Hey B.C., how do you like these rare apples?
Northern Spy. Sweet Sixteen. Blue Pearmain. Karmijn de Sonnaville. Ashmead’s Kernel. Rose du Kluj. Gloster 69. Wolf River. Reinette Simirenko. Cox’s Orange Pippen. Belle de Boskoop. How do you like them rare apples? You likely don’t, unless you remember some of the obscure varieties growing up in another country, hang out at apple festivals or seek out an independent apple grower. A handful of those growers, like Jim Rahe of Annie’s Orchard in Langley, are producing apples that aren’t Gala, Granny Smith or Ambrosia, and are preserving those heritage varieties.
“I do it because I like growing apples,” said Rahe from his seven-acre property where he and his wife, Mary Ann, have been tending their orchard for 35 years. “I always have, since I was young.”
They once grew as many as 250 to 300 varieties and now have it down to 50. The Simon Fraser University biological sciences professor, 78 and retired, grows 60,000 to 80,000 pounds of apples a year, most sold locally.
“We hope that he never gives up on this Annie’s Orchard ‘hobby,’ as he is a conscientious and ambitious grower,” said Margaret Butschler, one of the apple buyers for the annual Apple Festival at the University of B.C. Botanical Garden (Oct. 14-15 this year). Without these independent growers, “these varieties would be lost,” she said. “It’s a lot more lucrative to grow grapes.”
Annie’s Orchard produces 50 varieties on about 1,500 trees and attracts loyal customers that include immigrants who stock up on apples every fall: The British for their Cox’s Orange Pippen and the Dutch for the Belle de Boskoop, which holds its shape for strudel, for instance.
“You can’t buy advertising like that; when they find us, they call everyone they know and say, ‘Hey, I found some Belle de Boskoop,’” Rahe said.
Lately there’s also been a high demand for juice apples for a growing craft-cider industry, he said.
Rahe, when he started out, didn’t have a business plan and, because he worked full-time, didn’t scaleup the business as other soft-fruit growers have, with pick-your-ownfruit, a restaurant, winery or small grocery store. The orchard nets less than $30,000 a year, but they don’t run it for the money; they enjoy fulfilling a niche market.
“Although, if we weren’t making money, we might not enjoy it,” he said.
While Metro Vancouver offers the right climate for growing some apples quickly — between 90 and 100 days and “nothing’s better than picking one off the tree and having the juice burst all over your face,” says Rahe — none of the big sellers like Honeycrisp or Ambrosia can be grown large-scale except in the Okanagan.