Adam's Apples

A very happy new year from me to you. At Farmers Market this year I reviewed 21 apples in 2015, more than the year before and more than I'd supposed likely. The tally of my opinionated catalog stands today at 241 varieties, including a few mere sports . After 7 years of Adam’s Apples it’s rare to discover an untried variety at Farmers Market, yet the choices at those markets continue to evolve in promising ways (Hello, Wickson !). Many of the new 2015 apples came from you, O generous readers, some from locales with climates different from that of my own New England. I’m naturally very grateful to you all.

I had a chance to try Rubenstar again while in California, probably picked in October, 3 or 4 weeks later in the season than the 2013 samples . These are much smaller apples (see why that might be ), and very pretty. The blush is streaky red over yellow, further varigated by many light lenticels.

Tarte Tatin is the classic French apple tart, a splendid if finicky marriage of Pâte Brisée crust and Calville Blanc d'Hiver apples. On Thanksgiving I had Calville but did not want to fuss with that crust. So I took a leaf from Rowan Jacobsen’s book, Apples of Uncommon Character , and made his easier version, which he playfully calls “Tarte Tintin.”

What a show stopper! You can see why some apple breeders become obsessed with creating red-fleshed apples that also have good eating qualities. Did they succeed with Ruby Red?

Genius idea. That was my first thought when I saw apples labeled "Spymac." Cross two classics, Northern Spy and McIntosh . I'll bet it's a great pie apple, too. Spymac looks squarely in the Mac family, with a streaky-to-saturated red blush over green yellow, moderate ribbing, and large light lenticels.

The last farmers markets of the year will close up shop in a few hours. Last day of Farmers Market for 2015 in Davis Square, Somerville.

How much can I learn from a single flawed sample? A good deal, with some educated guessing. Physically this Suntan is imperfect. Medium-sized, the apple smells promising but is lopsided and cracked, with spoiled parts. There won't be much to taste. Probably this is a tapered apple with moderate ribbing, but it's hard to tell. Superficially the apple is divided into three parts, as follows.