Apple picking season draws families to Garden State orchards

It is prime time for apple picking, and the Garden State is no exception to the fun fall activity.

News 12 Staff

Sep 15, 2022, 11:27 PM

Updated 599 days ago

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It is prime time for apple picking, and the Garden State is no exception to the fun fall activity.
Orchards are cashing in on the annual apple boom and people are coming to New Jersey apple orchards from all over.
Sammy Duraku and his mother come all the way from Queens, New York, to Battleview Orchards in Freehold every year and leave with enough apples to run their own farmstand -- except, they're all for them.
"They're fresh, they're good, tasty, delicious, I don't know what else to describe it as," Duraku says.
Peak apple picking season is always a big economic driver -- just ask the man who has "apple" in his name.
"Everything kind of leads up to this point," says Kyle Applegate, manager of Battleview Orchards.
Applegate is the fifth-generation farmer.
"It's a part of farming. You always want to do what your family did," he says.
As more and more families get out to orchards for fun and Instagram-able fall actives, apple orchards everywhere have kept up with the times.
"Years ago, you grew apples for the grocery store. Now we've moved more towards the direction of pick your own and direct marketing," Applegate says.
Families have a variety of apples to pick from, like Macintosh, Courtland and red delicious varieties.
According to the state Department of Agriculture, apples are actually part of the rose family, and they can grow anywhere in the United States. In the Garden State, one can find more than 30 different varieties.
"There's new varieties coming out every year and then there's still varieties that my grandfather grew that we still grow," Applegate says.
Applegate says apple picking is more than a fun social media post -- it brings everyone to where their food comes from.
"It doesn't always necessarily come from a grocery store. It does start here," Applegate says.


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