Lodi vs. Yellow Transparent smackdown

Lodi (R) and Yellow Transparent (R), both picked too soon

Lodi is one of several varieties heralded as a "better" more modern substitute for the flighty Yellow T. Consequently I have been wanting to put them head to head for several years.

Alas all this comparison served was to demonstrate the Tolstoy-esq truth that all unripe apples are unripe in the same way.

Apples that are picked this early suffer on many fronts, not just taste (more acid, less sugar, pine notes, and undeveloped flavors) but also with a spongy texture compared to flesh at its peak. These were nowhere near ready.

I confess that when I bought this very green Yellow Transparent I suspected it might be a Lodi, but when I put it by a real Lodi the differences were clear.

Yellow Transparent a week later. Alas, no Lodi for comparison.

I got some better Yellow Transparents the next week (still not at peak, but eatable), but alas the farmer who grows Lodi had picked them all by then.

This may have been a commercial success, but it was not a pomological one. A shame.

Note, however, the differences even between the two unripe specimens in my first photo. Lodi is conical where Yellow is a sphere. Yellow's peel is a lighter, milkier green that almost seems to glow from within, and its lenticels are larger and more prominent.

For the record these apples date from the 30th and 31st of July. Lodi was the riper of the two, barely, and thus marginally better.

Better luck next year.