Adam's Apples

I've recently enjoyed chomping my way through a box of new apple varieties under development by the Midwest Apple Improvement Association . Little did I know that the assortment included a ringer. Number 544 was really EverCrisp .

Who's your daddy? EverCrisp's pollen parent is Fuji. Today we are tasting two related varieties harvested last fall and purchased this month in supermarkets. They are not at peak, but both are sturdy, crunchy varieties bred to survive long-term storage and handling.

EverCrisp is the Midwest Apple Improvement Association's entry into the Honeycrisp Succession Derby . I found it in my local supermarket this month. How well does this variety, ever crisp, weather the wholesale chain? My other samples were all direct from local growers (and earlier). I bought three, emblazoned with PLU stickers, to find out.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a new apple variety with the word Crisp in its name is positioning itself for a run at Honeycrisp . Of course, that means these rival varieties are also implicitly competing against each other. So, Cosmic Crisp (L) and EverCrisp, what do you have to say for yourselves?

Who shall dethrone the mighty Honeycrisp? The wolves have been circling for some time around old King Honeycrisp . This variety originated, and still dominates, the niche of super crisp, tooth-achingly sweet apples. Honeycrisp's rival apples aspire to rule the kingdom, not to topple it. To supplant with same-only-better, not to challenge with new tastes and textures. By when did the King get so old? What makes him vulnerable?

You know Honeycrisp (right?) even if you don't follow this blog. If you read my regular reports, perhaps you recall last fall's Evercrisp . As its name suggests, Evercrisp, at right, takes aim at Honeycrisp and seeks to fill its shoes. Not by being boldly different, but by being the same only better. So, this is personal. Let's see how things shake down.

I didn't think I'd get a crack at EverCrisp, a ballyhooed Honeycrisp successor, for several more years. But today I have two.