Adam's Apples

When a reader named Josh packed up a care package for me from his orchard in western Washington, he threw in Tompkins King (aka King) because I had said (in my 2013 review ) that I would like to try it again. This Tompkins is large, ribbed, and classically shaped, if a bit broad in the beam. It's a naturally green apple almost entirely covered with a blush of very fine streaks, orange-red. Look closely to see many regular tan lenticel dots. It is firm and fragrant.

This large apple is oblate and a little lopsided, lightly ribbed. Its streaky red blush, tinged with orange, covers about two thirds of an otherwise green yellow, though in places that blush is so attenuated that it is not always possible to say exactly where it ends. This sample has light lenticels, numerous, small, and indistinct at the bottom of the apple, and larger, spaced out, and noticeable on top. The squeeze is firm, the calyx is closed, and the aroma a New England fall cider classic, sweet and a little musty. There is some attractive crackling of russet on the sunward side. The light yellow flesh is medium-coarse-grained and reasonably crisp, though leaning slightly towards mealy. King's sweet-tart balance is in the good zone but there is a little bitterness at one point. There is some spice and a hint of melon, and a slight savory quality in the aftertaste. Otherwise I would say that ...