Five highlights of the past year

In case you missed them.

1. Best "new" variety

Reine de Reinettes

My favorite "new" apple of the past year is Reine de Reinettes. (New to me: she is hundreds of years old!) This apple's wonderfully complex pallette of flavors really bowled me over. (Not to mention the etymological digression.)

Sadly I only got two, so I hope to find more of these beauties next fall.

A black eye for my favorite fruit

For the second year in a row, apples have been ranked as the worst-contaminated produce by the nonprofit Environmental Working Group.

The finding, like last year's, is based on tests by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Federal Drug Administration that found that 98% of conventional apples have pesticide residues.

Reinette

Reine is French for "Queen."

So a literal translation of Reine de Reinettes (an excellent apple) must be something like, Queen of the, um, what, exactly?

Little queens? Princesses? Frogs?

No.

Bubblegum-flavored apples, anyone?

To be specific, how about an apple of indeterminate type, vintage, and origin, imbued through some proprietary process with either bubblegum, pomegranate grape, or "Tropical Storm" flavor, and marketed to kids and, I suppose, parents as a healthy snack?