Adam's Apples

The end of the season is nigh at the Davis Square farmers market earlier today.  ¶  With just a week to go before the markets' seasonal end, there are fewer farmers with less fruit and less time.  ¶  Deals can be had.

I have two of these pretty red apples today, large and medium.  ¶  But note "today" is mid October, as I saved one of them to eat a bit later in the season.  ¶  The smaller is a bit asymmetrical from some accident of growth, but both are ribbed and wear constellations of large light lenticel dots and a very faint light bloom of excess natural wax.  ¶  Rub that off and the apple has a semigloss shine. (Always wash an apple before eating, not to remove the harmless bloom but because you don't know where it has been.)

What do you get if you cross a McIntosh with a Golden Delicious?  ¶  There are many examples of that. Today we are comparing two apples: Spencer (L) and Brock.  ¶  Both are " Mcintosh x Golden Delicious ": grown from the seed of a Mac pollinated by Golden D.

There are only a few more weeks left until Thanksgiving and the end of the outdoor markets.  (Photo:  These big red Cortlands were for sale at the Davis Square, Somerville (Massachusetts) farmers market earlier today. )  The weather has turned brisk, as it does in November, and the sun is low in the sky during those times when it is up at all.

On a cheerful Wednesday in mid October, a friend and I took a detour on our way to farmers market and visited Baldwin Common in Wilmington, Massachusetts. There we paid our respects to the man who popularized the Baldwin apple.  ¶  Baldwin is a great apple , once the most celebrated in New England and perhaps America.  ¶  They are ripe in mid October. A farmer at our weekly market grows them.

I've got two Allington apples today: one large, the other slightly smaller. They are classically shaped, long stemmed and nearly unribbed.  ¶  The apples wear a semigloss skin of yellow that is almost a spring green, with a partial red blush that comprises darker red steaks and specks in an orange wash.  ¶  There is some russet in the mix around the stem well, but the kind of textured, subdued olive-toned red you can see in my photos is mostly just the thin blush, with its streaks and spots, spread over the underlying green-tinged yellow.

Darkness falls in America early this month as we set our clocks back an hour for Daylight Savings Time.  (Photo:  Electric lighting illuminates the apples at the Davis Square farmers market in Somerville, Massachusetts, earlier today. )  Night was falling at 5 pm at farmers market in Davis Square (Somerville, Massachusetts) today. You could have bought 14 different kinds of apples there.

The sticker of the day graces a lovely Stayman Winesap .  ¶  See closing times at the polls for every American state and territory.

My Sops of Wine are pretty, medium-sized apples with a streaky red blush over yellow.  ¶  They are oblate, modestly ribbed, and decorated with tiny light-tan lenticel dots .  ¶  I reviewed Sops of Wine in 2013, then had  another bite , not as good, just two years ago.

The suburban farmers markets end on Halloween. Today's in Belmont was the last until June.  ¶  Urban markets continue until Thanksgiving.

Today's Knobbed Russet is neither.  ¶  The twisted, glowering Knobbed Russet I reviewed in 2011 is more characteristic. I was strongly tempted to reuse its photo to show some of the deformity this variety can achieve  ¶  This Knobbed Russet has a reputation of being covertly tasty, a connoisseurs secret. It was the failure of my 2011 samples to meet that standard that made me especially pleased to try again. Today's apples are a pale gold, one with a small orange glow of a blush, both with fractal zig-zags of a rough brown russet.

This extended version of Deane's story examines accounts of the apple's origins.  ¶  Don't miss the plot twist at the end.

O Prince of autumn! Finkenwerder has a striped red blush that reads as orange over the green-tinted yellow peel of this apple.  ¶  It is lightly ribbed and tapered, though my sample is not as elongated as the one hanging from a branch in today's photo.  ¶  Small lenticel dots match the peel, but many are filled in with grey. For some reason that is the most common on the unblushed side.

October is apple fat, and the market is happy. But behind the scenes things are winding down.  ¶  Vendors at this week's farmers market were selling 25 different kinds of apples, and of course there are even more out there at the moment .  ¶  But on the farm, most of the fruit is off the trees. Many (though not all) of the markets will close for the year after next week.

It's been years since I had one of these, and I am eager to try Holstein again.  ¶  I only have one tasting sample today, but it is a very pretty one, with a warm red blush that reads as orange when stretched over the green-tinged yellow of the underlying peel. The apple has a satin-sheen finish.  ¶  Inside all of that, the tiny light lenticels are hard to see.

These very large apples, 12.5 inches around, are broad but tapered, green with dull red stripes, and glossy. One sample is markedly lopsided.  ¶  The shape is a little bit ribbed only, and the peel has that greasy feel one gets from the natural wax of the fruit. Lenticels are raised bumps with tiny light spots in the center. Squeeze Twenty Ounce for a little give: I'm not expecting firmness inside.

"Glocken" means bell, which describes the characteristic shape of this elongated and tapered apple.  ¶  My two Glockenapfels are medium-to-large, ribbed, tapered, and elongated. The photographed sample if anything understates this, but it has the better color (yellow) and blush. They are quite firm in hand.  ¶  The lenticels are tiny, light in the blush and barely visible elsewhere, unless filled in with a bit of dark grey.

