Northeast Ohio’s favorite fall crop is hitting fruit stands and markets now through November. If you like apples then this is your time to check out the area’s best orchards. Pick your own or grab a bag and enjoy.
If you need suggestions for where to find locally grown apples right off the tree, go to ohioapples.com for a list of places to visit.
Some of our favorites are:
Hillside Orchard and Farm Market
Patterson Fruit Farm
Monroe’s Orchard and Farm Market
Here’s advice from Ohio Apples:
For the best apple experience, pick the right apple for the apple treat you are planning. Please remember that not every orchard grows every variety of apple, so contact your orchard to see what they have available, and what’s ripe.
| Variety | Flavor/Text | Eating | Salads | Sauce | Pies | Baking | Freezing |
| Summer | sour-tender | fair | fair | good | good | poor | sauce |
| McIntosh | spicy-tender | excellent | excellent | good | good | good | sauce |
| Jonathon | tart-spicy | excellent | excellent | good | excellent | excellent | slices |
| Red Delicious | sweet-rich | excellent | excellent | poor | fair | good | not recomm |
| Golden Delicious | rich-semifrm | excellent | excellent | good | good | excellent | slices/sauce |
| Law Rome | bland-milfrm | good | fair | good | excellent | excellent | slices |
| Stayman | spicy-firm | good | excellent | good | good | excellent | slices/sauce |
| Empire | tart-tender | excellent | excellent | good | excellent | excellent | slices |
| Melrose | crisp-mild | excellent | excellent | excellent | good | excellent | slices/sauce |
| Crispin | spicy-firm | good | good | fair | excellent | excellent | slices |
| Criterion | sweet-firm | excellent | excellent | good | excellent | excellent | slices |
| Fuji | sweet-hard | excellent | excellent | not/rec | excellent | excellent | slices |
| Gala | sweet-firm | excellent | excellent | not/rec | excellent | excellent | slices |
| Granny Smith | tart-hard | fair | excellent | not/rec | excellent | excellent | slices |
| Red Cort | tart-spicy | excellent | excellent | good | good | good | sauce |
