Adam's Apples

These apples are large, classically shaped, and slightly ribbed. The partial orange blush, streaky in spots, is over green-yellow, accented with light lenticels.  ¶  They are fragrant, and some have a little russet in their stem wells.

A TRICK, OR A TREAT? Imagine my surprise at seeing a russet apple among those from the Midwest Apple Improvement Association . M AIA is a modern-day breeding program that develops varieties with commercial potential.  ¶  One can say (I would!) that an aromatic russet variety should command market share. Nonetheless, promoting one in today's environment would be a bold move indeed. But not so fast.

Today we have a large oblate apple, its yellow ribs blending gently with the spring-green valleys between.  ¶  It wears a swath of coppery russet like a bicorn hat radiating from the well where sits a short stubby stem.  ¶  There are crackles of russet on one side, some darker green streaks, and dark grey lenticel dots across the field. There's a smattering of harmless flyspeck (which has nothing to do with flies) as well.

This week is the very last for the suburban farmers markets that have served us since June. Urban markets will run through the American Thanksgiving.  ¶  In Arlington this afternoon, the vendors were breaking down their canopies and booths as I arrived. But you could still have bought any of twenty-one kinds of apples:

Today we stray into speculative territory. MAIA 1284 has not been released by the Midwest Apple Improvement Association. It may never be.  ¶  Should it? You be the judge of its unusual flavor set.

Red, ribbed, and russeted: Scruffy's blush, and dull-yellow unblushed peel, peers out from behind fractal-edged russet that seems to be spreading from pole to pole.  ¶  It is hefty and sprinkled with russeted lenticel dots (and less-obvious "clean" ones). The example in my photo is especially lopsided.

There were 32 different kinds of apples for sale at Volante Farms in Needham last weekend, roughly tracking the 30 varieties listed on their dedicated apple web page .  ¶  (They were out of Cosmic Crisp, at least temporarily.)

Scarlet Crunch, large and conical, wears a streaky warm red blush over green-tinted yellow.  ¶  They are only slightly ribbed (you have to hunt for that) and are decorated with nearly invisible lenticel dots.

If October is Peak Apple, this coming holiday weekend is peak agroturismo at orchards in the Northeast. (Photo: Part of the crowd lining up to order cider donuts and other treats at Shelburne Farm in Stow, Massachusetts, on Saturday. ) ¶  Come for the apples...but also the donuts, hayrides, goats, corn maze, musical performances, and other delights. Resources below, but also a report from last weekend.

I've reviewed Sunrise Magic, but want to share a second tasting of some that I found for sale at a fruit stand in Seattle. (And not just because they are worth choosing .)  ¶  Most of the nation's Sunrise Magic crop grows in Washington, where it was bred by Washington State University. (WSU also created Cosmic Crisp.)  ¶  It's always worth trying food grown in its native turf.

There are so many colors on this apple that I need two of them to show the full spectrum.  ¶  Regions with a green tint overlap with gold and brown in various combinations: mustard, yellow, olive, brown, orange.  ¶  The Royal Russet, also calle the Brown Russet, is an October apple that boasts real fall colors decorated by distinct light lenticel dots, some filled.

With a name like an Old Timey singer (or perhaps contortionist), the Smoky Mountain Limbertwig sports a beautiful deep red blush.  ¶  That color nearly covers all of the otherwise green-tinged yellow peel of these medium-to-large apples.  ¶  The apple is only moderately ribbed, and there are tiny light lenticels scattered in the glossy blush.

The last market of the year bustles in Arlington, Massachusetts, earlier today.  ¶  It still feels like Peak Apple, but winter is creeping closer. All the suburban farmers markets end this week, and there were fewer apple choices on offer at mine, compared to the week before .

Tipp Pippin may be the same apple as Tipperary Pippin, can anyone say? Scored from a specialty shop in Dublin itself.  ¶  My apples are cylindrical and oblate, which immediately brought Pink Lady (Cripps Pink) to my mind when I first saw them.  ¶  But unlike Pink Lady the blush is a purer red, and generally more saturated although the unblushed yellow shows through in a few spots.

This time of year features an endless series of crates and boxes (wooden or otherwise) and sometimes baskets and even plastic bags, all filled with fresh produce.  ¶  This week was probably the last chance to stock up on Ashmead's Kernel. These keep reasonably well and I am well provisioned.  ¶  Dr Ashmead's fabulous apple has been abundant this year. According to David Wadleigh, who bought Kimball Fruit Farm in 2022, the previous owner grafted lots of Ashmead onto existing McIntosh trees. That strategy is, um, bearing fruit.

Miss just a few farmers markets (I was traveling), and WOW. (Photo: Just some of the apples you could buy at the Arlington, Massachusetts, farmers market on Wednesday. Click to embiggen! ) There were 26 different kinds of apples for sale at the farmers market this week. possibly a record. (Well, maybe not, but still a lot of apples.)

It is not hard to see how this apple got its stellar name.  ¶  The exaggerated ribbing of this small apple pushes its shape beyond pentagon to pentacle, a five-pointed star (though not a very pointy one).  ¶  A more conventional photo follows.

When I published my review of Belle de Boskoop in 2011, a reader told me ,  ❝ My samples look quite different.... Does yours have the 3 pronounced ribs on it? ❞  The implication (delivered diplomatically) was, are you sure you got this right, dude? When I published my review of Alexander earlier this year, another reader told me , Looks like Belle de Boskoop to me, and the description is consistent with my experience with that variety. Your review of Boskoop displays an apple inconsistent with my experience in both appearance and qualities.

I have two of these pretty red apples today, large and medium.  ¶  But note "today" is mid October, as I saved one of them to eat a bit later in the season.  ¶  The smaller is a bit asymmetrical from some accident of growth, but both are ribbed and wear constellations of large light lenticel dots and a very faint light bloom of excess natural wax.  ¶  Rub that off and the apple has a semigloss shine. (Always wash an apple before eating, not to remove the harmless bloom but because you don't know where it has been.)

I've got two Allington apples today: one large, the other slightly smaller. They are classically shaped, long stemmed and nearly unribbed.  ¶  The apples wear a semigloss skin of yellow that is almost a spring green, with a partial red blush that comprises darker red steaks and specks in an orange wash.  ¶  There is some russet in the mix around the stem well, but the kind of textured, subdued olive-toned red you can see in my photos is mostly just the thin blush, with its streaks and spots, spread over the underlying green-tinged yellow.