Adam's Apples

Do you admire this shapely carnelian-red apple with the light lenticel dots mixed with squiggles of russet? If so, you and I see the world in the same way.  ¶  If this apple disturbs you or freaks you out, then you are stuck, I am afraid, with the perfect shiny waxed globes at your supermarket.  ¶  These Red Royal Limbertwigs are medium and large, with understated ribbing. One of these has a closed calyx while the other's is wide open: don't ask me what that means.  ¶  Although off the tree for several weeks, these feel promisingly firm. Their faint aroma is sweet and floral.

The last market of the year bustles in Arlington, Massachusetts, earlier today.  ¶  It still feels like Peak Apple, but winter is creeping closer. All the suburban farmers markets end this week, and there were fewer apple choices on offer at mine, compared to the week before .

Tipp Pippin may be the same apple as Tipperary Pippin, can anyone say? Scored from a specialty shop in Dublin itself.  ¶  My apples are cylindrical and oblate, which immediately brought Pink Lady (Cripps Pink) to my mind when I first saw them.  ¶  But unlike Pink Lady the blush is a purer red, and generally more saturated although the unblushed yellow shows through in a few spots.

I found these medium-sized apples with a blush of pure red at a farm store on the Fife coast .  ¶  Discovery is practically unribbed and bears many light lenticels so small as to be difficult to see in poor light, both in the blush and in the yellow part of the peal.  ¶  My examples come in assorted shapes, one squat and oblate, another more conical. They both wear crowns of russet around the stem well.

This time of year features an endless series of crates and boxes (wooden or otherwise) and sometimes baskets and even plastic bags, all filled with fresh produce.  ¶  This week was probably the last chance to stock up on Ashmead's Kernel. These keep reasonably well and I am well provisioned.  ¶  Dr Ashmead's fabulous apple has been abundant this year. According to David Wadleigh, who bought Kimball Fruit Farm in 2022, the previous owner grafted lots of Ashmead onto existing McIntosh trees. That strategy is, um, bearing fruit.

Not sure what to make of today's apple, called "Pixie." Probably it is Pixie Crunch , though it is a bit large for that, a large medium, barely ribbed, and moderately oblated at top and bottom.  ¶  Photo:  Pixie Crunch from 2020. Color and lenticel dots match.

Perhaps not clear from my first photo: this hyper-lobed apple is basically a big triangle.  ¶  Bramley is Granny Smith–spring green, but the calyx end has a dull red blush where it has been kissed by the sun, and a ragged corona of russet radiates from the stem well.

Miss just a few farmers markets (I was traveling), and WOW. (Photo: Just some of the apples you could buy at the Arlington, Massachusetts, farmers market on Wednesday. Click to embiggen! ) There were 26 different kinds of apples for sale at the farmers market this week. possibly a record. (Well, maybe not, but still a lot of apples.)

On the small side of large, my Rajka has a classically tapered shape and a streaky red blush.  ¶  That blush, while attenuated on what must have been a shaded side, essentially covers the entire apple. There is just a little underlying yellow peeping through. Some of the blush is saturated and deep.  ¶  A second sample is squat and oblate, and the blush is deep and saturated over a larger area. Both are slightly lopsided and lean to one side.

Just a few things that gladdened my heart this year. (One photo is from 2010, though.)  ¶  Ashmead's Kernels