Two dozen not enough for you?  ¶  How about three dozen?  (Photo:  Not nearly all of the apples for sale at Volante Farms in Needham, Massachusetts, yesterday. )  Volante Farms, in Needham (Massachusetts) is selling 36 different kinds of apples. Or was last night when I visited.

At the small end of large, these classically shaped apples have a saturated red blush decorated with small distinct lenticel dots and a light blue bloom.  ¶  At its darkest, the blush takes on a purple cast, but where thin the underlying yellow peel is partially visible for a warm orange effect.

Rambo (L) and Johnny Appleseed.  ¶  On the left, the apple that inspired the name of a movie character (Rambo; true story).  ¶  On the right, the apple named for Johnny Appleseed (a real person despite his larger-than-life folkloric aura).  ¶  Today's comparison responds to the notion that these are in fact the same apple. It is an inquiry . Wikipedia says , of the Johnny Appleseed apple, Some marketers claim that it is a Rambo; some even make the claim that the Rambo was "Johnny Appleseed's favorite variety." The latter claim is unlikely, but let's taste test the former.

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 farmers market in Belmont, Massachusetts, 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!

Three painterly Pomme Gris apples bask in today's mellow September sun.

Sixteen is the magic number of apple choices at today's farmers market in Arlington, Massachusetts. Including Macoun, Pomme Gris, and Wickson.  ¶   (Photo:  A few of the apples you could buy today in Arlington, Massachusetts. )  Now you're talking.  ¶  Tomorrow's market in neighboring Belmont may have even more, because all of the same apple farms are usually present, plus Hutchins, an organic farm in Concord.

Today's apples (I have two) are large and medium sized, both with an attractive and mostly saturated streaky blush over yellow green.  ¶  There's also a light milky-blue bloom that isn't visible in the photo.  ¶  The apples are more round than anything else; there is very light ribbing. The larger one is lopsided but I think that it grew that way competing for room with another apple. Speaking of the vissicitudes of orchard life, the smaller apple has discolored indentations on the side not shown above. They might be the marks of hail.

Just some of the choices at the farmers market in Belmont, Massachusetts, earlier today. I am used to thinking of mid-September as a kind of calm before the storm of fruit to come, a time when there are no new choices at the market at all. And it is true that this week the roll call of apples only grew from 10 to 11. But look at these heavy hitters.

Making the scene at the Arlington, Massachusetts, farmers market yesterday.  ¶  Those are Macouns lurking in the back, but this is the week for the Chestnut Crab .  ¶  It's about a week too early for marvelous Macoun. And those Chestnuts are really good.

The trees' seasonal dance approaches its climax in Harvard, Massachusetts, yesterday.  ¶  It's still officially summer, by popular reckoning, but the trees know different .

Welcome September, and the Mac is ready to eat! if not perhaps at his absolute peak.  ¶  This iconic fall apple has been for sale since mid August, but there are some things you just cannot hurry.

Officially, summer lasts well into September here in the Northern Hemisphere.  ¶  Astronomical fall does not begin until the fall equinox , which is on September 22 this year.  ¶  But by September 22, for apples at least, autumn is well underway.  ¶  There will have been local apples for a good two months, and icons such as McIntosh and Macoun will be peaking.

Unpicked apples on untended trees in Littleton, Massachusetts.  ¶  I don't really have anything new to say about the unfortunate neglect at what used to be a great orchard.

Some of the apples at farmers market yesterday in Arlington, Massachusetts.  ¶  Gala , this week, has joined last week's quintet of apples at farmers market, for a total of 6 apple varieties.  ¶  August still feels a little thin ( Gravenstein , where art thou?), but there are more picks every week.

There were 5 varieties of apples at yesterday's farmers market, up from a skimpy 2 last week.  ¶  One vendor has McIntosh, but I did not bite. They really aren't ripe this early even in a normal season.  ¶  And things seem generally late this year, though I am not sure why that would be.  ¶ 

The pickings at Farmers market this week were pretty slim, but there are more choices farther afield.  ¶  Red Apple Farm has these enormous Williams Prides , and more besides.

Apples for sale at the Arlington, Massachusetts, farmers market earlier today.  ¶  It feels skimpy to have only two choices for apples in August, but that is what was on offer at the farmers market in Arlington today.  ¶  After all, Californians celebrated the Gravenstein Apple Fair last weekend. An anonymous reader confirms these apples, some of the best of August, are ripe there.

Clockwise from top: Jersey Mac, Gingergold, Pristine  ¶  Just three apple varieties at farmers market today: Jersey Mac, Gingergold, and Pristine.

Of Nagog Hill Farm, a reader tells us ,  ❝ The property belongs to the Town of Littleton. The people who had been operating the orchard didn't renew the 30-year lease. The Town. . .has offered the property for lease or sale. ❞  (Photo:  Neglected apple trees at Nagog Hill Farm in Littleton, Massachusetts. ) 

In the first six months of this blog, which I started 16 years ago today , I tasted and described 44 different kinds of apples.  ¶  That is not an annual milestone I ever passed, nor hoped to, because back then every apple was new to me.  ¶  But last year came close, with 39 first-time varieties. That's owing to fall travel (to Quebec and England ) and to the kindness of fellow apple aficionados who shared some of their favorite apples with me.

Too green, too early, and doubtless too unripe, the very first apples of the 2024 harvest landed at Farmers Market in Arlington today.  ¶  And though I grouse about farmers who pick apples before their time, in this case I say, not a moment too soon .