Adam's Apples

These are small apples, barely bigger than crabs, with a deep red blush (streaky in spots) that covers a dull yellow-green.  ¶  They are mostly tapered and elongated, though there is variation, and are only slightly ribbed. Their shape is a little reminiscent of the larger Black Gilliflower's .  ¶  Swaths of what I think is the thinnest russeting I have ever seen show on small regions of some of these small apples.

The fall equinox is counted as the start of autumn. By that yardstick McIntosh , that icon of fall, is actually a summer apple.  ¶  And lots of other autumn-ish apples too.  ¶  My discomfort with that idea brought me around to thoughts of a special pomological fall . (Some of you pointed out it is not very different from meteorological fall .)  ¶  Now this blog reflects that.

Apple trees slumber in the late December sunshine yesterday at Hutchins Farm in Concord, Massachusetts.

It is not hard to see how this apple got its stellar name.  ¶  The exaggerated ribbing of this small apple pushes its shape beyond pentagon to pentacle, a five-pointed star (though not a very pointy one).  ¶  A more conventional photo follows.

At the end of the first week in December, my Glockenapfel is a little wrinkled around the calyx end, but still firm in hand.  ¶  The long, tapered bell shape is a visual clue to the name of this apple.  ¶  That graceful profile, and pretty colors (green-tinged yellow, and small orange blush), make for an attractive fruit.

Centuries later, the name of Loammi Baldwin still echoes in pomological circles.  ¶  He did not discover the apple that bears his name, but cultivated and popularized it. The Baldwin apple is a treat, crisp and rich, once the most popular variety in New England.  ¶  Baldwin's great grandfather on his mother's side was Joseph Richardson, a second-generation immigrant who lived in Woburn, Massachusetts, 1643–1718. But Richardson had another descendant of even greater renown in the history and mythology of apples.

I've tasted Reinette Clochard only once before and was mightily impressed with it.  ¶  Time for a second bite.