Adam's Apples

Deane, evidently, is one of those apples that can grow quite large. My biggest sample is 12 inches around.  ¶  These are oblate and round with some ribbing. My photograph shows a lopsided lump on this one. They have a streaky red blush over a pale spring green.  ¶  In addition to stripes, there are some irregular spots of saturated red in the lightly blushed regions.

The selection at farmers market still rocks this week, even as a few varieties have aged out.  (Photo:  A beflagged busker performs at the Arlington farmers market earlier today. )  Only two new apples joined the choir this week (italicized in the list below), and a few who were absent last week have returned. It's always a chore getting the band back together.

If I'm posting too much, just wait until the spring.

The name of this pale yellow apple tells us it is a product of the Purdue-Rutgers-Indiana breeding coop, which has brought us such innovate apple varieties such as Pristine and Gold Rush .  ¶  The color of some of these large apples has a touch of green in it. The example in the above photo, on the other hand, is faintly orange in the area facing the camera, the closest thing I find as a blush.  ¶ 

Today's Trent apples are large mediums, slightly oblate with essentially no ribbing. Their streaky red blush is rendered a bit pastel or "dusty rose" by a light smokey bloom.  ¶  Many large light green lenticel dots (small near the calyx end) are visible throughout. They are if anything slightly larger in the less-blushed areas where the underlying green partially shows through the thinner blush.

If you love a tart apple, have I got a deal for you.  ¶  The light pea-green peel of this huge ribbed apple peers out from a partial screen of warm brown russet.  ¶  But my eye is drawn to the small but dramatic patch of red blush, where the tiny white lenticel dots are most prominent (but if you look closely, they are everywhere.)

With seven varieties appearing for the first time this year, and only four retirements (and the return of Wickson), the score at farmers market this week rose to twenty-five different kinds of apples.  (Photo:  An embarrassment of riches at the Belmont, Massachusetts, farmers market earlier today. )  The local markets are just the tip of the apple. As of this writing, Volante Farms, a Needham farm stand, is reporting 23 varieties , including 11 not at farmers market. Shelburne Farms, an orchard in Stow, reports a staggering 38 kinds of apples , some in the store, some on the trees for picking, some both. (Note that things sell out.)

These large, moderately ribbed apples have a satiny red blush over the usual green yellow, accented by tiny light dots. On closer inspection, the blush is a bit streaky and not everywhere saturated.  ¶  There is a very light bloom on these, so faint I almost missed it. Once that is washed off, the apple is glossy.  ¶  Both my samples have small, stubby stems nestled into their wells. A wide calyx allows me to peer into the bottom of the apple.

John Chapman, popularly called Johnny Appleseed, is responsible in large part for the genetic diversity of American apples.  ¶  He was also born not far from where I live, and his birthday was last month (which is when I tasted this apple).  ¶  So it seems entirely appropriate that someone should name an apple for him. Similarly, that they should be ripe on his birthday, ready for me to taste and tell you about.

My two Joseph Musch apples are quite large and broad in the beam, moderately ribbed (one of them has a single half bulge), and with open calyxes .  ¶  Each has a warm red blush comprising stripes of variegated intensity, with faint tiny tan lenticels that are not easy to see (a bit more visible on one of the apples).  ¶  The underlying color is yellow, expressed as orange where the blush is thin.  ¶  One sample has a bit of a dimple that I might suppose was from hail earlier in life. However, this apple grew under a roof (more on that latter), so that's not likely.

Today's striking apple, somewhere between medium and large, has a blush that ranges from deep to streaky over yellow.  ¶  Classically shaped and lightly ribbed, Legace wears many small light lenticel dots in its scarlet coat.  ¶  I'm not sure why, but the color of this apple in my photo is less vibrant and saturated than in person. That might be due to lighting or perhaps the existence of a bit of a bloom that has rubbed off my tasting sample. I am quite sure I have the right apple, however.

Just a few of the apples you could have bought at the Belmont, Massachusetts, farmers market earlier today (click for a close-up).  ¶  You'd have found 21 different kinds of apples at farmers market this week. They include some classic great like Northern Spy, and one I've never tasted before.  ¶  Hello, October!