Adam's Apples

This week the Wholesale Gods have coughed up two good, and not entirely dissimilar, apples: Kanzi (left) and Koru. They both bear mysterious two-syllable names (trademarks, really) beginning with K and ending with a vowel. It's February and that's what's on the menu today.

LOVE THE ONES YOU'RE WITH Lemonade , above, is a right good apple, well balanced and eminently worth choosing . But the main reason I was glad to see this variety last month is geographic. My Lemonades grew in New Zealand and were picked in the spring. They are half a year fresher than the other apples in stores today. And, you can taste it.

There's really no rationale for comparing these two sturdy varieties except that I am apt to turn to them to brighten up the apple-bleak springtime. Though the two apples were developed in New Zealand, today's samples grew in the U.S., almost certainly in Washington state. In better times fresh versions of these apples harvested in the southern hemisphere in March or April would be entering American supermarkets.

What's great about Koru, a new variety from that apple-breeding powerhouse called New Zealand, is flavor. Texture and crunch are first rate (though perhaps not quite the thing for those who dislike hard apples). But at this point crisp, hard, and sweet are standard for the new breeds—a kind of Platonic ideal for the industry and increasingly for the public. So how to distinguish yourself in a marketplace crowded with nearly identical Platonic ideals? With taste.