Adam's Apples

For the third week in a row, only one vendor at our farmers market had only one kind of apple.  ¶  But the fruit was different this week: a modern variety called Pristine.  ¶  This has become one of my favorite early apples.

Since my first blog post here on this day in 2008, I have learned a lot about apples, and a bit about blogging too.  ¶  The plan then was simple: go to Farmers Market every week, see what was ripe, and tell the world.

Apples swell on the trees at Hutchins Farm in Concord, Massachusetts, yesterday.  ¶  Not ripe yet, but getting there: these apples are an encouraging sight.

( Vista Bella Apples for sale in Arlington, Massachusetts, earlier today. ) Not a moment too soon, the 2025 harvest begins.  ¶  Vista Bella is an early apple, a good one. But these are early: VB is at its best closer to the end of the month.  ¶  So these aren't great, except that they are.

They are tiny, which perhaps explains how I missed these Wickson apples at the back of my produce drawer.  ¶  They do not have the most hopeful appearance, but I had to try them.  ¶  Verdict: Surprisingly good, though but a shadow of their best.

In spring and summer this seasonal blog slows down. I think of apples often, but not all thoughts are worth sharing.  ¶  You might nonetheless enjoy one or all of these three summer reflections while you wait on the harvest.

This wrinkled, rubbery apple tastes better than anything in supermarkets this month.  ¶  Click to view up close and personal.  ¶  The texture is not bad either.