I really liked living in Wenatchee with a bunch of Mexicans and the best apples in your life being given away for free and wondered if I could get a similar experience in another state.

25 comments

  2. The biggest orchards I know of are in New England, New York, North Carolina, and Georgia.

    But knowing California, they probably have even bigger orchards.

  6. New York. The Northeast in general has a huge “apple cider donut” culture that involves going to orchards and getting a kind of cake donut made from cider and spices like cinnamon.

  7. Lots of apple orchards in Connecticut. Never seen anyone giving them away for free though, usually you buy a bag and then go fill it up.

    Something neat is there seem to be a lot of heirloom apple orchards nowadays, I’ve had some incredible apples the past few months that had really different and delicious flavors.

  11. I’m pretty sure Washington is in a league of its own but New York has lots of orchards, too. I’d bet they’re number one in the northeast. There are orchards all over Massachusetts and Connecticut, too, but not on the same scale.

  12. Minnesota. Originator of a number of varieties, most notably Honeycrisp. Apples aren’t really given away though. The only time I can think of is the crabapple samples at the farmers market.

  15. New Jersey has a ton of orchards but you’re going to pay to pick at them. I don’t know any where you can get them for free.

  19. 32 states in the United States raise apples commercially. The top ten apple producing states are Washington, New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, California, Virginia, North Carolina, Oregon, Ohio and Idaho (U.S. Apple Association, 2021).

  20. Minnesota doesn’t have a huge abundance of apple orchards, but we do have perhaps the most important one! The University of Minnesota’s agriculture program has invented and propagated several new species of apples, including the honeycrisp.

  21. New York has a ton of apple orchards but you will have to buy the apples unless you’re lucky enough to know someone who has some trees. Any just picked apple from a properly cared for apple tree will taste amazing and you’ll never want grocery store apples again.

  22. New England and upstate NY have crap tons of small orchards. Cider donuts, apple picking, hay rides, corn mazes etc, are a huge thing to do in fall.

  25. When I was in grad school in Missouri we were close to a huge apple orchard and the fruit and cider were some of the best I’ve ever had.

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