Hudson River Fruit, Milton, NY

Hudson River Fruit Distributors in Milton, N.Y. is one of the largest apple growers in this region. It was established in July 12, 1963, by Isadore "Izzy" Albinder, along with his son Harold Albinder. Izzy first entered the apple business back in 1932, after immigrating from Russia. He saw an opportunity to broker apples, so he bought a pushcart and sold apples in the neighborhood streets of Brooklyn, New York. As time went on he saw more and more opportunities in the Hudson Valley to not only sell apples but also to grow and pack his own. His son Harold entered the business full time in the late 1950's and together, Izzy and Harold purchased a packing house of their own. In 1967, they bought their first orchard, in order to provide better control of the apples they were selling. By 1972, with the purchase of their eighth orchard, they owned and operated over 1000 acres of cultivated land. Soon after Harold's son, Daniel Albinder, joined his father and grandfather in the business and together they continued to grow and expand the company. In 2013, Daniel's daughter Alisha joined the company full time making her the 4th generation owner/operator of Hudson River Fruit.

Hudson River Fruits is unique in the industry in that is a vertically integrated apple company. This means they grow, pack, store and deliver their own apples. The orchards are certified by Global Gap and BRC (British Retail Consortium) inspects and certifies their cold storage facility. Hudson River is also USDA Certified and they are Blue Book Trading members. Third party audits are conducted regularly on their suppliers, they have a full traceability program and offer source verification on all their products. Their state-of-the art packing plant and conveyors even have built-in safeguards to prevent bruising.