It was still July, and New Yorkers were picking apples by the dozen at Samascott Orchards. Due to an early spring, farmers across the state are harvesting some of their crops weeks early. 

“The frost never came, and the crop is huge,” said Jake Samascott of Samascott Orchards. 

He explained the situation. 

“The apples only have one chance to bloom,” Samascott said. “Once the flowers freeze, there are no apples for the season and it’s definitely happening more often.”

It’s also giving fall lovers an early taste at some lesser-known varieties.

“Early season apples like this don’t store very well,” Samascott said. “We’re picking Jersey macs today. We won’t see them around much more than a month. They get soft, even in storage.”

The early harvest is welcomed not only by growers but others in the juice and hard cider space.

“It means we have less to store through the summer," said Alejandro del Peral. “It also means we get this really interesting quality juice this time of year, which is a blend of sweeter apples.”

Del Peral helped create Nine Pin, an Albany-based hard cider company. He is encouraged by an ever-evolving apple crop.

“The apple industry is working hard to come up with new varieties that ripen earlier and earlier,” he said. “In the last 11 or 12 years we’ve been in this business, this is by far the earliest we’ve ever had fresh apples available.”

It's a partnership that will feed off each other through the fall season and beyond.

“In New York, we’re a lot later than most of our southern counterparts,” Samascott said. “New Jersey is always ahead of us, so getting everything in a little earlier gets into market and expands possibilities.”