Adam's Apples

Left to Right: McIntosh, Novamac, Paula Red By the time summer rolls around most of us have been living on a diet of supermarket apples for half a year, and it feels like forever. We are ready for the real thing. The iconic McIntosh, that vinous, crisp apple native to the Northeast, does not ripen until September. Its fans are wooed in July and August by apples with the promise of Mac goodness, as with Jersey Mac or the various generic "Early Macs." Many of these fall short. The best to my taste buds are Paula Red and Nova Mac, and last year these two varieties overlapped briefly with the true McIntosh.

McIntosh (left, above) is the New England fall classic, more than a century old, that ripens in September. Novamac (right), half Mac itself, is the upstart from Nova Scotia that shows its face 1 or 2 weeks earlier. Spoiler: Nobody touches the Mac (except maybe Macoun, and that is debatable). But the point is not to replace McIntosh but to see how well Novamac lives up to the second half of its name.

From the start of the apple season in July to the debut of McIntosh in September, many varieties vie for the title of "early Mac." Most of these are unsuccessful, but there are two that I like: Paula Red and Novamac. This year Paula has had an unusually long season and overlaps with Nova. So, which is most Mac-like? And which is best?

Two days after Irene, the trees at Hutchins Farm were, thankfully, still full of ripening fruit. The farm's first apple of the season, Novamac, was ready to eat. This Nova Scotia–bred variety is medium to small, though I did see one large one in the bin. The squat oblate shape seems characteristic. Its blush, over a lively spring green, is a cheerful red, streaky at points but well-saturated on the sunward side. Small tan lenticels, widely-spaced, provide a visual accent; some in my photo are russeted. Inside is crisp creamy-white flesh, more or less fine-grained. The balance is good: noticeable tartness is met by a good bit of sugar, though there is enough acidity to be bracing.