As fall approaches and leaves begin to turn, a young man’s thoughts turn to apples. One of autumn’s most time-honored traditions, apple picking, can be difficult for a city-dweller. Long drives to orchards and limited storage space can make bringing home a bushel a real pain in the peck.
Living on Atlantic Avenue, this reporter can walk for blocks without hitting a tree, let alone an orchard. Time and budgetary constraints being what they are, I decided to put a hold on my pastoral urges and pick apples here, right in the borough of Kings.
Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket
I started at the Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket, a Saturday institution where picking prime produce can become a blood sport. Luckily on the day of my visit, a downpour ensured that I had the entire Tree Licious Orchards stand to myself. Selling seven varieties of apples, from the ubiquitous Fujis and Galas to the royally named European Elstar, every variety of apple was less than $1.50 per pound. My favorite was the blood red Empire, a crisp New York classic, both sweet and tart, with the complexity and lightness of a good Blanc de Blanc wine. Seven small apples cost only $3.10 and were worth every penny.
The Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket (at the intersection of Flatbush Avenue and Eastern Parkway in Prospect Heights) is open Saturdays, 8 am–4 pm. For information, call (718) 965-8999.
Fairway
My next stop was the gigantic — but difficult to get to — Fairway Market. After a journey on the G train and the B77 bus, I probably could have gone upstate faster than to Red Hook.
The seven types of conventionally grown apples were immense, weighing in at over half a pound each. I picked out the biggest, a Double-D red and yellow Braeburn flown in from New Zealand. Listed at $1.49 per pound, it weighed over 10 ounces.
Moderately crunchy and pleasantly sweet in an anonymous way, its thick, slightly bitter skin was its most notable feature. Its small organic brother, one of eight certified organic varieties sold at Fairway, was $1.99 a pound but cost 11 cents less. Livelier and containing notes of banana and pear, it had a richness of flavor that the other Braeburn lacked. Overall, the selection is great but not worth the hassle of the trip.
Fairway Market (480 Van Brunt St., between Water and Reed streets in Red Hook) is open 8 am–10 pm daily. For information, call (718) 694-6868.
The Met
After the overwhelming abundance of Fairway, I went back to my neighborhood to see if a regular grocery store would be able to compete with a Greenmarket or gourmet behemoth. The Met on Fulton Street and St. James Place in Clinton Hill is just like dozens of markets throughout the borough; I go there for staples like eggs and garbage bags but rarely for produce.
They were selling six types of apples, each conventionally grown from anonymous sources and selling for $1.49 a pound. Unlike at Fairway, some of these apples were bruised and discolored but were proudly displayed along with the others.
Thanks to its “superfreshgrowers.com” sticker, the Golden Delicious looked like it might have been manufactured in a Tokyo factory but actually hails from Washington State. Surprisingly, it was juicy and fresh, with a honeyed sweetness. The Red Delicious (no relation but also from Washington) was slightly less flavorful, but it had a crunch that put it ahead of half the Fairway apples and even a couple of the Tree Licious ones.
Met Supermarket (991 Fulton St. at St. James Place in Clinton Hill) is open Monday through Saturday 8 am-11 pm, and Sundays 8 am–8 pm. For information, call (718) 636-1620.
