Adam's Apples

I have several of these small green apples, noticeably ribbed and slightly conical. Two of them bear a small faint blush, and in the blush the lenticel dots make a faint light spray. The green is light and subdued, a little milky. This is my first local apple of the season and I am excited to have a "new" (to me) variety to start things off with this year. A good omen!

Today marks the first day of the twelfth year of this blog, originally conceived as a one-year project. Sign me up for another, if only to counter last year's dismal showing (in the new-apple review department).

Any day now the apple harvest will begin. The soon-to-be-picked apples— Lodi , Vista Bella —are recognizable on the tree. Most of the later season apples, at this point, look pretty much alike, unless you peer very closely. They are round, they are green, and they do not look ready to eat. But don't you think that baby Baldwin , above, is very like?

A reader writes: On our island in Lake Mälaren, one hour west of Stockholm, Mantet has matured the most. "An attractive red-flushed early-season apple variety from Manitoba in Canada. The name is a combination of 'man' for Manitoba, and 'tet' from Tetofsky, one of the parent varieties."

These apples were hanging out earlier today at Hutchins Farm in Concord, Massachusetts.