Adam's Apples

Today's treat is a new variety from New York's fruit-breeding program at Cornell University. Its handsome red blush, streaky, russet-blasted, and set off by distinctive light lenticel dots, is complex and pleasing. The underlying yellow, edged with green, shows through to degrees in some regions. There are patches of russet in the recess around stem and calyx (which is closed).

These apples are enormous. The smallest one in the bin (shown) is merely large. Pink Luster, a new variety from Cornell, is conical and ribbed, a cheerful yellow with an uneven dark pink-fuschia blush. It is tapered and prominently ribbed, has a thick stem in a deep stem well, and is decorated with small light lenticel dots.

A funny thing happened when I retasted this apple: some flavors changed, and some harshness declined. Before 2009, Autumn Crisp was still an experimental variety known as NY 674. A local grower planted some and dubbed them " Early Jonagold ." That nickname was how I first knew them in 2011. Since then, the variety has gone mainstream under its marketing name, Autumn Crisp. I saw plenty of them in supermarkets this spring. The apple I tasted in 2011 , despite its virtues, could never be popular enough for that. So here is a revised review (fresh from a local orchard).

Heads up! This apple, according to a charming story, is the same variety that conked Isaac Newton's noggin in 1666. It might even be true.

Today I learned that Pixie Crunch, a modern variety less than 30 years old, is an "heirloom" apple because, apparently, it is not Honeycrisp , Gala , or Red Delicious ( Not, by the way.) My two tasting samples are small and medium, slightly oblate spheres with no appreciable ribbing.  These attractive compact apples are rock hard in my hand with a stripey red blush. Tiny, distinct tan lenticel dots lend a visual accent.

A really good apple I sampled back in 2015 is finally seeing the light of day here. On the small side of medium, this attractive yellow apple sports a partial orange-bronze blush on the sunward side. It has many tiny lenticels, some quite dark, but the most striking feature are several small round splotches of saturated red, like drops of paint. There is some of this in both blushed and unblushed regions, and some of the lenticels are similarly colored.

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.

These classically shaped apples run medium to large with next to no ribbing. Lenticel dots are dark when russeted, as most are, but otherwise hard to see against the yellow peel. The stem, absent from my photographed example, is long and thin. One of the apples has a green tint in the yellow. A honey-sweet aroma suggests Golden Delicious ancestry.

Today's apple is another from the Midwest Apple Improvement Association . It is large and blocky and a little ribbed, and feels firm and substantial. Its red blush is tinted with a dollop of orange and is accented by large tanned dots. The unblushed area is a light yellow, and the peel is attractively glossy. The stem well is quite deep, and at the other end the calyx is partially open.

This is a large apple, a little broad in the beam but still slightly tapered. It has a subdued "dusty" orange-red blush that is a kind of streaky over light lemon yellow. The streaks are streaked with a very fine brush.