Adam's Apples

My Scrumptious has a crimson blush with a beautiful dark region that that may reflect time spent on the tree. It is on the small end of medium-sized and very oblate, wider than tall.  ¶  That blush is not entirely dark. There is a small yellow patch on one side, surrounded by red and orange streaks. A crown of russet radiates from the stem well.

I have 3 small apples from Moldova.  ¶  Other than that, no information. They could be a Moldovan cultivar, a chance seedling, or a variety that originated elsewhere. They are ribbed and oblate with a slight taper. Calyx open, color a very green tinted yellow with a patchy, streaky partial red blush.  One must peer at them closely to see the lenticels, even in the blush where they are small light dots. They sport a glossy peel. These have a very rich aroma of sweet cider.

I'm not certain today's apple is the true English Russet and would welcome any suggestions about that from my readers.  ¶  I do love a mystery . The above combination of rosy blush, light brown russet, and green-tinged yellow (in the unblushed peel) makes this sample a complex visual treat.

Today we consider a large medium apple, oblate with a slight taper. It is very regular and symmetrical.  ¶  Hamid's Red Pippin is indeed a pretty red, saturated and deep on one side, over yellow, wearing a russet cap. Small  light lenticels are distinct in the dark part of blush but hard to spot on the other half. 

What a handsome apple! Mine is at the smaller end of large. It's somewhat oblate with a classical shape and a streaky red blush.  ¶  The dark streaks are a deep red and there are crackles of russet spilling over the stem well and running down the sides. The lenticel dots are nearly impossible to see. Let's see how this American variety fares when grown in English apple country.

Dark red streaks mostly cover this attractive yellow apple, which is medium sized and oblate with no perceptible ribbing.  ¶  A corona of green-brown russet radiates from the stemwell, and russet-colored dots are large on one side and small in the more-blushed side. Lord L has a sweet aroma.  ¶ 

On the train back to London with my apples. I seek out apples when I travel. It's a rewarding way to connect with another land and its culture  ¶  . But I don't go so far as to plan entire trips around the pomaceous fruit. That reflects my priorities, but sometimes leads to missed opportunities  ¶  . A recent October trip to England yielded many of those, but also many apples. And a few surprises.

My sample is a small medium, a classically conical apple with very subdued ribbing. It wears a pure red blush with saturated streaks over pale yellow.  ¶  The tiny light lenticel dots are raised bumps, easier to feel than see.  ¶ 

Egremont Russet is regularly available in supermarkets in the United Kingdom, and the sample in my first photo is one I found in London.  ¶  Its appearance, the rough golden brown with a bit of mustard yellow peeping though, was typical of the Egremonts I saw.  ¶  However, my freshest and best example was the one from Keeper's Nursery , and it looked just a little different.

Well of course they do, but at what scale, and which kinds do they like?  ¶  On a recent October visit, I saw Cox's Orange Pippin and a russet variety on supermarket shelves next to the more familiar (to Americans) Pink Lady and Braeburn . The selection was rather smaller than one might find at a similar market here in New England. But October is the great harvest month of the year, so who needs supermarkets? I looked forward to what I might find at street markets in the great city of London. I was disappointed.

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.  ¶ 

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. 

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.

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.

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.  ¶ 

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: A specialty shop is asking $6.95 per pound for Cortlands.  ¶  I'll pass, mate.

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)?

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

I have two fire-engine-red RubyRush, medium and large. They are round with a little flattening at the poles.  ¶  A small less-blushed spot on the back is orange over yellow, and the shallow calyx well is yellow green, around an open calyx. Faint but noticeable lenticel dots add visual interest. The stem is thin and shares some color from the blush. No ribbing to speak of.

How wrong is it to assess a cooking apple by eating it out of hand? It certainly cannot do justice to the apple.  ¶  Nonetheless, eating uncooked is my measuring stick. When I had to opportunity to try this legendary culinary apple, a staple in the United Kingdom, I did not hesitate.

