A seedy proposition: Pick a peck of ap-PEEL-ing apples in Rhode Island.
It’s apple harvest time, and there are plenty of apple orchards with a variety of fruit ripe for the picking in the Ocean State. From North Scituate in the Northern reach to North Kingstown in the Southern breach, Rhode Island’s plentiful fruit growers offer a hard core experience to road scholars in search of a cheap thrill. Peel out for a family activity of apple picking by the basket or bushel, packing in a wallop of nutrients while you’re at it!
Though Rhode Island is not among the five apple producing states in the US (Washington, New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, California)—actually ranking 34th—it boasts plenty of apple orchards to shake tree-branch booty.
In fact, the official state fruit, the Rhode Island Greening, is an old, historic, American variety known since the 1650s. A large, round apple with flattened ends, its waxy skin is dark green, turning yellowish-green while ripening, and taking on a bronze hue when fully ripened. Inside, the yellowish-green flesh, it’s green and juicy. This apple has a very sharp tart and sour taste. The Greening is especially well-suited for cooking because it doesn’t get mealy during the process, and the sugar content intensifies its flavor as it bakes.
Since Americans eat approximately 19.6 pounds of fresh apples annually, just what are we biting into?
The apple is a member of the rose family with more than 7,000 varieties grown in the world. It takes energy from 50 leaves to produce one apple. Planting an apple seed from a particular apple will not produce a tree of that same variety. Apples were introduced to the United States via New York by the European settlers who brought seeds with them in the 1600s. There are apples which have an aftertaste of pears, citrus, cinnamon, cloves, coconut, strawberries, grapes and even pineapple!
Good to know—apples ripen six to ten times faster at room temperature than if they were refrigerated. Since fresh apples float because 25 percent of their volume is air, we can enjoy the pastime of bobbing for apples.
Just where do Rhode scholars and out-of-towners peel out to pick-your-own basket or bushel of appealing apples in Rhode Island?
Though I could provide a list of local orchards from “stem” to stern throughout the Ocean State, I’ve picked two hard-core harvesters which are the apple of my eye:
KNIGHT FARM (1 Snake Hill Rd., North Scituate) – A 40-acre farm founded in 1800 by the Iaciofano family with a combination restaurant, ice cream shop, and bakery.
http://knightfarm.com/#
NARROW LANE ORCHARD (213 Narrow Lane, North Kingstown) – Tucked away between stone walls along the lane, you could “narrowly” miss the orchard, owned and operated by the Greniers. One can purchase firewood, honey, flowers, or eggs at the small farm stand. The best draw is that the pick-your-own season includes twelve kinds of apples and fourteen kinds of peaches.
http://www.farmfresh.org/food/farm.php?farm=639
The Greening, apple of Rhode Island’s eye, is just one variety of Rhode fill. Get juiced and peel out to any one of Rhode Island’s farm stands to hand-pick appealing apples: Redfree, Gala, McIntosh, Cortland, Macoun, Liberty, Empire, Jonagold, Crispin, Fuji.
Whether it’s love at first bite or a fancy for cider, fresh-baked apple pies, or candy apples—remember, in Little Rhody the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
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My last shopping was in the 1990s, so I hope things are better now. But, back then, with no apples being grown locally around Houston, the store only had a few varieties… Red Delicious, Granny Smith, and Macintosh. A dangerous trend in food production that still continues.
It certainly is amazing that all of the apple trees growing in the North American continent came from Europe or Asia. So any other fruits and vegetables are also immigrants.
Ron