Adam's Apples

It is August and I do not need to be mucking about with apples from last year that are just (let's face it) not going to be very good now. I've already had some great (and fresh!) Pristine and Paula Red this month. There are other early apples about with more on the way. But McIntosh (left) is a fall icon, and Empire (right) is one of my go-to apples in the impoverished springtime. Supermarkets here have both of them today. So let's see which of these two old warhorses have fared better over the fall, winter, spring, and half of summer.

There is a charming antique Russian apple called Yellow Transparent, also called White Transparent, of surprising sophistication if you get good ones.  That's challenging as this early August variety is at peak for about 45 minutes. Almost nobody grows it these days, which is a shame, but there are two modern varieties that sort of fill the same niche.