A good year for apples, any way you slice it

Conditions from summer through early fall ensure bumper crops at area orchards

A crate of Akane apples at the Copley Square farmer's market. (Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff)

Autumn is defined by fresh apples, heavy with juice and still bearing a misty bloom, picked from the branch, filling your mouth with the flavor of the season. Local orchardists are unanimous that this year's crop is not to be missed. One says the fruit is "bursting with juice."

An afternoon spent picking your own apples is as much a part of fall as raking leaves. This year, the good crop comes from heavy rains in early summer, followed by sunny days and chilly nights. The pattern dealt a blow to ground crops, but tree fruits are making their finest showing in years. Old standbys such as Macs and Empires are exquisite, say the growers, and the new favorite Honeycrisp is poised to convert more followers with its firm flesh and outstanding flavor. A tour of orchards along the 495 corridor proves there are more than a few varieties that are worth a taste this year.

In Amesbury, Glenn Cook of Cider Hill Farm tends 30 acres with 65 apple varieties and "just about every one is on," he says, from the standard to the obscure. Melrouge, for instance, isn't a pretty apple, but beneath its "scarfy, antiquey" skin it has an unusual, acid flavor. For pies, Cook waits until October for Spigold, a cross between the classic baker Northern Spy and Golden Delicious. If it's a long-keeper you want, hard-fleshed Arkansas Black, with its merlot-colored skin, can sit on a windowsill for months and stay firm. "We took one bowling once," says Cook. "Strike every time."

This year's crop, says Carl Hill of Kimball Fruit Farm in Pepperell, needed a little extra care. While rain keeps trees stress-free, damp weather can make them susceptible to disease. To prevent blemished fruit, Hill pruned foliage back during the summer to improve air circulation and keep leaves dry. His 500 Honeycrisp trees thrived and they've produced 600 bushels of fruit.

The cluster of orchards just south in Stow faced an additional challenge: a bout of mid-summer hailstorms put a small dent - literally - in otherwise perfect apples. The storms came after the fruit began to set, but Linda Mikoski of Derby Orchard says the damage is only cosmetic. About 90 percent of their apples show evidence of the storm, but the flavor is all there. Fruit too blemished to sell goes into the orchard's cider press. To a thirsty apple picker, this is liquid gold.

In Holliston, the orchards escaped storms, and Highland Farm's 5,000 dwarf trees are on a trellised system, so the apples are within easy reach of the youngest pickers. Grower Bill Hennessey's picks are Pink Lady and Fuji, which typically come from New Zealand, but are great right off the tree.

Sweeping further south to Franklin, where Charlie Koshivas runs Fairmount Fruit Farms, cool nights have put the operation about a week behind schedule. Crispin and Fortune are making superior pies, and for the baker, the huge fruits this season mean less peeling and coring for a heap of filling.