Adam's Apples

The Black Gilliflower is a large medium apple, ribbed and very conical, of which more below. The "Black" in its name refers to the color, which can be a striking deep shade of red if allowed to mature. On my sample this blush covers most of the fruit, except for one streaky segment. I also note a very deep stem well. Many small irregular light lenticels decorate the upper half, and there are a few small patchy streaks of russet. The apple has a sweet cidery smell.

Today's apple runs medium-large-by-large, a yellow-green sphere with slightly raised lenticels, some russeted to brown. Some of these apples have a small faint rosy blush, and my tasting sample has a dramatic splash of russet spilling out from the stem well. Northwest Greening's calyx is open and shallow, and the firm unbroken fruit has a very faint sweet aroma scented with pear.

The overwhelming impression is size. King Luscious looms like a hulking gas giant in the apple firmament. (Update: More on his size here. ) Certainly his color is not terribly distinguishing, a streaky, somewhat dull red over yellow green. The green of the skin in the stem well is bright and saturated like that of Granny Smith. King Luscious is decorated with many small light lenticels and has no aroma. He sits firm and heavy in my hand.

"Is that a really tiny apple or a really big cherry?"—my daughter's reaction to Wickson, which is either a small apple or a large crab.  ¶  With its bright saturated red blush (over a yellow not unlike that of a Rainier cherry ), round, slightly elongated shape, and long stem, this small apple bears more than a passing resemblance to that fruit. Its skin is glossy and the small fruit is firm.  ¶  Wickson has coarse light-yellow flesh that is juicy and wonderfully crisp. It is well-balanced, tartness predominating but tempered by sugar, and with distinct malt-sugar notes. This is not a flavor I have encountered in any other apple and I wonder what kind of cider these would produce. In any case they make an excellent snack, full of snap and spice —but each is just a few bites. I found myself gnawing every eatable scrap of these little gems. Trees of Antiquity says ...

Ida fire-engine Red is decorated with light yellow-green lenticels of varying size. The arresting blush covers the entire fruit, through it grows streaky around the base and my sample has russet in the stem well. Ida is a large medium fruit, globular with just a little ribbing. Unbroken she is firm in my hand.

If your idea of a russet apple is small and round, meet Hudson's Golden Gem. These conical apples are medium to medium-large and obviously ribbed. The russetting, like that of other varieties, is a treat to look at: rusty, toasty brown and not entirely opaque, creating subtly shifting colors wonderfully variegated.

On the small side of medium, this cheerful yellow variety recalls both Red and Golden Delicious. Coville has the exaggerated ribbed and tapered profile of the former and the color and dark lenticels of the latter, from which it surely must be descended. Some have a small slight blush, rosy orange. At the base a circle of bumps surrounds an open calyx. These bruise easily and have a lush sweet aroma.

Today's pick is a pretty apple, medium-sized, lobed, and conical, with a blush that is deep red where saturated and studded with tiny light lenticels. It has no aroma that I can smell. Fortune is part of the McIntosh family, and looks it, so I was surprised that its flesh is a light yellow, on the coarse side. (One sample's flesh had a green tint.) It is nicely crisp and juicy but with a little tenderness, and its peel is quite chewy: I imagine this variety travels well.

This antique variety (more than 200 years old) is beloved, even legendary. It has a wonderful name, at once old (think Nodhead or Hubbardston Nonesuch) and new ( Honeycrisp, Jazz ). I have never tasted one before, so you can imagine my keen interest. I am holding a large, classically shaped apple with a red blush, both saturated and streaky, over yellow green, a little on the dull side. Light lenticels, mostly at the bottom, decorate the blush; they are barely visible elsewhere. There's some ribbing and, on my sample, flyspeck. Its calyx is closed, but not tightly, and it sits firm in my hand, with a faint cidery aroma.

With its cherry-red blush, tapered profile, and prominent light lenticels, today's photo suggests nothing less than an enormous strawberry. Coromandel is a medium-large apple, ribbed and conical. The lenticels are rough and slightly extruded, providing an unusual tactile sensation.

This variety wins a spot in my unwritten list of especially marvelous apple names. It came my way courtesy of a generous reader. Specifically, Seek-No-Further reached me via U.S. mail, carefully packed, eight scarred apples of small-medium size. Each has a ruddy red blush, streaky over green yellow, and an oblate shape that is ever-so-slightly ribbed. There is a dull brownish bloom, which is not terribly attractive (it washes off), and large light lenticels that are widely spaced.

Today's apple grew in the same orchard where this variety was first discovered one hundred and fifty years ago. American Beauty, large, round, and ribbed, has a dark red blush, sometimes streaky, over yellow green. Russet, rough to the touch, gives this fruit a sandblasted aspect. Lenticels are light, on the large side, and numerous. My apple feels quite firm and smells of cider.

A local apple—Roxbury today is part of Boston—these are medium to medium-large and only partly rusetted over spring green. Some have a coppery blush. The patchy russet is a grey brown and the underlying colors show through a little. Roxbury's lenticels are small and often rusetted; some are larger and slightly raised. My samples run from ribbed to slightly ribbed, with a closed calyx, and are quite firm in hand.

This medium-sized apple has a splotchy, streaky blush that is quite a deep purplish red in places; the unblushed skin is a light yellow-green. It is slightly ribbed. The lenticels are tiny, sparse, white, and insignificant, and there is a good deal of harmless flyspeck, perhaps because this apple grew on an organic farm. The apple has a sweet vinous smell mixed with cider.

This apple is on the large side of medium, ribbed and conical. Its coloring is subtle, a dull faint pink blush over light green, with green lenticels. Splendour's flesh is quite crisp and medium-fine-grained, white tinged with green, and juicy. Bites chunk off satisfyingly.

This medium-sized apple, bought at farmers market on September 30, has a glossy deep red blush that is half saturated and half washed out.  Lenticels add a sparse decoration of tiny light spots, and one of my tasting samples has a few crackles of russet on the skin. Spartan's flesh is medium-fine-grained and white with yellow highlights. It is very crisp and juicy, sweet with just a little tempering tartness.

True to its name, this handsome apple has a very deep purplish-red blush, accented with light lenticels. The apple itself is a large medium of classical shape with just a suggestion of ribbing. The blush on my sample is its full deep saturated color over half of the apple, and the rest is light and streaky. The only unblushed skin, in the stem well, is a light and vibrant green.

This conical, medium-sized apple has a light red-pink blush over a bright green yellow peel. Its "ribs" are apparent in the photo. The blush has two discrete parts, a light translucent pink and a more-saturated orange red. There is some russet on the blush and in the stem well. Lenticels are dark, and the apple has a faint sweet smell.

Excellent Milton is a medium large apple with a blush that runs to a deep red over a green yellow. Its many irregular lenticels are a darker green (though not in this photo: see below). The fruit is classically shaped with just a little ribbing, and there are some minor scratches that look like fine lines of russet. It has a faint grassy smell.

"Ugly, but sweet," said the sign for these little gems at Farmers market. Ugly? I beg to differ. These small ribbed apples have an orange red blush over yellow, with light green lenticels. My three tasting samples are each different. One is mostly blush, and one is mostly russet (with little blush). Today's photo showcases the one with some of everything. "Striking" I would say. "Not airbrushed barbie-doll perfect," I grant you. But ugly? Click here (or on the photo) for the close up and say that.