Adam's Apples

Who's your daddy? EverCrisp's pollen parent is Fuji. Today we are tasting two related varieties harvested last fall and purchased this month in supermarkets. They are not at peak, but both are sturdy, crunchy varieties bred to survive long-term storage and handling.

EverCrisp is the Midwest Apple Improvement Association's entry into the Honeycrisp Succession Derby . I found it in my local supermarket this month. How well does this variety, ever crisp, weather the wholesale chain? My other samples were all direct from local growers (and earlier). I bought three, emblazoned with PLU stickers, to find out.

If you are missing fresh apples this winter as much as I am, you might enjoy a video slide show of red-fleshed apples from the USDA watercolor collection. Thanks to Bill Lyon , a Twitter friend, for pulling this together.

Eliza Greenman reports the sad news: It is with a heavy heart to report the passing of C. Lee Calhoun, Southern apple hunter. Calhoun is the author of Old Southern Apples . For many years he and his wife, Edith, operated a nursery that was a source of rare and regional apple varieties. Greenman met Calhoun several times. Her account includes more about the man, his life, and his devotion to apples.

I rate apples from one to three stars. Once a year at this time , I add ratings for recent finds and make adjustments. In 2019, I tasted 16 apples for the first time, and resampled some others. Here's my verdict.

Orange: you would really have to call this flame-colored apple orange, or at least halfway there from red. This as-yet unnamed apple ("633" is just a placeholder) has an uneven blush over yellow, marked in places with many tan lenticel dots. It is largish and classically shaped, with a deep stemwell that swallows most of the thick stem. There is a small amount of ribbing.

Isn't this pretty? Large medium, with a deep crimson red that covers every place except a few shade spots, which are yellow. The color is a little lighter, pastel-like, just around the base. Tiny light dots accent the saturated blush, and there is a satiny sheen.