Adam's Apples

The Cortland apple has an ardent following. In September and October, I like Macs and Macouns, close Cort relations.  Photo: McIntosh (L) and Cortland  ¶  But lately, in February and now March, I have been enjoying Cortland's crisp vinous goodness.  ¶  Let's see how it stacks up agains the Mac at this time of year.

What do you get if you cross a McIntosh with a Golden Delicious?  ¶  There are many examples of that. Today we are comparing two apples: Spencer (L) and Brock.  ¶  Both are " Mcintosh x Golden Delicious ": grown from the seed of a Mac pollinated by Golden D.

Rambo (L) and Johnny Appleseed.  ¶  On the left, the apple that inspired the name of a movie character (Rambo; true story).  ¶  On the right, the apple named for Johnny Appleseed (a real person despite his larger-than-life folkloric aura).  ¶  Today's comparison responds to the notion that these are in fact the same apple. It is an inquiry . Wikipedia says , of the Johnny Appleseed apple, Some marketers claim that it is a Rambo; some even make the claim that the Rambo was "Johnny Appleseed's favorite variety." The latter claim is unlikely, but let's taste test the former.

Left to right: Lobo , the larger and squatter, and its mother, McIntosh .  ¶  (The camera angle hides a significant size difference.)  ¶  My Mac's blush is a little darker and less orange, but both have the same streaky character over similar yellow green.

In the 1990s, the Washington State University cast its envious eye at the success of the University of Minnesota's Honeycrisp , and asked, why can't we do that? "That" in this case was not just apple breeding, but also a new business model. Honeycrisp was a club apple , restricted to select Minnesota growers while the plant patent lasted. (It expired in 2008.) Cosmic Crisp (left) is Washington's answer, and Washington growers have gone all-in, planting tens of millions of trees since its 2015 release. But Sunrise Magic (right) was an early contender. Released in 2009 as WA-2, it got its own brand name in 2016.

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.

Which of these apples is a 150-year-old heirloom? is from a local (Massachusetts) orchard? is commonly sold in supermarkets and grocery stores across North America? If you've been reading my blog you know the answer. You also know that this is a trick question.

Take number 2, this time with a local Red Delicious. America gets its fruit at the supermarket, and that determines what we eat and what farmers grow. So I thought it fair and reasonable to compare these apples using a store-bought Red Delicious. Which I did .

A Red Delicious , once America's apple, fresh from the supermarket. Hint: It's the tall one on the left. And the fabled Hawkeye , a seedling found growing on a Quaker's Iowa farm nearly 150 years ago. Here from an Indiana orchard. But surely you know the story that connects these apples.

These two apples, though very different, share many characteristics. Thus this taste test. Other than size—both are small, though not crabs—these do not look much alike.

Fate, in the form of a care package from Indiana, brought these two tiny August apples to me at the same time last month. And, they are kind of similar.

These Japanese apples have the same parents. How far does the family resemblance go?

It is August and I do not need to be mucking about with apples from last year that are just (let's face it) not going to be very good now. I've already had some great (and fresh!) Pristine and Paula Red this month. There are other early apples about with more on the way. But McIntosh (left) is a fall icon, and Empire (right) is one of my go-to apples in the impoverished springtime. Supermarkets here have both of them today. So let's see which of these two old warhorses have fared better over the fall, winter, spring, and half of summer.

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.

Who's your daddy? EverCrisp's pollen parent is Fuji. Today we are tasting two related varieties harvested last fall and purchased this month in supermarkets. They are not at peak, but both are sturdy, crunchy varieties bred to survive long-term storage and handling.

Lucies Rose (L) and Glo Once upon a time there were two sisters, Lucy Glo and Lucy Rose. Lucy Glo was the tangy one, Lucy Rose the sweet. Or so they say . Today, we'll see.

The purpose of today's apple adventure is not to decide which is best, but rather what is what. I spotted some similarities between Ashmead's Kernel and an unidentified variety that came my way . Some of you, gentle readers, begged to differ . So, I report, you decide. What is this guy?

Most of the time, my comparison posts start by introducing the apples and asking, which is best? This isn't that kind of thing. Instead the question is, will these apples go together as well as I imagine?

Shelburne Farm , in Stow, Massachusetts, is on a tear with red-fleshed apples, and here are three of them. Left to right: Scarlet Surprise, Pink Pearl, Firecracker The photo above buttresses three of my observations about red-fleshed apples generally.

Early Mac (L) vs Paula Red McIntosh is still the King of Autumn in these parts. Consequently, many contenders vie for the role of August regent before Mac's royal debut in September. Mac isn't available to eat now, so the best we can do is to rate Early McIntosh (L) against Paula Red (R). Paula is both (1) the most Mac-like of the August earlies, and (2) the only other Mac-wannabee available when Early Mac is ripe.