While the rains have officially arrived and the days have darkened, there’s still fresh fruit to eaten, stored, baked, and enjoyed. One of our favorite late-season fruits is the Melrose apple. It’s a cross of Jonathan and Red Delicious apples, and was first developed in Ohio in 1944.  

Here at Cloud Mountain, we have 34 trees, planted in 1986. We harvest over 2,500 lbs of Melrose apples each year! They’re some of our oldest trees still in production. 

Stop by the farmers market or on-farm during open hours and pick up some Melrose apples to try yourself. They’re one of the best storage apples, and their sweet fruit develops flavor in storage. In fact, they’re sometimes referred to as a “Christmas Apple” because the flavor develops over time and is believed to be best when stored and eaten in December. 

Nothing like a delightful, crunchy apple (or apple pie… or cake… or muffin…) to soothe the PNW rainy blues!