Adam's Apples

Galarina is classically shaped, ribbed with distinct "chins" at the base. It's large, though not quite as big as pollen parent Querina . This apple has a blush that is deep and saturated at its greatest. On more-shaded quarters the red fades to a wash with some stripped variation. There the green-yellow peel gives the apple a slight orange tint. Overall the blush covers 80 to 90 percent. The lenticels are small and indistinct in the darkest blush, larger elsewhere. Galarina has only a faint sweet aroma.

It rained on the last farmers market in Davis Square, Somerville, today. Here in the Boston area the last remaining farmers markets call it quits the day before Thanksgiving. That's today, and it poured. Some regular Davis Square vendors decided not to bother. Nonetheless there were 11 different varieties of apples for sale today.

Today's new variety is a large apple with a deep and even red blush randomly studded with tan lenticels. The only unblushed peel, a tiny patch in the stem well, is more green than yellow This sample is misshapen, lopsided and with a great dimple in one side (not shown). I think its ideal shape is rounded with very moderate ribbing that really only shows at the base. I like odd shapes and this attractive apple feels very solid and sports a cidery aroma.

My tiny Rubinette is in rough shape. There's a bruise in the middle of its streaky red blush. The unblushed yellow-green peel is wrinkled. Squeeze this classically shaped, slightly ribbed apple and there is give. And yet.

This large handsome apple is blushed an attractive red that is quite saturated on the sunward side. Coverage is so complete that it is not possible to see any unblushed peel, but it must be a shade of yellow because the more-attenuated blush takes on a slight orange tinge. Querina, or Florina, is conical, classically shaped, and ribbed with distinct lobes and also bumps at the base. Light lenticels provide an attractive accent, and one sample has patches of a smoky-blue bloom. Another has a lightning bolt of russet down the side.

Medium sized and oblate with next to no ribbing, Senator has a pure red blush that at its deepest is dark and saturated, with none of the purple tones that characterize many deep red apples. The blush is more orange-red where thinner. Coverage is nearly complete. The peel is otherwise yellow tinted green, and tan lenticels (generally small and numerous below, large and rarefied aloft) add dramatic contrast. Senator is a looker. The apple feels quite firm with only a faint musty aroma.

Ashmead's Kernel. The one on the left was picked 2 weeks too soon. Two Ashmead's Kernel apples. One picked too early. Six weeks later, what difference does it make? Let's find out.

This large apple is oblate and a little lopsided, lightly ribbed. Its streaky red blush, tinged with orange, covers about two thirds of an otherwise green yellow, though in places that blush is so attenuated that it is not always possible to say exactly where it ends. This sample has light lenticels, numerous, small, and indistinct at the bottom of the apple, and larger, spaced out, and noticeable on top. The squeeze is firm, the calyx is closed, and the aroma a New England fall cider classic, sweet and a little musty. There is some attractive crackling of russet on the sunward side. The light yellow flesh is medium-coarse-grained and reasonably crisp, though leaning slightly towards mealy. King's sweet-tart balance is in the good zone but there is a little bitterness at one point. There is some spice and a hint of melon, and a slight savory quality in the aftertaste. Otherwise I would say that ...

My Hauer Pippin is, unfortunately, almost certainly too early, but with that warning I shall share this placeholder against the day when I have a peak sample to taste. Mine is an oblate apple, a bit bulgy and closer to medium-sized than to large. Ribbing is only evident in faint bumps at the base. Hauer's blush is a dull wash of red splashed across a saturated spring green. Lenticels are light on the blush and largely dark, probably with russet, elsewhere. There is a ragged circle of russet in and around the stem well.