Adam's Apples

I have three of these extremely flattened beauties from Mike, a reader in Southern California. They are green and blushed, with pronounced ribbing and short thick stems.

Which of these apples is a 150-year-old heirloom? is from a local (Massachusetts) orchard? is commonly sold in supermarkets and grocery stores across North America? If you've been reading my blog you know the answer. You also know that this is a trick question.

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.

Back from a quick trip to the Pioneer Valley (Massachusetts), where I got a bag of Gold Rush , some interesting ciders (hard and sweet ), and this photo. Shown: The emblem of Clarkdale Fruit Farm in Deerfield.

"Last day of market" in Davis Square, Somerville, today. The American Thanksgiving is tomorrow, which means that the urban markets here ended today.

Take number 2, this time with a local Red Delicious. America gets its fruit at the supermarket, and that determines what we eat and what farmers grow. So I thought it fair and reasonable to compare these apples using a store-bought Red Delicious. Which I did .

Today's russet apple wears a jacket of brown with olive tones, rich and warm.  That covers the entire apple. But one sample has an unrussetted patch that shows a subdued red blush over what is probably green. That blush is faintly filtered through perhaps half of the russeted area. These are oblate and medium-sized, with many lenticels raised slightly from the surface.

A Red Delicious , once America's apple, fresh from the supermarket. Hint: It's the tall one on the left. And the fabled Hawkeye , a seedling found growing on a Quaker's Iowa farm nearly 150 years ago. Here from an Indiana orchard. But surely you know the story that connects these apples.

I'm thinking, what a typical looking apple. It's round and a bit oblate, one slightly tapered, one not, a streaky red blush that is a little washed out covering about two thirds of a spring green peel. It's not a McIntosh or a Cortland , but it might be, if you don't look too closely.

Some of my pale yellow samples of Yellow Bellflower are less tapered than this (photo).  Nonetheless, all sit on tiny bases (or, if you prefer, crowns ) around partially open calyxes. Some have faint streaks of a pink orange blush, and all are ribbed and decorated with dark lenticel dots, large and distinct above, tiny and close together below. You can feel them with your fingertips, rough projections from the peel. 

IF THEE MUST GROW, THEE MAY  ¶  I never thought to taste this apple, discovered by a farmer in Iowa nearly 150 years ago. It has been superseded by history. Hawkeye was purchased by Stark Brothers and then modified by sport after sport to be nearly unrecognizable. You surely know it, as Red Delicious .

Does it look big? Today's handsome apple is a hefty 12 inches around. Its name, a mere number, betrays the fact that it has not been released as a branded variety by the New York State apple breeding program at Cornell.

Arlington's farmers market ends on a day of fog and drizzle. There were 22 different kinds of apples to buy at Arlington's farmers market on Wednesday, the last of the year.

Some apples are innately big or small, but also apples can mature at different sizes depending on thinning or on growing conditions.  However, the long thin stems on today's pretty, red-blushed treat suggest that Sops in Wine never gets very large. That stem could not support a large heavy fruit. The apple (on the small end of medium-sized) is ribbed and oblate. The crimson blush, though saturated in spots, is mostly streaky, over a pale green yellow.

Twenty-six different kinds of apples were on offer this morning at Volante Farms in Needham, Massachusetts.

The apples hung heavy, sweet, and ready in Harvard, Massachusetts, yesterday.

FRIEND OR FAUX?  ¶  I approach this tasting with the knowledge that my sample is not the legendary English cider apple, Foxwhelp . Today's is a different apple that was confused with the real thing in North America decades ago. Still, this is a cultivated variety, worth tasting. I assume it resembles the true Foxwhelp. Mine is round with some flattening at top and bottom and just a little conical taper. It is hefty with almost no ribbing, a light spring green with a streaky red blush.

Apples in the low October sun Just a few of the twenty-five varieties of apples for sale at the farmers market today in Arlington, Massachusetts.

Update: Looks like this was actually Sunrise Magic , a new variety from Washington State that I have re-reviewed. More on this confusion below. These medium-sized apples are mostly conical and tapered, though one sample is a bit rounder. They are ribbed, sometimes markedly so, with calyxes that fairly gape—you can see right inside them. The wash of orange-red blush covers a pale yellow peal tinged with green. There are many faint tiny lenticel dots, easier to spot in the unblushed portion but not prominent anywhere.

 What are they? An old orchard, a mystery apple, and two more. In autumn. What's not to like? Come with me and review the what we know.

These green, ribbed apples run quite large, with a partial streaky red blush and a satin finish. Large tan lenticel dots are prominent, but only within the blushed region. The calyx is closed. The apple is oblate and a bit lopsided.

Sweet Liberty I love my readers, and treasure all your comments. Hearing from you pays me back for all the work I put into this blog. This note today, from a reader who signs his or her comments "The Fluffy Bunny," is epic . Writing of Liberty (shown), While apple aficionados might guess this apple is a member of the Snow/McIntosh clan, if you asked them to guess its familia association I doubt it would even be on their radar until you mentioned it. For one, the strong vinous flavor of McIntosh and Macoun is far more muted to nonexistent in Liberty.

Hail Haralson, elder god in the pantheon of Midwest apples! I first reviewed Haralson in 2016, but a few fresh samples have come my way.

Those are Golden Russets on that tree. And in the background?

