Fall Survival Checklist: Apple Picking Westchester

Apple Picking Begins August 31 in North Salem! Okay, so here’s how you do it. You get to the farm. You buy some hot apple cider and an apple cider donut. If the kids are ten or under you go on a hayride. Then you buy a bushel bag and you go apple picking. When you get home you put on What To Do’s Autumn Playlist and you bake a pie. “Shoo Fly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy, Makes your eyes light up, Your tummy say “Howdy.” That’s apple picking Westchester.

Ask the ethicist: Is it ethical to sample an apple right off the tree even if it you stuff your bag so high you are effectively not paying for your sampled apples? The ethicist says: “Not really. But try to keep it to one sample apple per person.”

Where To Pick Apples

Outhouse Orchards Corn Maze

Harvest Moon Farm & Orchard: Apple Picking begins August 31: Fall Festival weekends run every weekend and select dates in September  October with U-pick apples, pumpkin patch, hayrides, pony rides, face-painting, farm animals, bounce house, and great live music. Food too: apple cider donuts, brick oven pizza, bbq, and their smoked turkey legs, and farm store. Other vendors include dog treats, kettle corn, lemonade, funnel cakes, pumpkin cheesecakes, Italian cheeses and sausages, local French cakes and more! (130 Hardscrabble Rd., North Salem; www.harvestmoonfarmandorchard)

Outhouse Orchards: Apple & Peach Picking begins August 31: “Home of the Happy Apple.” (Gotta love it.) Apple and pumpkin picking, hayrides, and a new corn maze. Plus a farm stand, open through Thanksgiving, offer local honey and maple syrup and produce from their garden – especially leafy greens. Plus, Thanksgiving turkey and pumpkin cheesecake. (139 Hardscrabble Rd., North Salem, 914.277.3188; www.outhouseorchardsny.com/)

Stuart’s Farm: Apple Picking begins September 6. For straight quality apple and pumpkin picking in a low stress environment this is our favorite. They have dwarf trees so you don’t need an apple grabber. And their trees are grown in tight lines on flattish ground – making for very efficient yet still atmospheric apple picking. With hayrides and a farm stand with produce, cookies and pies. (62 Granite Springs Rd., Granite Springs, 914.245.2784; www.stuartsfarm.com)

Wilkens Fruit & Fir Farm: Tentative Start date for Peach Picking in August 17, Tentative Apple Picking Start is August 31: They grow apples, peaches, pumpkins and Christmas trees. Apple, peach and pumpkin picking (with tractor rides to the orchards), plus a market with cider, jam, candy, pies and apple cider doughnuts. Plus, cut your own Christmas tree. (1335 White Hill Rd., Yorktown Heights, 914.245.5111; www.wilkensfarm.com)

Where to Buy Local Apples

Salinger’s Orchard: Bruce Salinger grows and sells 18 varieties of apples, as well as pears, peaches, plums, nectarines, pumpkins, tomatoes and other local vegetables not to mention pure local honey. His wife Maureen, does the baking and makes “incredible fruit pies at incredible prices,”  including apple, peach, red raspberry, pumpkin and pecan. Your mom will love the apple strudel. Plus doughnuts, cookies, scones, and muffins. (230 Guinea Rd., Brewster, 845.277.3521; www.salingersorchard.com)

Thompson’s Cider Mill: Cider made at the mill,  pies and baked goods, an a wide variety of locally grown apples including many unusual and heirloom varieties. September favorites include Macoun, Gala, Arlet, Rhode Island Greening, McIntosh, 20-Ounce Pippin, Honeycrisp, Jonamac, Jonathan and Senshu. In early October you can find Jonagold, Mustu/Crispin, Gold Delicious and Liberty. The late season entries Winesap, Idared, Gold Russet, Arkansas Black and Newtown Pippin arrive between October 20 and 31. (335 Blinn Rd., Croton-on-Hudson, 914.271.2254; www.thompsonscidermill.com)

Apple Harvest Dates

Chances are you’re wicked proud just for finding the time to go apple picking every year. But apple aficionados know when to go to find their fave variety ready for pickin’. If you’re tired of shopping for Mutsus and coming home with Cortlands, here’s a guide to apple harvest dates from the New York State Apple Association.

• McIntosh:  Aug. 28–Sept. 16

• Honey Crisp:  Sept. 6–Sept. 30
• Cortland:  Sept. 11–Sept. 25
• Macoun:  Sept. 14–Oct. 3
• Empire:  Sept. 18–Oct. 10
• Red Delicious:  Sept. 18–Oct. 10
• Jonagold:  Sept. 26–Oct. 15
• Golden Delicious:  Oct. 1–Oct. 18
• Ida Red:  Oct. 6–Oct. 28
• Fuji:  Oct. 13–Nov. 1
• Northern Spy:  Oct. 20–Nov. 5

Some useful tips:

• Good storing apples: The later the picking date the better the apples store. Make sure to refrigerate early picked apples.

• Best variety for apple sauce: Cortland
• Best variety for salads: Cortland (stays white longer.)
• Best variety for apple pie: Ida Red, Jonagold and Northern Spy

Homemade Doughnuts

Freshly made doughnuts go hand in hand with a visit to the orchard. But if you’re not doing the apple-picking thing this season and just want the doughnuts, stop by Beascakes in Armonk. You’ll find old-fashioned cake doughnuts in several varieties: cinnamon sugar, plain glaze, chocolate glaze, powdered, and black and white. Tues–Sun. At 575 N. Main St., Armonk, 914.273.3612.

More useful tips from What To Do’s Fall Survival Checklist.

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