As part of their seasonal Apple series, the Press Herald has published a map of orchards that stock heritage apple varieties, a guide to when various apple varieties are in season and a new article by Sean Turley about heritage apples.
At the same time average apple consumers are strolling through orchards, there’s a manic search under way by apple obsessives on the hunt for unconventional and heirloom varietals that grow in small quantities across the state. Whereas most orchards in Maine grow only McIntosh, Cortland and, occasionally, Macoun, there are other orchards that provide a dizzyingly diverse array of varieties, from the latest creations provided by university agricultural experiment stations to apples that have been grown continuously in New England since the colonial era.