Adams Pearmain *

Well, I had to try this one, didn't I? ¶ 

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.

The blush is a purer red than Delicious, though not as saturated, or glossy. There's a small yellow region, with a green tint, on the back of mine.

Many small tan dots present as green in the unblushed area, and there are bits of russet.

Eating Adam

The bite yields nice breaking-crisp medium-grained white flesh that is well balanced with flavors of popcorn and berries. There is perhaps a little vinousness.

It would be easy to enjoy another of these if I did not have to eat about 15 other apples today.

Notes

"Pearmain" for some reason often refers to a very tapered apple like this one. Pearmains are said have a pear-like shape, which seems arguable with the added stipulation that the pear be upside-down.

But if that is right, then the word must at one point have assumed a more general meaning. There's nothing pear-shaped about the Blue Pearmain.

Adam's Pearmain, according to Vintage Virginia Apples, came to light in 1826 when a Robert Adams presented the apple to the London Horticultural Society as the Norfolk Pippin. (Orange Pippin lists it as Adams's Pearmain.)

Before that it was known, in Herefordshire, as the Hanging Pearmain, according to several online accounts. There's a particularly entertaining one at Out on a Limb.