Pro tip: You do not see this every day.

MARKET NOTES It has taken a while—this is the worst year for local apples that I can remember—but we are finally into high season.

These two apples, though very different, share many characteristics. Thus this taste test. Other than size—both are small, though not crabs—these do not look much alike.

The grower tells me that this old, and celebrated, cider apple is coming in at different stages of ripeness this year. The smaller, redder one at right is an outlier. These are wider (perhaps an inch) than tall (three fourths), most with a wash of orange-tinted red blush over a pale greenish yellow. The apples are glossy and somewhat ribbed. Their lenticel dots can barely be made out, and then only as green spots in the unblushed region. 

The originator of this apple, Joel LaValley of Amnicon Apples , suspects it is a seedling of Red Delicious ("but much better"). It has a good bit of the Red D conical taper, and some ribbing. The streaky red color, where it covers the green-yellow, is purer than Delicious's purple-tinged hue, and there are many light tan lenticel dots prominent in the blush. My samples are small and medium-sized. Now let's see about that "much better" part.

Crabapples gather around a lone McIntosh. It's been crabby here!  Above, left to right: AAX 11 , Hewe's Crab (review forthcoming), and the delightful Chestnut Crabapple disport themselves around a single McIntosh (for scale).

This is an "experimental" crabapple (thus the "X") under development by Amnicon Apples  ("AA"). Each experiment is about an inch tall with streaky red blush over a pale yellow. The riot of streak and color wash masks any lenticel dots. This crabapple has a satin rather than glossy finish, and noticeable ribbing.

I listen to names. "Kinderkrisp," for example, suggests a "kid-sized" entry into Honeycrisp space . These attractive apples are appropriately small, maybe an inch and a half tall (and about an inch wider than that). The one shown is the tallest at 1-3/4 inches, and the least oblate.

King McIntosh makes his debut at the Arlington, Massachusetts, farmers market last Wednesday. ...the Macs arrive.

Fate, in the form of a care package from Indiana, brought these two tiny August apples to me at the same time last month. And, they are kind of similar.

Perhaps by design, the name of this apple evokes the iconic Golden Delicious , which matures much later. Earligold falls between medium and large, a very light spring green. As the photo shows, there is not so much a blush as a lightening of the green to yellow, but it includes some faint peach accents. Lenticels show as darker green dots. There is quite a bit of give in the squeeze.

The apple-shaped earth and we upon it, surely the drift of them is something grand, I do not know what it is except that it is grand, and that it is happiness . . . . —Walt Whitman Sculptor (and orchardist) Linda Hoffman cites these words as inspiration for her Bronze work, " This Apple-Shaped Earth ."

You probably know that crabapples are, basically, little apples. They can be sour, bitter, sweet, good, or bad, just like other apples. Just had to get that out of the way. Today's are on the large side for crabs, standing about 2 inches tall. Although standing is a little problematic because, for some, the remains of the calyx , clenched tight, project beyond the tiny area defined by the "chins" or crown at the base.

The apples hang heavy on the trees in Harvard, Massachusetts, yesterday.

The English church incorporated the Offering of the First Fruits into its observances of Lammas , a seasonal holiday that predates Christianity. Early apples join stone fruit and pears (and berries!) on the Lammastide menu:

This one-year experiment is now fourteen , and looks with hope at the start of another apple season. Early apples Lodi and Vista Bella It's been fun and rewarding for me! Those who subscribe to Adam's Apples by email may see some changes. (Click the title for details.)

After last week's false sighting , I was pleased to see these, the first of the year, at farmers market on Wednesday.

I have been seeing apples everywhere .  It is that time of year. I knew quite well it was too soon here for even the earliest of the earlies. Still, I did a double take when I spotted these at farmers market last Wednesday.

This statue graces the High Line, a park in New York City, this summer. Maybe 14 years of blogging about apples has done something to my brain (you think?), but now I just notice them wherever I go.

The apple blossoms on this branch will never fade or fall, because they are made of glass.  ¶ (Photo: Made of glass. ) ¶ 

A wasp helps to bring an apple into the world at Nagog Farm in Littleton, Massachusetts, earlier today. Pollinator, lad and lass, With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino, That o’er the orchard green did pass, In springtime, the only pretty ring time, When bees do sing, hey ding a ding, ding; Sweet lovers love the spring.

Only a few apple blossoms remain on the trees at Hutchins Farm in Concord, Massachusetts, yesterday.  ¶  This photo bookends last week's image of an early blossom . The 90-degree weather in the forecast here will surely wring out any that remain.  ¶ 

The starting gun sounds for the 2022 apple season at Hutchins Farm in Concord, Massachusetts, yesterday.

This review is missing an apple.  ¶  My other tastings of ciders in the Rare Apple Series from cider maker Stormalong feature photos of beverage and nameplate fruit.  ¶  Alas, I lack a Yarlington Mill apple to include in the family group. Indeed, I have never tasted that variety.  ¶  The cider pours a lovely orange-tinted gold that is pleasantly effervescent. There are fruit and tannins in the nose and mouth.  ¶ 

i'm moving Many, and probably most, of the photos I've published here over the years have shown apples from this vantage point.  ¶  It's the back railing of my porch, with my backyard in the background.  ¶  Take a last look, because I no longer live here.