Adam's Apples

I conclude my long deep dive into Braeburn with two examples bought at a local farmers market on October 20. The project was inspired by a comment from a reader , who suggested that Braeburn was a fickle, variable apple that could not be relied upon to be the same from harvest to harvest or day to day.

There is something a little forelorn about the last market of the year.

Another year, and another photo of a raw, wet ending to farmers market in Arlington earlier today. There goes the punch bowl, just as the party was getting good.

There were 24 kinds of apples at the farmer's market in Union Square (Somerville) earlier today.

My two Shizuka apples are large and spring green, slightly oblate spheres decorated with crackles of tan russet and darker green lenticels that have small light centers. One of my samples, shown, has a faint pink-orange blush in a region of peel that is almost yellow. (It also has some tiny bruises.)

I love this time of year.

Hype about Mountain Rose has become a cloud of uncertainty about these apples. Are they the same as Airlie Redflesh, aka Hidden Rose ? The stroke of a knife will help shed light on that.