It's the middle of apple-picking season in Hamilton. More than one local apple grower contacted Wednesday sounded harried, a busyness endemic to harvest time.
At Carluke Orchards in Ancaster, owner Alan Inksetter still has over a week to wait until his favourite variety is ready: the Mutsu, sometimes known as the Crispin.
The season is shaping up well, he said.
"Everything's so far, so good," Inksetter said.
Inksetter grows more than a dozen varieties of apples, many of which he invites people to come pick themselves. Up next on his harvest schedule: the Jonagolds, a mix of the Jonathan and Golden Delicious varieties.
'Taste and colour are great'
The Ontario Apple Growers say the sunny weather over the last couple of weeks has given an extra boost to farmers for an "excellent" apple crop in 2014.
There are 15 commercial apple varieties grown in Ontario, said Ontario Apple Growers spokeswoman Kelly Ciceran.
"Taste and colour are great and there is going to be lots of apples available this year," she said. "We are projecting a 7.7 million bushel crop but will still need to wait and see what is actually harvested."
That translates to an average-sized crop, about 4 percent down from last year's, but significantly up from 2012's terrible year.
Crafting an appealing apple
A team of researchers at Vineland Research and Innovation Centre in Niagara is working on crafting signature apples that Ontarians will love.
A focus group tastes varieties and ranks them based on 20 sensory attributes, like how crisp, mealy, juicy, sweet and tart they are. Then the Vineland team takes the most popular varieties and cross-breeds them, hoping to end up with signature strains in a few years.
"We take apples that we know that have attributes we know consumers like and cross them, making designer crosses to get at what the consumer wants," said Lana Culley, Vineland's director of business development.
She said Vineland also has a scout who monitors apple varieties that hit the scene around the world, like the Honeycrisp developed in Minnesota that's one of the most popular apples now. That could help Ontario growers catch up more quickly with local production of the next "niche" apple, she said.
What's your favourite variety of apple?
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