Adam's Apples

This Dutch apple has an attractive dark orange-red blush over a muted green that blends with sandpaper-colored russet. Large lenticels are similarly russeted. I've only got one sample, a large medium or small large, but have no idea how typical its size may may be. Karmijn de Sonnaville is an offspring of the exceptional Cox's Orange Pippin and shares some of its qualities. The flesh is fine grained and light yellow, and the flavors are balanced but with some acidity. Some Cox-like flavors, such as orange and mango, pair with a peppery spiciness.

This small medium apple is light yellow, sometimes with a green undertone. The eponymous blush is a very light orange red wash with specks of intense color.  The result is like a poorly mixed oil-and-water emulsion or flecks of pigment in oil. It's a very striking effect.

Oops, no photo for this one! So, picture a big yellow apple, ribbed, with a very partial light orange blush that is streaky. David D'Angelo, an apple farmer from Maine, shared one of these with me in November. Our sample has cracked a bit around the crown where the apple grew too fast "like an heirloom tomato," as David said. There are large dark lenticels and a cidery aroma with more than a hint of the Golden Delicious. Star Song has light yellow flesh, fine-grained, with mild well-balanced qualities that showcase a hit of banana and, we agreed, something else tropical (though we could not lay our tastebuds around exactly what).

Today's apple may be the oldest variety I ever will taste. These are crab-apple sized and when Lady is bearing her branches are festooned with small fruit so thick as to resemble garlands of apples.  A garland of Ladies contra-dance against the October sky A closer look at this ancient variety below the fold.

This apple's name mean—oh wait, no it doesn't. (And shouldn't that be des Reinettes?)  ¶  Etymological questions aside, I have two of these, both on the small side of large, round, slightly oblate, with the merest hint of ribbing.  ¶  Both have significant russeting on the unblushed peel, which is a muted green-yellow.

Medium-sized, large for a russet, this apple has a rough golden jacket over bright green peel. Some blushed stripes peep though at intervals, and a small patch of dull red blush is mostly russet free. Lenticels are also full of russet and really only noticeable in the blush, though they do bulge out slightly into small tactile bumps. Foolishly I held on to this one a few weeks longer than I needed and there's a bit of give to it when I squeeze, but russets can hold up marvelously and it is only November 12.

The larger of my two samples is medium big, classically shaped (though lopsided) with just a hint of ribbing. The smaller sample is oblate.  On both, a dull red blush covers nearly all the yellow-green surface to differing degrees of streaky translucency. Tan lenticels of varying sizes irregularly mark the surface. The larger apple had a few soft spots, from handling or perhaps Tropical Storm Irene, and was generally inferior. That's the one I photographed, but my tasting notes are based on the smaller, better Domine.

This legendary French pastry apple is not really for eating out of hand. But eat we must. Calville is a large medium (or small large) apple with pronounced, even exaggerated, ribbing. It is yellow tinged with green and there is a partial blush over perhaps a quarter of the peel. Large green lenticels are prominent though not in the blush. In hand the unbroken fruit feels firm and solid and smells of pear and bananas. Inside Calville Blanc is a light yellow with a tender crunch, fine-grained and dense. Its flavor balance tilts slightly to the tart but there is sweetness too, to frame pear flavors with a hint of banana in the finish. There are also some unusual salty, mineral notes.

Its brooding appearance is daunting, but this was far from the most grotesque sample of this unusual apple. Others were so deformed as to be unrecognizable as part of any living organism, let alone as an apple. Instead, the medium-sized sample I chose shows a little of everything: Yellow skin, mottled translucent orange blush, and disfiguring russet. Or perhaps its knobby bulges are not related to the russet at all. Small lenticels, where visible, are mostly russeted. Where not deformed this apple seems to be modestly ribbed. Its calyx is open and it feels firm and solid. It glowers. As I contemplate this unusual variety, I wonder: what if this is not just a curiosity? What if it's really good? Only one way to find out.

The appearance of this apple, subdued yellow-green mottled by russet, with a splash of translucent red blush, is not promising. Belle de Boskoop is a large medium-sized apple with a slight amount of ribbing and a sweet cider aroma. Light lenticels are not obvious except where russeted over. Her flesh is a bit yielding, light yellow and halfway between fine and coarse-grained. The flavors are generally pleasant, for there is a decent amount of tartness to balance the pure cane-sugar sweetness.

