Adam's Apples

April may be the cruelest month , but this particular June feels like the stingiest. Of course there can be no fresh local fruit this month, but the southern hemisphere had a harvest not too long ago. Where are those apples? Not in supermarkets.

Containing coloured figures and descriptions of the most esteemed kinds of apples and pears. Source: The Herefordshire Pomona, Volume II

"Honeycrisp Saves the World" Recently National Public Radio's "Planet Money" decided to explain apples to us . Because the true story of the apple and cider renaissance is so boring , the explanation came in the form of a fairy tale, once upon a time, in which nearly every story element is unfaithful to the truth.

Imagine my surprise to find mustard in my apple last week. Not the actual golden brown spicy stuff, but rather its distinctive tang. Minus the heat.

Not a bud has burst earlier today at Huchins Farm in Concord, Massachusetts.

I love how every apple has a story. Sometimes the stories come with titles, in the names of the apples. Here are five of them. Nodhead . This amiable old-style apple with cider and watermelon notes originated in Hollis, New Hampshire, in the eighteenth century. A local historical website records that the apple, developed by by Samuel Jewett, "was locally known as Nod-head from the fact that Jewett nodded his head when walking or talking." None other than  Jewett's several-times great grandson  has chimed in on this story. The apple is also known as Jewett's Red. Empire . What could possibly be the significance of the name "Empire" for this product of New York State's famous fruit-breeding program ? This relatively modern variety dates from...