This apple, like Pink Lady in the UK, is marketed to women . But if Pink Lady's brand avatar suggests a wholesome young mother, Envy is Pink Lady's more worldly sister , exotic and sultry. Today we can finally blow past the clever marketing and taste the real deal.
I started Adam's Apples five years ago to learn about apples but also about blogging and writing for the web. Every year I have been rewarded on both fronts. Predictably, it's harder for me with each harvest to find "new" varieties (some of which are of course quite old) to try for the first time and to share with you. Lately I've spent more time making my existing reviews accessible than sampling untried varieties.
This is the time of year when I gnaw on my memories. A luminous apple hangs in the mist at Gould Hill Farm. This photo dates from a day-long visit to some of New England's great orchards on a wet weekend at the end of September. Not bad weather for such a pilgrimage as it turned out .
This new French apple is starting to be grown in the United States, but my samples today come from New Zealand. Each of these Tentations is a large yellow cylinder with a gorgeous light orange blush over perhaps half of its surface. Ribbing is minimal and in one sample only evident at the base, where the calyx is closed and unusually recessed. Small dark lenticels are especially prominent in the unblushed region.