In October, Phil's pitches these as tasting like Macoun. They are very different apples, yet I can see parallels. Both are excellent and have floral overtones in their respective flavors. As a bonus, Suncrisp is a great late-season keeper to hold and eat in December.

These run large to very large, though not tall, and are conical to a nearly top-heavy extent. A translucent red blush covers about half of the peel, which is otherwise yellow tinted with a little green. The underlying yellow gives the blush an orange cast but it is subdued. Small lenticels are also understated (except when russeted), presenting as green against the yellow and an almost invisible tan against the blush. Creston smells sweet and rich like a Golden Delicious, Creston's dam.

I have two of these, quite small, one crabapple-sized. Will they be enough? These are classically shaped with barely detectable ribbing and a streaky red blush over yellow-green. The lenticels show light against the blush and faintly green on the naked peel. One sample, shown, has a crown of russet radiating about its stem well. The aroma is sweet and complex, but I can't isolate scents.

A fruit named, seemingly, for another fruit. I have two examples of Paw Paw, and while the one in my photo is less round and more blushed, both are medium-sized apples with a streaky red blush and many large light lenticels. The red streaks are deep and dark in places, a quality my camera just will not capture. The peel has a glossy finish and the unblushed part is spring green. The flesh of one sample is dense and fine grained, white noticeably tinted with green. It's crisp, nearly breaking, and is mild and well-balanced with no acidity.

Red Canada is round with some ribbing and a deep stem well. A thin red blush covers about two thirds of otherwise spring green, and many large green lenticels cover the surface. The apple has a sweet aroma. (A second sample, shown, is smaller and more oblate, with a blush that is stronger, deeper, and more complete.)

This October apple is a large medium, slightly ribbed and slightly conical, with a streakey red blush that mostly covers spring green. On one sample the small light lenticels have rusetted over and are prominent, but not on the other. Inside, the Granite Beauty has crisp (but not breaking) snow-white flesh with green highlights, and its taste is correspondingly balanced, with some tart accents.

Tower Hill (which conserves this heirloom variety) describes Deacon Jones as medium-sized, but my sample is larger than that. It's elongated, even conical, and just a little ribbed. The Deacon's green peel is half covered with a brick-red blush decorated with many tan lenticels that are all but invisible in the unblushed green. The skin is matt rather than glossy and the fruit has a staid beauty, quite solid in hand, with a sweet aroma of cut grass. The flesh of this fruit is dense and fine-grained, white, and crisp but a little yielding. The peel is chewy and dominates the end of each bite perhaps a bit too much. Deacon's flavors are mild and sweet and pleasant, with no acidity. There is a little melon and seedless grapes, and a third flavor that is something like this.

Tower Hill asserts that this antique apple is named for the famous Civil War general, but that seems unlikely. My two samples are a medium and a large medium, each with a red blush (translucent to saturated) that almost entirely covers a light yellow. The fruit smells sweetly of cider. McLellan's flesh, white and fine-grained, has a soft crunch with light cantaloupe flavors, vinous highlights, and a hint of honey. Its delicacy is overwhelmed by a chewy peel. Overall, nicely balanced, though the crunch could be more assertive.

After hearing about this variety for years, I am pleased finally to sample one. Wolf River is big, in more ways than one. Will it prove more than I can chew? It's a hefty apple. My sample's 12-inch waist line nears King Luscious proportions, though the round, slightly ribbed fruit is somewhat squat and thus less massive than if perfectly spherical. Wolf River has an attractive red blush that is streaky over a light greenish yellow; the streaks are quite dark in places. The surface is decorated with many light tan lenticels that vary in size.

This variety only grows at Gould Hill Farm in Hopkinton, New Hampshire, where it originates. The large and slightly blocky apple is ribbed, with a streaky red blush over perhaps a third of its otherwise spring-green surface. Green lenticels are not prominent but show as light against the blush and dark elsewhere. Its calyx is quite clenched, and it smells pleasantly sweet-tart.