Today's apple is large, very tapered and modestly ribbed. It's colored with a mixture of an orange pink, yellow, and yellow green.  ¶  Yellow-green dots are small and fused together at the base, becoming larger and distinct further up. There's a green dimple on one side. It's really pretty, don't you think? That peachy color. Its calyx is closed.

Yesterday was the last Wednesday of October and thus the end, until next June, of Arlington's farmer's market.  ¶  This is the earliest closing the calendar allows. Were Halloween just a day later, we'd have another week.

Many apples develop a powdery bloom, which is actually some of the natural wax made by the fruit as it matures.  ¶  Today's photo (click for a closeup) shows both a bloom and the swath where the bloom was removed by a strip of masking tape that the grower, Jesse Downs, taped to the apple as an ID tag. The tag read "Smerelda," and this pretty, conical apple, with a partial pink-red blush neatly framed (in this view) by a fringe of green, is one of two from Jesse. They are small, and on has to look closely to detect the slight amount of ribbing.

These orange-tinged-red–blushed apples are wide and oblate, with tan lenticels that are occasionally filled in with something dark.  ¶  There is modest ribbing, and a wonderful sweet aroma. The peel is glossy and the underlying color is yellow.

In Derek Mills' opinion, there was something off about my 2015 description of the Cornish Aromatic .  ¶  So he reached into his living museum of 1,600 apple varieties , sent me two Aromatics, and asked me to try again. Happy to oblige.

I've got two medium sized green-yellow apples with complex patchy layers of russet and and small swaths of vermilion peeking through.  ¶  These are lightly ribbed, round, and oblate, with dark lenticel dots. One has some flyspeck. The russet looks like antique gold. They are rock hard.

What a marvelous name!  ¶  Derek Mills, who grew today's apples, says they run says medium to large. To prove it he sent me a medium and a large sample.  Good thing! because the first one I tried was decidedly  off. There were issues with both, but I think got a good idea about this apple.

These apples are in the small side of medium, classically shaped and moderately ribbed. There is a very dark red blush on one, covering a pale yellow. The dark blush nearly swallows the lenticels. On the other sample the blush is more of a brick red and displays large lenticels.  ¶ 

Light from the setting sun falls on the apples at the Arlington, Massachusetts, farmers' market yesterday.  ¶  There were more than 18 different kinds of apples at farmers' market on October 4.

Chehalis is a light yellow-green apple blushed about half with a delicate translucent peach. It has a classical shape with a slight taper and barely detectible ribbing.  ¶  Lenticel dots are large and distinct, tiny brown-and-red bullseyes in the blush, a darker green dot elsewhere. Its calyx is slightly parted.

Macoun, yesterday  ¶  Carpe pomum! The great ones are hanging on the tree.  ¶ 

Today's apple, Ohlson, arrived in rough shape, with many bruises.  ¶  It is a cylindrical apple with a base broader than its top, a yellow apple with orange-red specks and vertical streaks that look like red oil floated onto the peel in water.  It is possible to distinguish the lenticels, faintly, in the unblushed regions. There is a small amount of ribbing. 

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.

This medium-sized apple has a subdued red blush over spring green, washed out in spots. It is ribbed and from the top describes an imperfect square.  ¶  A stubby stem sits in a shallow well, and in the blush one must peer closely, and in bright light, to see the many tiny light lenticels. Its calyx is closed tight. Northpole feels firm in hand. Let's check out what lies within.

My sample of this antique apple comes not from the St. Lawrence valley, where it may have originated, but from western Washington.  ¶  Red vertical stripes, some deep and saturated, radiate from the stem well of this visually striking apple. They contrast with Saint Lawrence's otherwise pale yellow-green peel. Many small red flecks mix in with darker lenticel dots.

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 .

This distinctive apple has saturated orange-red streaks over light yellow tinged with green. My samples are ribbed and have a classic, slightly tapered, shape.  ¶  The small tan lenticel dots are hard to spot in the blush, though some are dark with rusett or other matter.