Adam's Apples

Apple cultivars are, literally, identical clones. Yet they can look very different depending on ripeness, growing conditions, and so forth.  ¶  On that score, I have never before seen Ashmeads Kernels like these.  ¶  Yet there they were, in a basket in a supermarket in Seattle on Halloween.

The depth of my ignorance about hard cider is as great as my astonishment when I learned that the magnificent Ashmead's Kernel is used to make something to drink. Ashmead's is a superb and complex desert apple eaten out of hand, a treat of first rank. Like most other variety-named ciders from Stormalong, this one is a blend. 

This week marked the last of my Baldwins and Ashmead's Kernels. The Ashmead's were in top form this year, the Baldwins not so much but still worthwhile.

The purpose of today's apple adventure is not to decide which is best, but rather what is what. I spotted some similarities between Ashmead's Kernel and an unidentified variety that came my way . Some of you, gentle readers, begged to differ . So, I report, you decide. What is this guy?

I ate my last Ashmead's Kernel today, surprisingly good after several months in my refrigerator. (That said, my fridge sometimes resembles the wardrobe to Narnia in the way it can cough up apples I did not realize I still had.)

The wily Ashmead's Kernel, bagged, labeled, and PLU ed.

Ashmead's Kernel, Roxbury Russet, and Golden Russett. When you see these three gentlemen, you know that the heart of the harvest has arrived. Join me for a taste.

These Ashmead's Kernel apples glint and gleam in the autumn light like pieces of eight.

Left to right: Reine de Reinettes, Ashmead's Kernel, Macoun, Wickson, Cox's Orange Pippin The gang's all here. All 5 of the apples I've rated as "exceptional, worth a quest"—3 of 3 possible stars—together in one place.

Ashmead's Kernel. The one on the left was picked 2 weeks too soon. Two Ashmead's Kernel apples. One picked too early. Six weeks later, what difference does it make? Let's find out.

Today I recognize the distinctive russet apple Ashmead's Kernel with three stars. It's the highest honor in my rating system, reserved for apples that are "exceptional...worth a quest" to find. This post also completes my introduction of this qualitative system of ranking apples based on how good they are for eating of out hand. (Someone else will need to rate baking and cider apples.) In many ways I have saved the best for last.

Pomme Gris (left) meets Ashmead's Kernel in a medley of fall colors I was lucky this fall to bag two superlative russet varieties, Pomme Gris and Ashmead's Kernel. These were the best examples of these varieties I have ever had. So which is best?

 ❝ What an apple, what suavity of aroma. Its initial Madeira-like mellowness of flavour overlies a deeper honeyed nuttiness, crisply sweet not sugar sweet, but the succulence of a well devilled marrow bone. Surely no apple of greater distinction or more perfect balance can ever have been raised anywhere on earth. — Morton Shand This lovely russet with the charming name has a rosy orange blush beneath its suede overcoat. Unblushed skin is green. It is a small medium and has large lenticels that are all rusetted over. The fruit's calyx is open but very shallow, and it has a pleasant faint smell of tea. I got two of these in early December, past their prime. I've tasted Ashmead's Kernel once before, and though I did not record my impressions I remember strong lemon and sugar notes and crisp firmness. The example shown in my photo is the only one I have seen with any so...