Thursday, August 14, 2014

Lodi vs. Yellow Transparent smackdown

Lodi (L) and Yellow Transparent. These early varieties are sometimes confused.

I have been trying to get these guys together for years. They are related.

Although both are among the earliest varieties of the summer, their respective seasons are so short, and their shelf lives so brief, that they rarely overlap.
Let's see who is the better apple.

Yellow Transparent, aka White Transparent, is a heritage apple from Latvia. At peak, or a little past, its thin pale yellow skin has an ethereal quality.

Larger Lodi (rhymes with "show pie") may have been an attempt to "improve" Yellow T by producing a similar early apple that is more reliable and easier to grow. Yellow Transparent is its sire.

Today's Lodi is the spring green of a Granny Smith. It is conical and moderately ribbed, with lenticels that blend in to the rest of the peel.

I have several Yellow Transparents, small-to-medium. These are rounder and squatter, though many have a hint of ribbing and taper slightly towards the base.

Unripe, the peel of these resembles that of Lodi, but as they mature the skin lightens to yellow-green. The greener lenticels, which are less numerous, stand out more by contrast.

Some of these apples achieve a kind of aged-ivory translucence, but these are almost always overripe.

Despite these differences, when Yellow Transparent is unripe and Lodi is smaller (not unusual) it is easy to confuse the two varieties.

The Lodi is odorless but some of the Yellow Transparents bear a sweet green-apple scent, like a child's candy.

Yellow T is fragile and show small bruises just from their trip from the Lexington Farmers Market. Lodi feels much sturdier in hand.

Lodi has medium-fine-grained white flesh with green highlights, reasonably crunchy but with a little give.

It is bracingly tart, more so than Granny, with a little lime and the suggestion of grapefruit peel and ginger.

I like the way it feels in my belly, but the acidity is a lot to take.

My first Yellow Transparent is softer, sweeter, and juicier, and the flesh is light yellow. Its flavors are more complex and better balanced, with almond and floral notes and a brief citric hit.

My second has the best texture of all, crisp and delicate. It's also less flavorful than YT No. 1, slightly more tart, which balances things nicely. There's just a little lime and ginger. Very little.

I have more of these, but this tasting suggests how much variation there can be in Yellow Transparent. Other tastings have revealed hints of ginger, lemonade, vanilla, and cream soda in this apple.

So who wins the match? Both have their early-season virtues. Despite its finicky nature, I'd rather feast on ripe Yellow Transparent than Lodi, though.

Yellow T has better flavors and, sometimes, texture; I look for it every summer.

As to Lodi as an "improved" Yellow Transparent: I just can't see it. Not only is Yellow T the better eating apple, but Lodi is really different, bigger and much more tart.

They might be fungible for applesauce, but not for eating.

A better candidate for an "improved" Yellow T might be Pristine, and if I can ever get the two of them together we'll see.

View some other comparisons if you like.

9 comments:

  1. Since we live in Lodi, we had to grow one. Six years later we harvested our first apple – the entire crop. Conclusion: if we didn't live in Lodi, we wouldn't grow a Lodi.

    We thought a previous owner had the same idea as we did, but we were never sure if one old tree was a Lodi or a Yellow Transparent. It died several years ago, so we could not make a comparison.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. I still go for the Lodis evey year, since they are the first thing around here. And to be fair, this year's Lodis were the best I've ever had.

      But now that there are Vista Bellas and Pristines, forget it.

      Delete
  2. I have Lodi and I'm about ready to pull it out. I don't know how or when to pick. I've picked them before and the seeds were white or tan. Clearly not ripe. I find them somewhat mushy and dry feeling. I don't think they are juicy at all.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dry and spongy are tells for underripeness in this apple.

      I have come to the reluctant conclusion that Lodi is never really at peak. I downrated it last year.

      Delete
  3. Hi Adam,
    Wonderful blog you have here! I'm the Curator of VanDusen Botanical Garden in Vancouver, BC, Canada and I was wondering if you would grant us permission to use your photo of Malus domestica 'Yellow Transparent' vs. Lodi for eduacational signage we are developing. We have just planted a new heritage apple orchard and each tree will have an educational sign to describe the stories of these rare apples to our visitors. We would love to use your photo of Yellow Transparent if you are open to it.
    kind regards,

    Cynthia Sayre
    Curator, VanDusen Botanical Garden
    Cynthia.Sayre@vancouver.ca

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cynthia, thank you for this flattering opportunity to be generous.

      I have replied to your email address, but if that somehow misfires, please reach out to me—my email is on my profile page.

      Delete
  4. Lori’s make wonderful applesauce. We have several trees-they kind of go on a “on and off” years pattern. We have a hand crank apparatus so it’s so easy-don’t peel them-just wash, cut it not quarters, throw them in a big pot(seeds, peel, stems and all) and cook with a small amount of water until they are soft. Let cool a little then run through the hand crank device-applesauce comes out one way and stems, peels and seeds the other way. The apparatus is called a Norpro 1951 Sauce Master and is a available on Amazon. You can add some sugar or zero calorie sweetener to your applesauce if you like and store it frozen for over a year in the deep freezer.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have two comments:
    First, I have heard of Yellow Transparent being called Early June by some.

    Second: While Yellow Transparent is known for making great applesauce, I get it for drying. For drying, it doesn’t matter if it is past it’s prime. It dries beautifully. It is best directly out of the dehydrator, when it’s texture is crisp, like potato chips. But even later, when more chewy, it has the best taste of any dried apple I have ever eaten. If you get your hands on some, this is the best use I can think of for them (although they are great eating apples if you can get them at the one or two days that they are crisp). Unfortunately, I have not had a source for them since leaving Missoula.

    I’ll have to try Prismatic, but can’t imagine that it will come close to the taste of YT when dried.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yellow T is often promoted as a sauce apple. The June thing is new to me!

      Thanks for your comments.

      Delete

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