Adam's Apples

I got 2 of these possible apples from the Midwest Apple Improvement Association , one picked on September 26 and the other on October 10. What's "possible" about 47 is that this variety could be selected for further development. Someday, it could get a catchy name and be available in orchards or supermarkets. In the meantime, these two samples look similar: a yellow apple with green highlights, oblate, with gray lenticels. 

The blush on this conical apple is a wash of translucent orange, except for one saturated swath of deeper hue. Of course, that is where the light-brown lenticel dots are largest and most obvious. Ribbing on this variety is negligible, and my sample, hazard du transit, is bruised. The underlying peel is a sunny yellow.

Today's apple is (a) lopsided and (b) huge, with effectively no ribbing (meaning, sure, you can find some if you look closely).  It has a weak orange-red blush streakily spanning about a third of the peel, which is a very yellow shade of green. Against this background, the otherwise light brown lenticel dots do not stand out unless filled with greyish matter that might be a kind of russet. 16 has a thick stem, an open calyx, and a satiny finish.

This apple is past its prime, with a bit of give and some small wrinkles on one side. Nonetheless, my approach is to taste first and hope for a better sample next year. There may not be a next year for this apple, as it is under development by the Midwest Apple Improvement Assiciation and is not guaranteed to make the cut. But if "test 14" does make it into an orchard near you (with a catchier name), then you read about it here first.

This unnamed apple is large and oblate, with a red blush that nearly covers all the underlying yellow. Striking tan lenticels jump out, while the merist of ribbing is only noticeable on close inspection.

The best cooking apples, I find, are often not very good to eat out of hand. But this one looks promising and smells wonderful—a spicy cider aroma—so we'll see.

Today's apple is courtesy of David Doud of the  Midwest Apple Improvement Association . The apple doesn't have a name (and may never earn one), but this is the breeding co-op that brought us Evercrisp .

The name "Hermann Mac" suggests the apple is is a sport of McIntosh . If so, it is one that ripens later than the original version. This sample, from a home orchard, has superficial defects including sooty blotch and flyspeck. These are two wonderfully descriptive names for different fungi that live on the peel and do not affect eating quality.

Today's apple is a "new" Northern Spy–type apple from Nova Scotia (get it?). It's one of the "Nova" series bred by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada . This Nova, from a home grower, exhibits both flyspeck (which has nothing to do with flies) and sooty blotch (which has nothing to do with soot) over an uneven orange-red blush and yellow-green peel. 

The sun sets on the last farmers market of the year in Davis Square, Somerville, where deals can be had. The last market of the year closed cold but bright on the day before Thanksgiving.

This medium-sized, slightly tapered apple has a rich (but nonetheless striped) red blush that covers most of an underlying yellow. Tiny light lenticels widely spaced, ribbing, and a bit of natural gloss, round out the classic look. Mine bears a sweet cidery aroma.

The apple trees bask in the low light at Hutchins Farm earlier today. This week has been an apple hunt for me. I've picked up some Melrouge, Winesap, Blushing Golden, and Arkansas Black.

Random crabapples? You might think I would have done this before, but no.  I do not know what this little apple may be, if it has a variety name. I just prefer to call it something other than "unknown crabapple 1" Henderson is a personal nickname. I shall be surprised if this is in any way good to eat. It may be a spitter. 

Halloween marks the border between abundance and scarcity, between summer and winter, between the living and the dead. Today we are well into hoarding time, scavanging time, pirate time , keeper time.

Four years after I first had this elegant hobo of an apple, I have the opportunity to take a second bite. I might learn something new, or at least have a very nice ( two-star ) snack. Outside These green apples are compact and oblate apples with just a little ribbing, medium sized. The stems are quite short and the peachy-orange blush is partial and translucent. 

These Japanese apples have the same parents. How far does the family resemblance go?

I conclude my long deep dive into Braeburn with two examples bought at a local farmers market on October 20. The project was inspired by a comment from a reader , who suggested that Braeburn was a fickle, variable apple that could not be relied upon to be the same from harvest to harvest or day to day.

There is something a little forelorn about the last market of the year.

Another year, and another photo of a raw, wet ending to farmers market in Arlington earlier today. There goes the punch bowl, just as the party was getting good.

There were 24 kinds of apples at the farmer's market in Union Square (Somerville) earlier today.

My two Shizuka apples are large and spring green, slightly oblate spheres decorated with crackles of tan russet and darker green lenticels that have small light centers. One of my samples, shown, has a faint pink-orange blush in a region of peel that is almost yellow. (It also has some tiny bruises.)

I love this time of year.

Hype about Mountain Rose has become a cloud of uncertainty about these apples. Are they the same as Airlie Redflesh, aka Hidden Rose ? The stroke of a knife will help shed light on that.

 JUST NOT GREAT, THIS YEAR We've had an unusually wet growing season this year, and the apples have soaked up the water and grown fat. A juicy apple is nice, but not every variety benefits qualitatively from this aqueous bounty.

