Adam's Apples

This classically shaped large apple has a streaky red blush over a waxy yellow. Mine are ribbed, one of them strongly so. Small sparse lenticels are not prominent. Autumn Glory has a nice firm squeeze and a sweet cidery aroma. Inside is coarse crisp yellow flesh, very juicy. There are simple sweet flavors and a great crunch, with corn syrup and faint mineral notes. One sample has a bit of sea brine. Another presents, briefly, B-vitamin tang.

The shape and size of this unusual and pretty apple varies considerably, but all are a cheerful spring green dominated by copper-colored russet so metallic it shimmers, no place more so than in the many large lenticels . The example shown is quite large and very oblate. There were many such; I picked this one to show the slight blush, which was less typical. (Or perhaps it's a sunburn.) My other unblushed sample (photo below) is smaller and more classically shaped, also representative. Both are a little ribbed and have a faint grassy aroma. Both are rock hard in early October.

Today's large round apple, very lightly ribbed, has a thin red blush with some deeper stripes over a green yellow. Tiny light lenticels are hard to see against this backdrop. The shade of red is a little dull but the peel has a high satiny gloss. Sweet aroma, closed calyx.

Gold Rush (L) and Blushing Golden on a day in late fall Two ribbed, conical, yellow late-season keeper apples with partial red blushes, in between medium and large. Blushing Golden , at right, is larger, yellower, and with a livelier, more-saturated orange-red blush. Gold Rush is more elongated and conical, with a streakier and more-subdued bronze-red blush over a more-subdued green yellow, flecked with brown.

Galarina is classically shaped, ribbed with distinct "chins" at the base. It's large, though not quite as big as pollen parent Querina . This apple has a blush that is deep and saturated at its greatest. On more-shaded quarters the red fades to a wash with some stripped variation. There the green-yellow peel gives the apple a slight orange tint. Overall the blush covers 80 to 90 percent. The lenticels are small and indistinct in the darkest blush, larger elsewhere. Galarina has only a faint sweet aroma.

It rained on the last farmers market in Davis Square, Somerville, today. Here in the Boston area the last remaining farmers markets call it quits the day before Thanksgiving. That's today, and it poured. Some regular Davis Square vendors decided not to bother. Nonetheless there were 11 different varieties of apples for sale today.

Today's new variety is a large apple with a deep and even red blush randomly studded with tan lenticels. The only unblushed peel, a tiny patch in the stem well, is more green than yellow This sample is misshapen, lopsided and with a great dimple in one side (not shown). I think its ideal shape is rounded with very moderate ribbing that really only shows at the base. I like odd shapes and this attractive apple feels very solid and sports a cidery aroma.