Adam's Apples

Who shall dethrone the mighty Honeycrisp? The wolves have been circling for some time around old King Honeycrisp . This variety originated, and still dominates, the niche of super crisp, tooth-achingly sweet apples. Honeycrisp's rival apples aspire to rule the kingdom, not to topple it. To supplant with same-only-better, not to challenge with new tastes and textures. By when did the King get so old? What makes him vulnerable?

More than a hundred thoughtful descriptions (and photos) of apples are tucked away in a small website set up to manage the Out on a Limb Apple CSA (community supported agriculture). The descriptions are unsigned, but authorship must certainly belong to one of the CSA's farmers, apple sleuth and rescuer John Bunker .

Long have I marveled at the wonderful keeping qualities of GoldRush , a modern variety developed by the PRI Co-op . Packed well, GoldRush keeps in my ordinary refrigerator, peaking in April and still quite tasty in June . So today, six months out, let's sample the fall 2017 harvest. And while we are at it, the 2016 harvest too.

Vincent van Gogh Eugene Crockett died suddenly in early 1932, leaving a family, a thousand fruit trees, and a pile of debt in the pit of the Depression. Only his daughter, Kitty, wanted to keep the orchard or thought it would be possible to do so.

You know Honeycrisp (right?) even if you don't follow this blog. If you read my regular reports, perhaps you recall last fall's Evercrisp . As its name suggests, Evercrisp, at right, takes aim at Honeycrisp and seeks to fill its shoes. Not by being boldly different, but by being the same only better. So, this is personal. Let's see how things shake down.

A small part of the orchard last Saturday at Clarkdale Fruit Farms .