Keim

Keim is German for "sprout." ¶ 

This apple proved unusual in several ways. ¶ 

You can see the very different shapes that are possible, one very oblate but only modestly ribbed, and the other a bit stocky and with ribbing so pronounced as to produce a distinct crease.

Despite the differences in shape, the apples share a small wash of red-orange blush over a very yellow spring green. The blush includes saturated spots of red pigment haphazardly at some of the lenticels.

Jesse Downs, who sent me these apples, says "our kids call them the 'Butt Apple.'" Hm, I wonder why.

The apples have quite a bit of natural wax, a quality that growers sometimes call "greasy."

Keim isn't the prettiest apple in the bin, but it is interesting

Eat

Biting in to Keim in October finds snowy white flesh, dense and fine grained. It is mildly sweet, very mildly, with little balancing tart. 

The tastes, though unusual, are faint and the overall effect is something starchy and flavorless. 

There is a very high-quality vanilla taste, not strong, and also something like a mocha note, though a really attenuated one.

Though the texture is good, it stops short of being really breaking and there is a granular quality to the bite and the chew. The peel is on the thick side.

This might be good were these flavors more present. They aren't.

According to Jesse, Keim is "supposed to have" (notice he does not vouch for this himself) "extraordinary keeping qualities."

I held off for nearly two months on the second.  

On that score, the apple is mostly unchanged though the flavors, already faint, are less distinct.

Keim still quite edible though the granular quality is more pronounced. It has kept pretty well, but it has not improved as some do.

I am thinking of this as primarily a culinary apple. 

Reflect

Jesse calls Keim a "Pennsylvania Dutch heirloom" with a reputation as a good keeper.

An 1886 account of this apple locates its origin with "an old gentleman by the name of Kreuz" who cleared some land in Albany, Pennsylvania sometime in the 18th century.

This broadly corroborates the story on Pomiferous, which regrettably does not provide sources.

Old accounts of this apple rate it as "very good." Maybe I got substandard samples, but I cannot agree.

Thanks to Jesse Downs for letting me try this one out.