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Two exceptional apples made their annual debut at farmers market this week: Ashmead's Kernel and Macoun.
Though we are, sadly, missing many great apples that we often see by this time in September, make no mistake. This is high season. These are heavy hitters. Royalty.
If these are around next week, they may be closer to peak. But pick ye apples while ye may!
Market confusion
Thanks to all the vendors for putting up with my questions and prompts. ("Is it maybe...?") That's how we got Ashmead's identified, also Gala.
But though I am not disposed to argue, I cannot accept that those small pale yellow apples are Golden Delicious.
I may be able to learn more from a different crew at Belmont's market on Thursday.
Honor role (new this week in italics):
Update: The mystery apple (small, pale yellow) was missing from today's Belmont market, and nobody knew anything.
On the other hand, a different vendor still had Ashmead's et al, and also Swiss Gourmet, appearing for the first time this year. So you can add that to the roster.
Civilization is collapsing all over. Sunny Farms also had unlabeled apples for sale. Something big, hard and green (Granny Smith?) and something elongated and red/yellow (???). They were labeled as "local apples." I bought the reddest of the red/yellow, and found it Mac-like, and with whitish pippins--not yet ripe? Very crisp, rather tart, very white inside.
ReplyDeleteHell in a handbasket for sure. Especially if someone is picking Granny in September (which I seriously doubt)!
DeleteYour Anonymous from West Wisconsin here. Is the picture on the left supposed to be an Ashmead? I wonder if it really is. The only Ashmeads I ever saw were a russeted green, looking almost brown (as in the picture here: https://pomiferous.com/applebyname/ashmeads-kernel-id-359). There may be a slight reddening underneath, but never to the extent that I see in your picture. Also, I would say, that as with some other keepers (not Gold Rush however), I never found them to be great eating fresh off the tree. They were best in January and later. Of course, this was a bit like playing the lottery, because they are susceptible to a storage fungus called “bitter pit”, so the question was whether they might make it that long so one could enjoy the exceptional taste. Gold Rush is an exceptional keeper and I love it, but I would say that Ashmead tastes better if you can get it there — and the taste is unusual (described as pear drop, although I think that really doesn’t really address its complexity).
ReplyDelete@Western Wis, that is a photo of the first Ashmead I ever tasted, back in 2009. Pretty clear it is anomalous. Coincidentally, I was just thinking about how I should reshoot using a more typical sample.
DeleteBTW, if you want to post using a Google account, you'll be notified of any replies to your comments here. (But glad to hear from you no matter how.)
Actually, I like that picture of the Ashmead. It clearly got to stay on the tree, and it got sun -- but mine do get that orange on a good year (where good year means: no drought, no deer damage, a reasonable amount of sun... )
ReplyDelete