Adam's Apples

No photo today! I thought I'd taken Melba's portrait, so I went ahead and ate my samples to write up my review.  ¶  Too late, I discovered I hadn't gotten the shot after all.  ¶  Sorry! In lieu of that, sit back and picture the following:

I have 3 small apples from Moldova.  ¶  Other than that, no information. They could be a Moldovan cultivar, a chance seedling, or a variety that originated elsewhere. They are ribbed and oblate with a slight taper. Calyx open, color a very green tinted yellow with a patchy, streaky partial red blush.  One must peer at them closely to see the lenticels, even in the blush where they are small light dots. They sport a glossy peel. These have a very rich aroma of sweet cider.

Today we consider a large medium apple, oblate with a slight taper. It is very regular and symmetrical.  ¶  Hamid's Red Pippin is indeed a pretty red, saturated and deep on one side, over yellow, wearing a russet cap. Small  light lenticels are distinct in the dark part of blush but hard to spot on the other half. 

Today's apple, Ohlson, arrived in rough shape, with many bruises.  ¶  It is a cylindrical apple with a base broader than its top, a yellow apple with orange-red specks and vertical streaks that look like red oil floated onto the peel in water.  It is possible to distinguish the lenticels, faintly, in the unblushed regions. There is a small amount of ribbing. 

Today's apple is large, very tapered and modestly ribbed. It's colored with a mixture of an orange pink, yellow, and yellow green.  ¶  Yellow-green dots are small and fused together at the base, becoming larger and distinct further up. There's a green dimple on one side. It's really pretty, don't you think? That peachy color. Its calyx is closed.

On the large side of small, James Grieve is round, oblate, and not significantly ribbed.  ¶  It sports a red blush tinted with orange, over yellow, streaky and variegated with indistinct boundaries for a blotchy effect, kind of festive. The lenticel dots are yellow spots.  ¶ 

I have two medium-sized green-yellow apples with small rosy blushes washed over the peel in varying intensities. The lenticel dots, though present, are not obvious.  ¶  Each has some modest ribbing and is a little oblated at bottom and top. They are temptingly firm in hand.

The smaller of my two Rubinettes, shown, has a partial red blush hidden behind a fine mesh of russet.  ¶  A second sample is largely unblushed, green yellow, with the blush organized into vertical red stripes.  ¶  These are classically shaped but a bit oblate, with tiny lenticel dots that are filled with dark matter in the unblushed regions.

Dark red streaks mostly cover this attractive yellow apple, which is medium sized and oblate with no perceptible ribbing.  ¶  A corona of green-brown russet radiates from the stemwell, and russet-colored dots are large on one side and small in the more-blushed side. Lord L has a sweet aroma.  ¶ 

How wrong is it to assess a cooking apple by eating it out of hand? It certainly cannot do justice to the apple.  ¶  Nonetheless, eating uncooked is my measuring stick. When I had to opportunity to try this legendary culinary apple, a staple in the United Kingdom, I did not hesitate.

My Scrumptious has a crimson blush with a beautiful dark region that that may reflect time spent on the tree. It is on the small end of medium-sized and very oblate, wider than tall.  ¶  That blush is not entirely dark. There is a small yellow patch on one side, surrounded by red and orange streaks. A crown of russet radiates from the stem well.