CHECK THE INFORMATION BELOW FOR UPDATES REGARDING AVAILABLE VARIETIES!
In this section, find detailed information about our Fall Harvest Apples, as well as information about how we store our apples and details about packing, as we prepare apples for our customers.
Fall Harvest Apple Varieties
Honey Crisp
NOW AVAILABLE
Cross between the Macoun and Honeygold. Large sized fruit with distinctive crisp texture, aromatic, juicy and a slightly acidic, sweet taste. Flesh is cream coloured. Best eaten fresh.
Mutsu (Crispin)
NOW AVAILABLE
Cross between the Golden Delicious and the Japanese Indo. Larger than average, it has a tart to sweet taste and firm texture. Ideal for snacks. Delicious in pies and chunky sauces.
Ambrosia
NOW AVAILABLE
It is a large apple with a bright pink blush over a creamy-yellow background. Ambrosia is crisp and juicy with a sweet low acid flavour. Excellent for eating fresh.
Gala
NOW AVAILABLE
A firm, crisp apple with sweet flavour and or average size. A yellow-orange ground colour with a red blush. Ideal for eating fresh.
Cortland
NOW AVAILABLE
A McIntosh descendant, Cortland is a cross between the Ben Davis and McIntosh. Large globular shape with red-orange stripes. Mild, sweet taste and crisp texture. Excellent for salads and fruit plates; resists browning. Good for pies and sauces.
Golden Delicious
NOW AVAILABLE
Introduced in 1916 and originated in West Virginia as a chance seedling. Firm and juicy. Slices keep their shape when baked in pies. Favourite choice for snacks and applesauce.
McIntosh
NOW AVAILABLE
The McIntosh apple was discovered in 1800, in Ontario. Medium size with an irregular round shape, it is a green apple with a red splash and white, juicy flesh. Mildly tart, with sweetness as it ripens. Excellent for sauces, pies or eating fresh.
Red Delicious
NOW AVAILABLE
Large size, firm, sweet and juicy. Dark red colour and elongated shape. Excellent in salads but not recommended for cooking.
Empire
NOW AVAILABLE
Cross between the McIntosh and Red Delicious. Slightly tart; juicy, firm and crisp. Ideal for snacks; makes great applesauce.
Ida Red
COMING SOON
Cross between the Jonathan and Wagener. Medium to large with round to flat round shape. Tart; keeps its flavour when oven baked. Ideal for eating fresh or oven baking.
Fuji
NOW AVAILABLE
Cross between a Delicious and Ralls Janet. Medium to large size; firm and greenish pink in colour with white flesh. Great for eating fresh.
Jonamac
NOW AVAILABLE
A cross between Jonathan and McIntosh apples, Jonamac is closer to a McIntosh in terms of flavor, just a bit sweeter. Jonamac is known as a great eating apple.
JonaGold
NOW AVAILABLE
Cross between the Golden Delicious and Jonathan. Large, round to round conic in shape with medium orange-red to red blush over faint striping and green-yellow ground colour. Firm, slightly coarse texture. Great for eating fresh and cooking.
Spartan
NOW AVAILABLE
Cross between the McIntosh and Newtown, this apple originated in British Columbia. Medium sized red variety. Delicious fresh apple but makes a great pie filling, too.
Northern Spy
NOW AVAILABLE
Distinguished by bright red stripes and an elongated shape. Large, crisp and firm. Excellent for pies and baked apples.
Russet
NOW AVAILABLE
Sweet and tangy. A popular choice in Europe and one of the oldest Ontario varieties. Great as a fresh snack but also ideal for pie filling and applesauce.
Golden Gala
NOW AVAILABLE
Aurora Golden Gala™ apples are medium to large with cream to yellow colored skin. The flesh is very crisp and juicy. The Aurora Golden Gala™ apple is sweet, mild, and fresh in flavour. Known to be a great dessert apple that holds its shape well when cooked.
