Adam's Apples

With a name like an Old Timey singer (or perhaps contortionist), the Smoky Mountain Limbertwig sports a beautiful deep red blush.  ¶  That color nearly covers all of the otherwise green-tinged yellow peel of these medium-to-large apples.  ¶  The apple is only moderately ribbed, and there are tiny light lenticels scattered in the glossy blush.

A real plot twist, this one.  ¶  Robijn, small to medium sized, are a bit squat and modestly ribbed, many lopsided. The variegated blush, over yellow includes some very deep red streaks that are almost black.  ¶  Some bear zig zags of russet. Small tan lenticel dots swim in the mix of red and orange. The peal has a dull shine and a greasy (that is, waxy) feel. The stem is slim.  ¶  These apples have a sweet aroma, some with yeasty overtones. These are organic apples.

VERY GOOD, SOMETIMES :  It's been nearly 16 years since I sampled Redfree, a modern disease-resistant breed that is a candidate for home gardeners and organic orchards.  ¶  I learned that there is some variability in this summer variety.  ¶  The above apple grew at an organic farm (Hutchins, in Concord, Massachusetts) about week ago (when I tasted it). These apples are different enough from my 2009 samples to justify a second bite.

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.

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.

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.

"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.

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.

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 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.  ¶ 

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.)

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.

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.

I'm not certain today's apple is the true English Russet and would welcome any suggestions about that from my readers.  ¶  I do love a mystery . The above combination of rosy blush, light brown russet, and green-tinged yellow (in the unblushed peel) makes this sample a complex visual treat.

What a handsome apple! Mine is at the smaller end of large. It's somewhat oblate with a classical shape and a streaky red blush.  ¶  The dark streaks are a deep red and there are crackles of russet spilling over the stem well and running down the sides. The lenticel dots are nearly impossible to see. Let's see how this American variety fares when grown in English apple country.

My sample is a small medium, a classically conical apple with very subdued ribbing. It wears a pure red blush with saturated streaks over pale yellow.  ¶  The tiny light lenticel dots are raised bumps, easier to feel than see.  ¶ 

Egremont Russet is regularly available in supermarkets in the United Kingdom, and the sample in my first photo is one I found in London.  ¶  Its appearance, the rough golden brown with a bit of mustard yellow peeping though, was typical of the Egremonts I saw.  ¶  However, my freshest and best example was the one from Keeper's Nursery , and it looked just a little different.

A russeted sport of Norfolk Royal, mine is medium sized, classically shaped, and slightly oblate.  ¶  This apple features a partial red blush that is quite saturated in places over a pale yellow that is echoed by a pale olive-gold russet. It's hard to say, but I think the russet interrupts the blush and accounts for the more subdued pink areas surrounding the saturated red. The effect is very striking. The apple is modestly but definitely ribbed. 

Herefordshire, on the Welsh border, is a name to conjure with in apple and cider circles .  ¶  This apple wears a thin golden brown russet over yellow-green fruit  that has a small rosy pink blush.  ¶  It is medium sized and tapered. Are those dots lenticels or specs of russet (or both)?

Margil was recently identified as a parent of the great Cox's Orange Pippin , upending a century of conventional wisdom.  ¶  I was especially curious to try this apple.  ¶  These are conical and ribbed, and not always symmetrical. Medium to large. There's a promising aroma My Margils have a painterly mix of blush, a fine russet, and bare peel, all variations on an orange theme. Indeed it is hard to tell where the russet ends.