Adam's Apples

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.

New Zealand is an apple-breeding powerhouse. When its harvest arrives here this time of year I have come to hope (but not expect) to find some apple that is wholly new to me. Today I am pleased to taste Lemonade, the first of two new Kiwi apples that I found at a specialty market on my way to work Tuesday morning. Lemonade is a strikingly elongated lemon yellow with green highlights. It is large and without ribbing, though the base is crowned with a circle of bumps. Some samples have a faint orange-pink blush over as much as a fifth or so of the peel. The shiny surface of this fruit is articulated into shallow bumps and ridges that further suggest the glossy rind of a lemon.