Salish
NOW AVAILABLE
Salish originated from a cross between Splendour and Gala. It is a firm, juicy medium-sized apple. Salish is a sweet and tangy eating apple.
Granny Smith
NOW AVAILABLE
Granny Smith is a hard green apple with crisp white flesh. It has a distinct tangy flavour along with decent sweetness.
Cripps Pink
COMING SOON
The Cripps Pink (sister strain to Pink Lady) is a small to medium apple with a distinct pinkish tone to the skin. This apple is small to medium in size. It is a crunchy apple with a sweet-tart flavour.
Sweet 16
NOW AVAILABLE
The Sweet 16 apple is a crunchy, juicy eating apple. It is sweet apple that is good for eating and cooking.
Want to find out more information about Ontario apples?
Contact the Ontario Apple Growers: https://onapples.com/
See the Apple Usage Guide for more details about individual varieties: https://onapples.com/apple-usage-guide
The descriptions for the apple varieties listed above were taken from the Ontario Apple Growers website.
Storing Our Apple Crop
Cold Storage
Keeping our apples fresh is a priority for our customers. We store about 1000 bins of apples in large coolers known as cold storage rooms. The temperature in these rooms is maintained at 32 degrees Fahrenheit or 0 degrees Celsius. (Apples freeze at 29 degrees Fahrenheit or -1.7 degrees Celsius) Apples will stay fresh in these rooms until January or February. For long term storage of apples, we use our Controlled Atmosphere (CA) rooms. Continue to read the information below to learn more about this effective form of storage.
Controlled Atmosphere (C.A.) Storage with SmartFresh Technology
For long term storage of our apples, we use Controlled Atmosphere (CA) storage. Most of the oxygen is drawn out of these rooms to lower the rate of respiration of the apples. After a 90 day period, these apples may be removed from the room where they will taste as crisp as the day that they were picked off the tree. This process allows us to keep and sell quality apples all year long. We store about 1000 bins of apples in CA storage every season. Apples are stored in CA airtight rooms at a temperature of 33-36 degrees Fahrenheit, depending on the variety.
TIP: The most effective way to store your apples is in an airtight plastic bag in your refrigerator. Take out a few at a time when you are ready to use them.
Learn more about the process involved in keeping apples fresh year round
The air that we breathe about is 20.6 % oxygen and approximately 78% nitrogen. The air compressor takes the regular air and puts it over to the nitrogen generator, which separates the oxygen and nitrogen from each other. The nitrogen gets pumped into the room and oxygen is exhausted into the atmosphere. This slows down the breathing rate of the apples and basically, “puts the apples to sleep”, so that they do not ripen. You can see from the sign above, that the quality of air in a C.A. room will not support human life, this is because there is not enough oxygen in the room for a human to survive for more than 45 seconds. *Under strong surveillance, a room is monitored for 24 hours after it is opened, to ensure that the proper atmospheric pressure is present, before entry is allowed.
The carbon dioxide is monitored in a room at 2.5%, this is achieved by running the air in the room through a charcoal scrubber. The charcoal will scrub the carbon dioxide out of the room.
Control Panel
The control panel measures the oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide levels in each of the CA rooms.
Nitrogen Generator
Compressor to run the nitrogen generator
Carbon Dioxide Scrubber - contains charcoal
Apples are washed in preparation for packing.
Apples on the conveyor belt will be packed after being washed and dried. Now they are ready for our customers.
Preparing apples for our customers
After the apples have been picked and come out of storage, it is time to prepare them for packing. A bin of apples is submerged into the tank of water that you see in the video to the left. After the apples are washed, they receive a thin coat of vegetable wax before they travel through a dryer. Once the apples are dry, they travel onto a conveyor belt where they are packed by the Delhaven staff. From this point, the apples are ready for our customers to enjoy!
Packing apples - apples are packed into different sized bags or bushel boxes. Some apples will be sold in our own market, while others are shipped to other farm markets and stores around the province.
After the apples are washed and dried, they come out onto the conveyor belt and they are ready to be packed.