“We enjoyed ideal temperatures during harvest in September and October, and are seeing really nice color, flavor and quality,” said Catherine Gipe-Stewart, communications manager at Superfresh Growers.  The central Washington grower, based out of Yakima, is excited about its winter apples and expects to last all the way through storage season.

“Washington has a really good crop of apples this year,” said Mac Riggan, director of marketing for Chelan Fresh Inc. The Chelan, WA-based marketing team supports more than 300 family-owned farms specializing in premium apples. “Year after year, the Washington apple industry is providing more and more of the emerging varieties, with these new varieties taking up a greater percentage of the overall crop volume,” he said.

As executive director for Crunch Time Apple Growers, a cooperative of 152 growers throughout New York state, Jessica Wells leads efforts on the growing and marketing of two popular apples — SnapDragon and RubyFrost.

This winter the message is clear — apples are not just for fall

“We are always excited for this time of year; winter brings so many possibilities with apple promotions at retail,” said Blake Belknap, vice president of sales at Rainier Fruit. Rainier, based in Selah, WA, which is known for leveraging its extensive experience in organic fruit production and environmental best-practices.

Hudson River Fruit Distributors has been around for almost 60 years, and a fourth generation of the Albinder family is now running the company, continuing to satisfy the needs of all customers.

Despite the overall apple industry looking at one of it’s smallest crops in the last five to 10 years, Honeybear Brands production tonnage is up nearly 20 percent, according to Don Roper, vice president of sales and marketing for the Elgin, MN-based company.