Melrose

Today on our menu: Melrose.

This medium-large apple is firm and well-formed with slight ribbing, a little oblate.

Note: The word for the day is lenticel, the name of those tiny freckles that decorate most apple varieties. Melrose's are largish (still small), light against a streaky red blush that covers green-yellow.

Its flesh is yellow, on the coarse side, very crisp, and juicy. Flavor uncomplicated and sweet, with pear notes. Pleasant, but there isn't nearly enough tartness or acidity to balance that sugar.

Melrose's crunch is fun. If you like sweet and simple, but Honeycrisp is a sugar lump too far, this might be your apple.

Although Melrose, a Jonathan-Delicious cross, has a light-and-sweet modern sensibility, it was introduced in the 1940s in Ohio.

Some sources suggest that Melrose, a good keeper, grows more fragrant and flavorful a few weeks (or longer) after harvest.