Adam's Apples

Granny blushes, if you let her.  ¶  You would not know it from prowling the supermarket, however: She is a late apple usually picked too soon.  ¶  Today I will assay one from a local orchard. It was, maybe, allowed to ripen fully, though I am eating it more than a month after it was picked (and publishing this account even later than that, sorry!).

This distinctive big green apple is named for the Australian farmer who discovered the variety growing in a trash heap.  ¶  Granny's fans are maverick lovers of tart in an ocean of sugary apples.  ¶  In person, the apple bears a good deal of offsetting sweetness alongside its citric tang. Lime, pear, and cane sugar balance together.

Granny Smith The second-best apple I had this cold bleak month was a Granny Smith from the West Coast: crisp, tart, satisfying. The best was a surprise Macoun from Albany via New York City. My wife and daughter brought it back from the St. Stephen's Greenmarket on Manhattan's east side. Macoun has been off the menu here in Boston for months this year. It does not surprise me, though, that some New York growers still have good ones in storage , or that they should find their way to the Big Apple . I'm guessing this one grew at Samascott Orchards, just south of Albany.

Distinctive Granny Smith breaks the mold of sweet-and-similar industrial apples. It packs some real acidity. And, that color! Large and classically shaped, this variety is slightly ribbed and slightly tapered (though more cylindrical than conical). The skin is a beautiful spring green, on closer inspection resolving into two distinct shades. In the stem well and elsewhere the color is rich and saturated. In many other regions the green is glazed and milky. These two veridian tints mix in streaks on most of the surface. The many large lenticels are lightest of all. The apple is firm and its aroma has citrusy overtones.