The blush on this apple often runs to a handsome deep purplish red, decorated with many light lenticels.
Even where the blush is uneven and streaky, (over yellow green), some of the stripes may reach this deep color.
The fruit is a large medium, moderately ribbed, and can be conical, as in our photo.
There are faint dull patches on the skin of my sample that are almost like a bloom, but I take them to be scuffs in the wax that is regularly applied to apples shipped across country.
For Empires keep and travel well, and even though they are grown locally the Empires sold out of season generally come from New York (where they were bred) or farther. This is the time of year I start to eat a lot of them.