Adam's Apples

G'day! The harvest is in Down Under, and apples from the Southern Hemisphere have arrived in our New England markets. The same varieties grow just fine here and many are available year round. However, I have arbitrarily waited until now before reviewing any of the many varieties that originated south of equator.

I put this special review into storage back in October. Today we'll compare two of the Fall's most popular varieties, McIntosh (L) and Macoun (R).

I couldn't bring myself to add any words at all to yesterday's gallery of apples, but each photo is a link to the review for that variety. Also if you like you can play "name that apple" and test your own apple-spotting skills. Hover your mouse pointer over a photo for a few seconds and you should see a pop-up with the name of the apple variety. Update: I now keep a (usually) up-to-date gallery of all my apple photos on a separate page. It is also available from the "visual" tab at the top of this web page.

Fuji can be big, but my sample is at best a large medium. It is only very slightly ribbed, and the shape might be conical but with very little in the way of taper, for an almost rectangular profile. The skin is yellow-green with a red blush that is light and streaky in most places; my photo favors a more-saturated patch, which shows the light lenticels to best advantage. The apple has a sweet cidery aroma.

A thoughtful reader asks whether the Baldwin Apple Monument I describe is the original. A second monument to the Baldwin apple would be, in some ways, more astonishing than the first. I picture an Edward Gorey tableau: two knots of Victorian gentlemen in a field, glaring at each other. That's fanciful of course, and I'm very interested to know the truth of it. The New York Times story I cite ("Monument to the Baldwin Apple," May 30 1895, p. 3) concludes The granite shaft which is to be erected by the Rumford Historical Association of Woburn is seven feet high, and is surmounted by a representation of the Baldwin apple. That describes today's monument, and corroborates its inscription ("erected in 1895..."). It is one that gives no hint of having replaced any earlier commemoration. The Boston Globe, which is the source of the Times article, notes there is an additional inscription on the ...

A chance seedling from Washington State, Cameo is large and tapered with an attractive variegated red blush over yellow.  The many large light lenticels add to the effect, which almost seems to be in motion, flickering across all the shades from yellow to orange to red.  Even after considerable storage, the unbroken apple is firm and quite fragrant, with tropical-fruit notes.