The First Satisfying Bite

On a crisp September morning in Yakima Valley, Washington, orchard foreman Miguel Ruiz walks between rows of Honeycrisp apple trees and plucks a single fruit from the earliest ripening branch. He polishes it on his sleeve, takes a bite, and nods. That one apple tells him everything he needs to know. If this first fruit is sweet, firm, and ready, then the thousands of apples still hanging on every tree around him will follow.…