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On the large side of small, James Grieve is round, oblate, and not significantly ribbed.
It sports a red blush tinted with orange, over yellow, streaky and variegated with indistinct boundaries for a blotchy effect, kind of festive.
The lenticel dots are yellow spots.
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A russeted sport of Norfolk Royal, mine is medium sized, classically shaped, and slightly oblate.
This apple features a partial red blush that is quite saturated in places over a pale yellow that is echoed by a pale olive-gold russet. It's hard to say, but I think the russet interrupts the blush and accounts for the more subdued pink areas surrounding the saturated red.
The effect is very striking. The apple is modestly but definitely ribbed.
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I guess this gigantic apple is England's King Luscious. It is colossal, some 13-1/2 inches around.
Howgate Wonder's size grabbed my attention right away. Beyond that, it is conical and moderately ribbed, a light spring green with a streaky red blush and a glossy peel.
It's lenticels are small and indistinct.
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It took me a while to identify one of the characteristic flavors of this apple, but once my mouth figured it out the taste was obvious.
Rubinola is round, oblate, and barely ribbed. The streaky red blush is a bit orange where thin over the yellow peel.
There are not only streaks, but also tiny splotches of red floating against a pale orange field.
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| Deals can be had on the rain-soaked last day of farmers' market 2023 in Davis Square, Somerville. |
Some farmstands sell their apples through February, but most things shut down after Thanksgiving.
Today was the last day for the farmers market in Davis Square, Somerville.
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| A cordon of crab apple trees, growing at a 45-degree angle, at Keepers Nursery in East Farleigh, Kent, England. |
An orchard grows fruit, but a nursery grows wood.
That wood may blossom in the spring and bear fruit in the fall, but the nursery is in the business of trees.
Last month I visited Keepers Nursery, in the heart of apple country in southeast England.
Keepers is a one-person operation in the town of East Farleigh, on the south side of the river Medway in Kent.
Spotted recently:
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| A specialty shop is asking $6.95 per pound for Cortlands. |
I'll pass, mate.
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Herefordshire, on the Welsh border, is a name to conjure with in apple and cider circles.
This apple wears a thin golden brown russet over yellow-green fruit that has a small rosy pink blush.
It is medium sized and tapered. Are those dots lenticels or specs of russet (or both)?
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The smaller of my two Rubinettes, shown, has a partial red blush hidden behind a fine mesh of russet.
A second sample is largely unblushed, green yellow, with the blush organized into vertical red stripes.
These are classically shaped but a bit oblate, with tiny lenticel dots that are filled with dark matter in the unblushed regions.
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Margil was recently identified as a parent of the great Cox's Orange Pippin, upending a century of conventional wisdom.
I was especially curious to try this apple.
These are conical and ribbed, and not always symmetrical. Medium to large. There's a promising aroma
My Margils have a painterly mix of blush, a fine russet, and bare peel, all variations on an orange theme. Indeed it is hard to tell where the russet ends.
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Adams Pearmain is very tapered and somewhat ribbed, with distinctive "chins" (or "mammiform crown base protuberances" if you like) at the base.
The shape resembles that of a Red Delicious, though even more elongated and not as ribbed. The size is also about the same.
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Nuvar Golden Hills: a cheerful yellow apple, round, oblate, large, and ribbed. The apple has understated light-grey lenticel dots sometimes filled with a dark russet.
My sample is not the one shown above, though it is similar. It has a splash of brown russet on one side at the top.
There's no hint of a blush on any of these, which is not to say that there might not sometimes be. The peel has a satin finish and is a little waxy.
There is a sweet aroma of cider and peaches.
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| Farmers' market in Davis Square, Somerville, earlier today. |
The urban farmers' markets will continue until Thanksgiving, even though the suburban ones have closed for the year.
The nearest market to me is in Davis Square, Somerville. The market coordinators told me the market will be open noon to 6 p.m. for the next two Wednesdays, even though it's pretty dark by six.
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| The trees stand all but bare in stark November light at Shelburne Farm in Stow, Massachusetts. |
The fruit is off the trees, all right.
It's sitting in bins ready for you buy.
Welcome to the hunt-and-gather time of year. It's time to stock up on fruit for the onset of winter.
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I learn something from every apple, and now Captain Kidd teaches what the Brits mean by "pear-drop flavour." My sample grew in Kent, in the United Kingdom.
But in the end I chalk this tasting up as anomalous. You'll see why.
The Captain comes in a variety of shapes, not necessarily symmetrical (see photo), but the one I am tasting is distinctly conical with very little ribbing. It is on the small side of medium.
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Here is one very pretty medium-sized yellow apple, decorated with russet like unburnished gold flowing from the stem well. There are channels within the russet that have a green tinge.
This apple has a very slight taper and is oblate and ribbed. Lenticels that do
not present as gray (perhaps russeted in) are very hard to see at all.
