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Apples go best with friends. ¶ 

If in the off season you miss thinking about apples, I invite you to browse some particularly interesting exchanges in comments that readers share on this blog. ¶ 

They really are the best thing here. ¶ 

Golden slumber

The pretty darlings sleep yesterday at Hutchins Farm in Concord, Massachusetts.

Binary stars of 2023

ubaidhulla adam ¶ 

Midwinter is the time each year when I rate the previous year's apples, on a qualitative scale from one to three stars. ¶ 

I've already published my one-star ratings for 2023, and today I award two stars, "worth a journey." ¶ 

One star is "very good, worth choosing." Most apples are, and I am generous with this rating.

But two stars is a step up, and I am judicious about handing those out. Of the thirty-nine varieties I sampled for the first time in 2023, eight earn the double star.

A sea of stars

2023 was a banner year for this blog. Apple reviews are the heart of this project, and I was able to publish 39 of them. ¶ 

That is more than any year except for the first two: 2008 (44) and 2009 (41). ¶ 

Having so many apples challenges my practice of rating them once a year according to my qualitative system of one to three stars.