Macoun King David Macoun , the queen of vinous apples, is just not 100% if grown in Virginia. King David , apple of the South, does not reach its peak here in New England. I shall miss Macoun. I am not going anywhere. But the climate is. The Nature Conservancy finds that the climate in neighboring Vermont is likely to " become like that of southern Virginia ." The good news, I guess, is that Virginia boasts some great apples. They just aren't the ones that do well up here, for the most part. The ones linked intimately with our sense of place. The ones we love. Sure, people grow northern apple...

In my review of this apple ten years ago, I hoped to revisit Priscilla once better samples came my way. These are a few weeks earlier and better, one a squat medium and the other quite large and a bit tapered. They have a little ribbing and a lovely deep red blush, streaky in spots, over yellow, attractively freckled with tiny light lenticel dots.

My samples are large tapered apples with a variable orange-red blush. Probably, these Rubenses are well-colored sports , hence the "red." If so, I imagine the blush is weaker on plain old regular Rubens. 

There is not really anything new to say about the wonderful Chestnut Crabapple that I have not said before. I just grabbed this one at farmer's market yesterday because it is so darned pretty.

Last Sunday, irregularly observed in these parts as Talk Like A Pirate Day , I went a little nuts buying apples.

Today the wholesale-retail apple system has coughed up a brand new variety bearing a contender for Most Fwow Up Name of All Time. But let's not hold that against the apple, which had no role in the marketing brainstorming or trademark registration that produced the name. That is all on us human beans. HunnyZ is large and moderately ribbed, broad and a little tapered, with an orange-red blush over light green yellow. 

Got these two truly great apples at farmers market on Wednesday. To be specific, there's McIntosh , the tart, balanced king of autumn in these parts. A steal at $2.50/lb. Next to it is the Chestnut Crabapple , a little wonder that is not to be missed. Proudly marked "Heirloom," it went for $4.00/lb. (!). So, what makes it an "heirloom"?

The future is very bright for the apple harvest this year, according to the growers interviewed by Liza Zwrin and published in the Boston Globe on September 8. If nothing goes wrong.

It's McIntosh week here at Adam's Apples.

There is no way this can be very good, and I almost shied away out of respect for one of my favorite apples, Macoun . But curiosity, and respect for yours, led me to buy two of these at a farm stand in Bolton on August 13.

JUST PEACHY These little guys, from Indiana, have exactly the same colors as the local peaches here in the Bay State right now. They are a sight for sore eyes. I have not tasted a new variety since last October. These are Trailmans, and they are crab sized, most just a bit over an inch wide.

The harvest begins with a crate of Vista Bella and the distinctive flavor of watermelon candy .

Have I been slacking off lately?  On this anniversary of my first blog post , I am still here. Still exploring the pomacious fruit, and hoping to score some fresh (to me) varieties this season. This pandemic year has not been a great one (for any of us), and I have had some other projects making demands on my attention. But for me, writing is a kind of balm and source of forward motion and hope. To subscribers For those who subscribe to this blog by email: I have not yet resolved the looming issue of how to keep those emails coming.  There may be interruptions in service, and at some point you may receive a notice about your subscription from an unfamiliar source.  Check back at the website if you do not hear anything for a while.

A few years ago, Mike, a reader, proposed a blog called "The Braeburn That I Ate Today." He was reflecting on the variability of his favorite apple. Until he follows through with this noble plan, I am filling in with a report about a dozen different Braebs I've eaten this year. The three apples in my lead photo are all Braeburn, purchased on the same day from the same supermarket (January 26, Burlington (Massachusetts) Market Basket, "batch 'A'"). From left, striped and blocky; orange, striped, and conical; solid red, broad, and tapered. The apple Braeburn  is one of several imports from New Zealand, available these days in supermarkets across the U.S. It is not especially a favorite of mine (not that I have a problem with it), but it is not hard to enjoy either. The investigation There is something to Mike's point of view, in that Braeburn varies. When I started tasting in the winter, the samples were...

The London-based People's Trust for Endangered Species is mapping its Traditional Orchard Survey, an ongoing project to identify orchards in the United Kingdom. Another group maps community orchards in England and Scotland.

This distinctive big green apple is named for the Australian farmer who discovered the variety growing in a trash heap.  ¶  Granny's fans are maverick lovers of tart in an ocean of sugary apples.  ¶  In person, the apple bears a good deal of offsetting sweetness alongside its citric tang. Lime, pear, and cane sugar balance together.

The six weeks leading up to the start of the harvest feel like they are each a month long. crackles To pass the time, can you tell which apple made me ask, "what if you diluted one Cox's Orange Pippin into a peck of Red Delicious ?"

What a marvelous name! What do you think it means? These conical light yellow apples are on the large side of small, classically shaped with only a hint of ribs. There's a coppery crown of russet and some brown around the base.