Adam's Apples

A trio of Arkansas Blacks gleam darkly in the January sun earlier today.

Today's head-to-head compares two modern varieties available in North America only briefly around the turning of the year. Both Opal (L) and Junami were developed in Europe, and both embody balance and  flavor in a way that the previous generation of commercial apples (lookin' at you Gala , Braeburn , Fuji ) do not. Other than that, these are utterly different.

A very happy new year from me to you. At Farmers Market this year I reviewed 21 apples in 2015, more than the year before and more than I'd supposed likely. The tally of my opinionated catalog stands today at 241 varieties, including a few mere sports . After 7 years of Adam’s Apples it’s rare to discover an untried variety at Farmers Market, yet the choices at those markets continue to evolve in promising ways (Hello, Wickson !). Many of the new 2015 apples came from you, O generous readers, some from locales with climates different from that of my own New England. I’m naturally very grateful to you all.