By PlantGraph
There's a reason Cortland has been grown in New York for over a century. Bred at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva in 1898 — a cross between the stoic Ben Davis and the beloved McIntosh — Cortland arrived in commercial orchards in 1915 and never left.
Two things set Cortland apart from the crowded field of apples bred in its era.
First, the flavor. Cortland inherited McIntosh's tart-sweet balance and tender, juicy flesh without the fragility that makes McIntosh so hard to grow commercially. It's balanced in a way that works for almost anything: salads, sauce, pie, fresh eating.
Second, the flesh. Cortland's white flesh resists browning far longer than most varieties — a trait that made it beloved by home cooks and caterers who needed sliced apples to stay presentable on a plate. Before the era of lemon juice spritzers, Cortland was the answer to the browning problem.
The Geneva experiment station — formally the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, now Cornell AgriTech — has produced more important apple varieties than any other institution in American history. Cortland was one of their first major successes, followed by Empire (1966), Macoun (1923), Jonamac (1972), and, more recently, SnapDragon and RubyFrost.
That lineage is something Western New York orchardists rightly take pride in. When you bite into a Cortland at a Niagara County orchard in late September, you're tasting 128 years of New York agricultural science.
In Western New York, Cortland typically ripens in mid-September through early October — right in the heart of the fall picking season. It keeps well in cold storage for up to 12 weeks, so orchards can hold inventory through the holiday season.
If you're heading out to pick, look for orchards in Niagara, Orleans, and Erie counties that list Cortland on their variety boards. It's almost universally grown — a true WNY staple.
Explore the Cortland cultivar profile to see its full lineage, trait breakdown, and which WNY orchards currently grow it.