Adam's Apples

There are many dimensions of apple quality beyond the obvious color, taste, and texture.  ¶  One might want to know, is this apple a good keeper? Does it excel for baking? If you cut it into cubes or slices will it retain its color or turn brown?  ¶  One less-obvious dimension of quality that I have been thinking about a lot this year is, for lack of a better word,  consistency  (or reliability). Namely, how likely it is that an apple will be as good as it usually is.

Sow Carolina Gold rice and you'll generally grow Carolina Gold, the same as the parent. You can save some for seed if you like. Sow seeds from a Honeycrisp apple and, with a little sun and rain, you'll grow apple trees, but not Honeycrisps. Unlike rice, apples do not breed true; apple varieties must be propagated by grafting scionwood onto rootstock .

The Somerville (Mass.) Armory Behind this fantastic urban facade is a winter farmers market that sells apples. Inside is a lively scene that includes produce, baked goods, and a cafe. The market is open on Saturdays from 9:30 until 2 at the old armory on Highland Avenue in Somerville ( map ).

You sent me fruit! Thanks so much for everything. Twenty thirteen was a good year for apples and for my blog, still going strong long after the conclusion of what was going to be just a single year. One quality that has accumulated over that time is my gratitude for your readership and comments, often the best thing going here. I've learned a lot from you. My writing is sometimes hit and sometimes miss, but my best columns are those that spark a conversation.

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.