Adam's Apples

This large apple, slightly conical, has next to no ribbing. Its streaky red blush, over yellow, is accented with many tan lenticels. It's firm in hand, with a glossy peel and a sweet cidery aroma with floral notes. Kiku's flesh is crisp and coarse-grained, light yellow and very juicy. It is sweet and light with a little tempering tartness behind the scenes.

A bin of Rusty Sweet looks so much like a mass of Golden Delicious that I asked the seller if these were only a sport or variant of that variety. No, she told me, they are something else. This large elongated yellow apple, on closer inspection, is blockier and less conical than Golden D, though there is some taper. A little ribbing, too. A small faint blush washes orange along with a few saturated red dots like spatters of paint. Lenticels are small and green, and the peel is satiny rather than glossy. In hand Rusty is nice and solid with a sweet cider aroma. Its calyx is closed.

Sweetango's fame exceeds its availability, but I've finally got some promising examples. This medium-sized apple is conical and slightly ribbed. The blush can be stunning, red saturated in streaks and tinged with orange. On some samples this darkens to whole solid sections. Large brown lenticels are prominent on the glossy peel. The apple is firm to the squeeze and has a sweet cider-laced aroma. What does it do in your mouth?

I've got three small dark apples to try, classically shaped with a slightly ribbed taper. They are little bigger than crab apples. The blush runs from a streaky red to a lustrous dark crimson. Unlike some deeply colored apples, the red of this blush has no purple tint. The unblushed color, visible only in one small patch, is yellow tinted green. Small light lenticels are nearly impossible to see in the darker blush. King David is solid in hand with a faint sweet cider aroma.

This apples dates from a time of boastful apple names. Seek no further! Nonesuch! King of the Pippins! These are small to medium with a faint blush, streaky pink over a muted chartreuse, and varying amounts of russet. The net effect is layered and complex. Though squat these are also a little conical. There's no ribbing to speak of; okay maybe a hint of some.

The thin orange-red blush that partially covers this large chartreuse apple includes some saturated red streaks and showcases many small light lenticels. (The lenticels are harder to see on the unblushed peel.) I have two, round and slightly, but noticibly, ribbed. One is a little connical. Both have swaths and scars of russet, and there is a little flyspeck, visible at right on today's photo (click for close-up). This apple is fresh from the orchard and, unbroken, has a sweet fragrance tinged with cider and banana.

I had a tiny tantalizing sliver of this antique apple on a walk at Tower Hill . Now I've got a whole Tolman Sweet to eat. Somewhere between small and large, this yellow apple is streaked with green, stippled with a light blotchy blush, and decorated with russety scars. Note the green seam running vertically down the left side of the apple. Small lenticels are prominent only when darkened with russet (which is not unusual).

Not gold but light green, this large apple has a classic shape with a small amount of ribbing and a slight conical taper. The green is subtly stippled and the peel has a matte finish. Grimes sports no blush but each of my samples has a side that is smoother and shinier within which the large light lenticels are easier to see. Both apples also have small webs of russet near their bases.

These classically shaped apples with minimal ribbing span the range between medium and large. A thin red blush washes over an intense spring green. The waxy peel shines. Except where accented with specks of russet, the small lenticels are hard to see. I wonder if these are fully ripe. They feel quite hard. Stark's flesh is a medium-coarse yellow-green. That unripe theory looks pretty good, but lets see what there is to see.

This heritage apple is large, ribbed, and lumpy. A streaky red blush mostly covers bright green, and tiny light lenticels are not prominent. Chandler unbroken has a pleasant cider aroma and a shiny waxy peel. Its coarse butter-yellow flesh is juicy and crisp, with just a little give. The sweet-tart balance is right in the zone to showcase flavors of sweet cider alongside something sharper that I will describe, for lack of a better, as pineapple, though that really isn't right.

Gilpin is a cider apple, so it may or may not be good to eat. Bitter? Sourball? Let's see. This medium-sized fruit is ribbed, lumpy, and riddled with stress-lines of russet. It's pretty well blushed over yellow-green, dark in spots. The small light lenticels get lost with all the other stuff on the surface of this apple. Gilpin has a cidery aroma and a shiny, waxy skin.

Could there be any apple name more likely to excite my antipathy than "Candy Crisp?" Apples should not be tooth-achingly sweet. I shall nonetheless strive to give an accurate account of this variety, all the while hoping that the fruit will not live up to its saccharine name. With its yellow-green peel, prominent lenticels, and faint pink blush, this large ribbed apple resembles nothing less than a Honeygold poured into whatever elongated mold is used to make Red Delicious .

My sample is marked by the descriptively named flyspeck and sooty blotch, which have nothing to do with flies or soot and do not affect the flavor of the fruit. A network of russet adds another layer to this variegated apple's peel, the texture of which runs from matte to rough. Look closely to see small faint lenticels among all that texture.

There's not much gold on my Honeygolds. Except for a yellow tint within the faint orange-rose blush that covers perhaps one sixth of the peel, this apple is a bright spring green. Maybe, then, mine were picked early. On the other hand, this has been an early season. Honeygold clocks in on the small edge of large, slightly ribbed. Its many dark lenticels are prominent and feel a little rough, suggesting russet.

Staybrite is a sport of Stayman and presumably eats very similar. These apples were so handsome that I could not resist buying a few to see if there are any differences in texture or taste versus the original. My sample today, like many of the Staybites I saw, is big, much larger than other Staymans I have seen. But another one is just medium-sized. The shapes vary, from oblate to conical. There is a little ribbing.

This rescued variety was once lost, and some mysteries remain. Though appearance varies, these are mostly medium-large to large and moderately ribbed, with a beautiful orange-red blush over dull yellow (or on some, yellow-green). On one smaller sample the blush is a more-saturated red and a cap of russet seems to spill over the blush side leaving big fat spatters on the blush. Lenticels for the most part are small. They fade into the blush but are dark and easy to spot against the unblushed peel.

I'm used to thinking I've had every variety from farmers market that vendors are willing to sell there. So I did a double take when I spotted Kendall, then unknown to me, at this week's market.

I am looking at 3 small apples, all classically shaped with only the slightest detectable ribbing. They are a muted green with a fine network of russet like the craqueleur of an old oil painting. It's worth clicking on the photo for a close-up. Two of these have small patches that are smooth and overlaid with a faint coppery orange (perhaps the blush) but mostly Pitmaston has a rough russet texture. All have at least a touch of sooty blotch, a superficial sign of a peel flora that is common on low-spray apples. Beneath the russet layer some regions are more yellow, and some grayer, than others. The peel smells faintly of sugar and hay. I try to start each tasting without preconceptions, but it's hard not to expect at least a whiff of pineapple.

This big apple with the bovine name is slightly ribbed with a layered, variegated peel. Start with yellow-green with streaks of spring green. Add a thin red blush for an orange-brown effect covering maybe two thirds; put streakey dribs and drabs of more-saturated red inside the blush. There's an O of coppery russet around the base. Light lenticels are barely visible except where russetted over. The shiny peel gives a satiny finish.

No name. Not even a nickname. This is just NY 652, of the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station . But the grower, Samascott Orchards , tell us that 652 is "like Empress "—as well it might be, as that named variety's original number was NY 651. This medium-sized fruit has a blush over spring green that runs to a deep crimson. The blush covers most of the apple though only some is darkly saturated. The many tiny lenticels are faint on my photographed example, nearly invisible on another.