Adam's Apples

It was logical to suppose, back in October, that the Winter Banana might be a long-lived keeper, also know as a winter apple. I bought a few extra to sample as the cold months unspooled. Winter Banana proved to be as durable as Arkansas Black, which the Banana also resembles in texture and sheer wooden hardness. Here's how it went.

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the U.S. Department of Agriculture commissioned thousands of watercolor paintings of fruit varieties, including more than 3,000 apples. Most of these have never been published, but the USDA 's National Agricultural Library has put thousands of these apple images online. The varieties depicted were all introduced between 1886 and 1900; new-fangled then, heirlooms today.

He does not have a web site (or I'd link to it), but Mr. Creighton Lee Calhoun Jr. has been collecting heirlooms for the last 30 years at his orchard in Pittsboro, North Carolina. Last fall, Kevin Hauser made a video of his visit with Mr. Calhoun, and last week the New York Times ran a feature about him and his trees. (Registration, annoying but free, may be required to view this article.) Calhoun is Johnny Appleseed in reverse, for where John Chapman spread seeds and genetic diversity, Calhoun harvests it, not as fruit but as budwood that he grafts onto living trees.

Granny Smith The second-best apple I had this cold bleak month was a Granny Smith from the West Coast: crisp, tart, satisfying. The best was a surprise Macoun from Albany via New York City. My wife and daughter brought it back from the St. Stephen's Greenmarket on Manhattan's east side. Macoun has been off the menu here in Boston for months this year. It does not surprise me, though, that some New York growers still have good ones in storage , or that they should find their way to the Big Apple . I'm guessing this one grew at Samascott Orchards, just south of Albany.