A study in scarlet

The Almata apple, as we have seen, is a red paint ball, dripping with color.

it is intensely carmine from blush to core.

But the crimson tide does not stop there. It saturates the entire tree.

It colors the branches. It peeps at us from within each leaf. In the spring, the blossoms of the Almata are a dark pink.

The tree is entirely healthy—and brimming with red.

Almata apple

Saturated with color, Almata is a novelty.

It's interesting, it's unusual, and it's edible. But Almata is not a compelling pick eating out of hand.

Williams (William's Favorite) *

Williams is too understated to thrive in today's sugar-crunch market, but it was prized in the first half of the 19th Century.

One might also say that Williams (not to be confused with Williams' Pride) delivers some of the qualities promised, but rarely fulfilled, by Red Delicious, which it in some ways resembles.

My sample is on the small end of large with pronounced ribbing. The cheerful red blush over green is not so much streaky as spotted, like ripples spreading on a pond. In this background the small light lenticels are not obvious.

Red Astrakhan *

Tart and crisp, Red Astrakhan might give Paula Red a run for best early-season Mac-type apple.

Savage apples

A reader writes,

Last winter, my husband and I bought a house on 15 acres of land in the mountains of western Maine.

It had a little orchard, but since the previous tenants had fed the deer apples right in the middle of the orchard, our trees were eaten to nubs.

Nonetheless, we found about a dozen wild apple trees that had been planted by the deer maybe 30 years ago and had survived the browsing, the -20° winters, and the aggressive blocking of light by the neighboring pines.

When we asked ourselves what does our land want to grow, the wild trees told us on no uncertain terms: apples.

Fresh Pristine apples

I was very pleased to get these excellent apples at farmers market today, since I'd never found Pristine in New England before.

This tasting does not replace my initial review of the Pristines I got in New York in early September of 2008.

They were good then, but I wondered how much better they might be fresh off the tree.