Let's keep the Daigo conversation going shall we? It is October, which is the perfect time to go apple picking. You can do a lot of fruit picking in Ibaraki, apples, pears, strawberries. It really depends on the season. But now is the season for apple picking. Whenever I want to go apple picking, my go to place is Toyoda Apple Farm in Daigo.
Toyoda Apple Farm
The wife, our friends and I went to Toyoda Apple Farm after our little adventure in Tsukimachi Falls. This wasn't our first time here. We had been there last year and had a great time. This place is probably the largest apple farm in Daigo and it is well known. A lot of people come picking here and not just only Ibarakians. Tour buses and school field trips from different prefectures also visit this farm.
Once you walk into Toyoda Apple Farm, there is an open space inside the main building which has a lot of chairs and tables for people to sit in and eat their newly picked apples. There are also a lot of different apple products that this farm sells like apple juice, apple pie, apple jam and apple baumkuchen (unfortunately this product is so popular it sells out quick. I have never been able to try it).
Try our apples!
The minute we walked in the staff gave us two complementary apples for us to try. We were also given a knife to peel our apples and a basket to put the apple skin into. The green apple is called Toki in Japanese and the red apple is Saika. We ate our apple slices and were in heaven. So fresh, so juicy and flavorful. The Toki apple was my favorite. My wife and I were both really happy we came. After we finished our delicious apples, it was time to go picking. The fee for going apple picking is 400 yen per person. We paid the fee first and were given plastic bags to put our newly picked apples into. Off we went to grab fresh apples.
Mame!
This is Mame, the cute puppy in Toyoda Apple Farm. He is super friendly with everyone, so everyone ends up petting and playing with him. The staff grabbed his leash and told us that Mame was going to go apple picking with us. I was really happy to hear that and kept playing with Mame for a while because I love dogs. He is such a cute dog...but he also has a dark side. I saw Mame destroy a grasshopper beyond recognition while we were apple picking. Don't even ask me about the frog he caught.
As I stated above, this place is huge. There are so many apple trees around the property that the ones in the back will probably take you some time to get to. There were a lot of apples to choose from. The wife and I had decided to pick three Toki apples and three Saika apples. I am posting this at the end of October so I believe the Toki apples are done this season but there still should be a lot of different kinds of apples to pick.
It took us less than five minutes to find our apples but we just really enjoyed walking around the orchard and occasionally stopping to pet Mame. The area is really beautiful and we really had a great time picking our apples. The other plus is this place is so big that social distancing will not be a problem.
Once we had our apples, we brought them to the counter to pay. If memory serves, 1kg of apples was less than 1000 yen. The apple types all have different price tags but Toyoda Apple Farms is really cheap. Especially for a family outing. With our apple picking and our 2kgs of apples, I don't think we went over 2000 yen. We also decided to buy an apple pie to take back home which was around 1,500 yen and we were given a complementary bottle of apple juice which usually costs 350 yen.
Delicious Apple Juice
The wife and I tried the Toyoda Apple Farm apple juice a few weeks ago and we both really liked it. It tastes super fresh and it doesn't taste like it has a lot of sugar in it. It was very refreshing, especially after a hot bath. I have to say this is one of my favorite apple juices in Ibaraki.
Delicious Apple Pie
Next, we come to Toyoda Farm's apple pie. I am skeptical when it comes to apple pie in Japan, but I like this apple pie. The crust is nothing to write home about but the inside of the pie is spectacular. The taste of apple is so rich and the inside has all the gooey apple goodness you want from an apple pie. Let's not forget the big apple slices which are always a plus. We were not going to eat this apple pie at the farm. So we brought it back home with us and bought some vanilla ice cream.
Best way to eat it!
This is my recommendation for eating Toyoda Farm's apple pie. First, put it in the microwave for maybe a minute. Basically, until it is warm, not hot. Then after putting your warm apple pie on a plate, dump your vanilla ice cream on top of it. Finally, dig in. The warm apple pie mixed with the cold vanilla ice cream is perfect. It just feels right and wholesome.
Back at the farm, we had finished picking our apples and buying our apple products. It was time to go. We made the trip back home to Tsuchiura thinking about what a really nice day and trip it all was. The waterfall with the amazing soba ice cream and the delicious juicy apples we had afterwards. Daigo is a really nice get away from it all trip. I really recommend going to Daigo soon because the leaves will start to change color. It is a beautiful thing to see that won't leave you disappointed.
So if you find yourself craving apples and want to go apple picking, why not give Toyoda Apple Farm a chance? Who knows, you might see me there, picking some apples with the cute puppy Mame (hopefully his killing streak will have gone down). Enjoy!
For more information on Toyoda Apple Farm, check out their Instagram page;
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