 Friday

11-7 Saturday

11-6 Sunday

12-5 Monday

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 10/9

A wide range of apples are available this week—25 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:

Mutsu aka Crispin: New this week! 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: New this week! 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: New this week! 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

● Royal Empire: Supposedly an improved strain of the original Empire, this sport colors redder and comes on about a week or so later than the original Empire. Crisp, juicy, sweet and tart in flavor. A really beautiful New York apple. These four rows are found way on top of the hill behind the peach block. These trees are some of the oldest trees on the property, planted in 1984 by Karen and Dave Fraleigh alone, sometime soon after they were married.

● Jonagold: A cross between Jonathan and Golden Delicious. Released by the NYS Agricultural Experiment Station in 1968. Large and dark-red streaked over yellow background. Very sweet and crisp. 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.

● Macoun: This cross between McIntosh and Jersey Black was developed at the NYS Agricultural Experiment Station beginning in 1909 and released commercially in 1923. Dark purple skin, white flesh with a sweet and slightly tart flavor. Best eaten fresh but they are also good in the kitchen. I love that this apple has a cult following amongst the older crowd. This variety is located up the main orchard road, the first two rows on the left side in the Farm Stand Block. The seven trees on the left of the main orchard road There is also another row in the Lower Center Hill Block, three rows up from the pond that is on the way to the blueberries. *The darker colored fruit will be more ripe.

● 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. We will also harvest some of these to have available pre-picked in the farm stand. *The darker colored fruit will be more ripe.

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

● Idared: New this week! A cross between Jonathan x 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: New this week! 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: New this week! 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: New this week! 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.

● Ludacrisp: New this week! A recent introduction by MAIA (Midwest Apple Improvement Association), this apple comes from an open-pollinated Sweet 16. Mostly crimson-red skin skin with some light streaking. Crisp yellowish flesh that is full of sweetness and a little tartness and is full of tropical flavors. 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.

● Crimson Gold (Svatava Cv.): New this week! An apple from the Czech Republic. Originally named Svatava and later marketed as Crimson Gold. Red-striped over red and orange skin, over a yellow background. Crispy, juicy, creamy colored flesh. Balanced sweet and acidic flavor. A very nice eating apple. Limited quantities.

● NY 428: New this week! 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.

● Pomme Gris: An old apple no matter if you take the European story placing it in the 1600s, or if you'd rather believe the Canadian origin story placing it in the 1800s. A richly flavored piece of fruit that is high in sugar content, with a balanced acidity. Aromatic, sweet, nutty, with hints of vanilla. Limited quantities.

● Spartan: A cross of McIntosh and Yellow Newton made at the Dominion Experiment Station in British Columbia, Canada. Medium sized fruit, skin bright red, heavily washed with dark red. Beautiful fruit. Similar in flavor as McIntosh, maybe a little more vinous in flavor, but juicy, subacid, and pleasant to eat fresh or cook with.

● Jonamac: Introduced in 1944 at the NYS Agricultural Experiment Station. A cross between Jonathan and McIntosh. Acidic and slightly tart now, and in the next couple of weeks as the fruit hangs, they develop some sweetness and more balanced flavor. It turns out these trees are some of the oldest here on the farm, planted in 1978 and 1979. 

● Early Fuji: This sport of the original Fuji that ripens later in the Fall was found on a limb with the mutation in a Fuji orchard in Washington and patented in 2000. Creamy-colored firm flesh and very sweet. Similar in flavor but ripens about 5 or 6 weeks before the original Fuji.

● Cortland: A cross between Ben Davis and McIntosh, released to the public in 1915, and was the first apple released by the NYS Agricultural Experiment Station. Named for Cortland County, NY. Large, dark red skin, and soft creamy-textured white fleshed apple. Complex sweet/tart flavor. Good for fresh eating, best in sauces, pies, and salads.

● Royal Court: A limb sport of the original Cortland discovered in Nova Scotia by Jacob Hartenhof. A relatively large apple with dark red to purple skin and white flesh. Complex sweet, tart flavor. Very aromatic. 

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 (WineCrisp, Pink Lady, Keepsake, and Granny Smith) coming soon.

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.