Adam's Apples

I'm always hoping to find apples that are new to me, to taste and describe here. This year I've walked many through the ritual of photographing and tasting, only to find that they are not new at all. Instead these apples were just sold under unfamiliar names. A recent visit to the Big Apple included a pilgrimage to several farmers markets. New York City draws fruit from some fine orchards upstate and in New Jersey. I returned with 4 varieties I hoped to add to my opinionated catalog . All but one, however, were retreads in disguise.

This apple was a gift called "Early Golden." It is my ungrateful business here to look all apples in the mouth, gifts included. In this case it looks as though I found a slightly overripe (but not unpleasant!) Golden Supreme. This medium-sized apple is a beautiful pure yellow flecked with dark gray lenticels, especially on the sunward side where a faint blush adds a subtle orange cast. My Early Golden is classically shaped, both conical and oblate with modest ribbing. It is very firm in hand with a calyx that is mostly, but not completely, closed, and it smells faintly of cider and honey.

Today's handsome apple runs to to large: a shapely, conical, and slightly ribbed fruit. Its yellow skin has green highlights. Some sport a small, delicate orange-pink blush, nearly transparent. There are many small lenticels, most light-green, some dark (perhaps with russet). The calyx is partly open, and there is faint sweet aroma. Golden Supreme's flesh is crisp, coarse-grained, and light yellow. It bears juice with some of the honey-and-pear qualities of a Golden Delicious, but lighter and less complex.