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I visited the Davis Square farmers market in neighboring Somerville this week, in part to see if the vendors there identified their apples, or just left people to guess.
That was an issue last week in Arlington. I visited both this week.
The crew in Davis includes some old hands, and indeed every variety there had its own identifying placard.
Picky me, I still have issues. But there were 15 varieties at each, 17 in total. By comparison Arlington offered 9 last week. We are approaching Peak Apple.
Davis and Arlington both sell on Wednesday afternoons, with similar vendors (Arlington alone includes Dick's Family Market).
On tap
- Ambrosia
- Ashmead's Kernel
- Blushing Golden
- Cortland
- Elstar
- Empire
- Fuji
- Gala
- Gingergold
- Honeycrisp
- Jonagold
- Liberty
- Macoun
- McIntosh
- Shizuka
- Shamrock
- Spencer
My complaint? I think the bin marked "Ashmead's Kernel" really contained a mix of Ashmead and another russet apple, probably Golden Russet.
Both are really good apples but Ashmead is in a league of its own.
That guy rootling about in the Ashmeads this week, picking and choosing? Guilty as charged.
Ashmead?
Growers are under great pressure to pick early, but for a heritage apple as fine as Ashmead it is really a shame when they do.
By the way, if you have never had a russet apple, you really owe it to yourself to try one.
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I love Ashmead Kernals and am envious that you are able to sort some out from a box. Speaking of picking at peak with Ashmeads: When I lived in Missoula, a friend at the Farmers Market used to have these from time to time. They generally were quite tart (sour?) when first picked (late Sept. — I don’t think the Farmers market went beyond The end of September there). But if you store carefully and could avoid the dreaded bitterpit, they came into their own in January and were great keepers. Supposedly they are described as having a pear drop flavor, but only seem to develop that after keeping for a while. Most of the older information on this one (for some reason your blog didn’t come up when I first looked into it) describes them as keepers only and not to be eaten fresh. I would generally eat one a month, when I was able to get them in Montana, until the full flavor came out in December/January. Then I generally ate one or two a week while they lasted. Alas, I don’t have a good source of them here in western Wisconsin. I might have to travel for these.
ReplyDeleteI shall set some aside. A worthy experiment!
DeleteAll the apples were labeled at Brookline last Thursday.
ReplyDelete