Adam's Apples

Fisticuffs! (Public domain image) In the 19th Century no less than seven New England communities professed to be the one true home of the original Baldwin apple tree.

Here is how the pros do it: This time of year, unless you've got exceptional storage, all of your apples probably go through something like this. Video by Domex Superfresh Growers of Yakima, Washington.

Jazz, at left, has the same parents as Kanzi. Today's match pits Jazz (left), a Gala x Braeburn cross, against Kanzi , a, um, Gala x Braeburn cross. So strap yourself in for some real sibling rivalry.

"Evidence does not support that an apple a day keeps the doctor away," according to the abstract of a paper published on the web site of the Journal of the American Medical Association today. However, "the small fraction of US adults who eat an apple a day do appear to use fewer prescription medications." That's according to the paper "Association Between Apple Consumption and Physician Visits: Appealing the Conventional Wisdom That an Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away" (JAMA Intern Med doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2014.5466).

Kanzi, which means "hidden treasure" in Swahili, is a modern breed from Belgium. It is large but not huge, tapered and conical, a cheerful glossy yellow partially covered with an orange-tinged-red blush. Small lenticels are only prominent in the lightly blushed regions, and the unblushed yellow has green highlights.

Rubbery beats mealy. Most apples grow mealy after enough time in storage, or in poor storage, and who likes that? Some sooner than others, some more and some less. Even staunch Arkansas Black starts to go a little granular by April. Yet a few apples take a different tack as they age. Varieties like Gold Rush and Esopus Spitzenberg keep their crunch and grow distinctly elastic.

I got nothin' today, so would like to share with you this linked interview with Dan Bussey from gardening writer Margaret Roach. Bussey is producing an encyclopedia of some 16,000 apple varieties .