Adam's Apples

These are small apples, barely bigger than crabs, with a deep red blush (streaky in spots) that covers a dull yellow-green.  ¶  They are mostly tapered and elongated, though there is variation, and are only slightly ribbed. Their shape is a little reminiscent of the larger Black Gilliflower's .  ¶  Swaths of what I think is the thinnest russeting I have ever seen show on small regions of some of these small apples.

It is not hard to see how this apple got its stellar name.  ¶  The exaggerated ribbing of this small apple pushes its shape beyond pentagon to pentacle, a five-pointed star (though not a very pointy one).  ¶  A more conventional photo follows.

I have two of these pretty red apples today, large and medium.  ¶  But note "today" is mid October, as I saved one of them to eat a bit later in the season.  ¶  The smaller is a bit asymmetrical from some accident of growth, but both are ribbed and wear constellations of large light lenticel dots and a very faint light bloom of excess natural wax.  ¶  Rub that off and the apple has a semigloss shine. (Always wash an apple before eating, not to remove the harmless bloom but because you don't know where it has been.)

I've got two Allington apples today: one large, the other slightly smaller. They are classically shaped, long stemmed and nearly unribbed.  ¶  The apples wear a semigloss skin of yellow that is almost a spring green, with a partial red blush that comprises darker red steaks and specks in an orange wash.  ¶  There is some russet in the mix around the stem well, but the kind of textured, subdued olive-toned red you can see in my photos is mostly just the thin blush, with its streaks and spots, spread over the underlying green-tinged yellow.

Today's Knobbed Russet is neither.  ¶  The twisted, glowering Knobbed Russet I reviewed in 2011 is more characteristic. I was strongly tempted to reuse its photo to show some of the deformity this variety can achieve  ¶  This Knobbed Russet has a reputation of being covertly tasty, a connoisseurs secret. It was the failure of my 2011 samples to meet that standard that made me especially pleased to try again. Today's apples are a pale gold, one with a small orange glow of a blush, both with fractal zig-zags of a rough brown russet.

O Prince of autumn! Finkenwerder has a striped red blush that reads as orange over the green-tinted yellow peel of this apple.  ¶  It is lightly ribbed and tapered, though my sample is not as elongated as the one hanging from a branch in today's photo.  ¶  Small lenticel dots match the peel, but many are filled in with grey. For some reason that is the most common on the unblushed side.

These very large apples, 12.5 inches around, are broad but tapered, green with dull red stripes, and glossy. One sample is markedly lopsided.  ¶  The shape is a little bit ribbed only, and the peel has that greasy feel one gets from the natural wax of the fruit. Lenticels are raised bumps with tiny light spots in the center. Squeeze Twenty Ounce for a little give: I'm not expecting firmness inside.

"Glocken" means bell, which describes the characteristic shape of this elongated and tapered apple.  ¶  My two Glockenapfels are medium-to-large, ribbed, tapered, and elongated. The photographed sample if anything understates this, but it has the better color (yellow) and blush. They are quite firm in hand.  ¶  The lenticels are tiny, light in the blush and barely visible elsewhere, unless filled in with a bit of dark grey.

At the small end of large, these classically shaped apples have a saturated red blush decorated with small distinct lenticel dots and a light blue bloom.  ¶  At its darkest, the blush takes on a purple cast, but where thin the underlying yellow peel is partially visible for a warm orange effect.

Deane, evidently, is one of those apples that can grow quite large. My biggest sample is 12 inches around.  ¶  These are oblate and round with some ribbing. My photograph shows a lopsided lump on this one. They have a streaky red blush over a pale spring green.  ¶  In addition to stripes, there are some irregular spots of saturated red in the lightly blushed regions.

The name of this pale yellow apple tells us it is a product of the Purdue-Rutgers-Indiana breeding coop, which has brought us such innovate apple varieties such as Pristine and Gold Rush .  ¶  The color of some of these large apples has a touch of green in it. The example in the above photo, on the other hand, is faintly orange in the area facing the camera, the closest thing I find as a blush.  ¶ 

Today's Trent apples are large mediums, slightly oblate with essentially no ribbing. Their streaky red blush is rendered a bit pastel or "dusty rose" by a light smokey bloom.  ¶  Many large light green lenticel dots (small near the calyx end) are visible throughout. They are if anything slightly larger in the less-blushed areas where the underlying green partially shows through the thinner blush.

If you love a tart apple, have I got a deal for you.  ¶  The light pea-green peel of this huge ribbed apple peers out from a partial screen of warm brown russet.  ¶  But my eye is drawn to the small but dramatic patch of red blush, where the tiny white lenticel dots are most prominent (but if you look closely, they are everywhere.)

These large, moderately ribbed apples have a satiny red blush over the usual green yellow, accented by tiny light dots. On closer inspection, the blush is a bit streaky and not everywhere saturated.  ¶  There is a very light bloom on these, so faint I almost missed it. Once that is washed off, the apple is glossy.  ¶  Both my samples have small, stubby stems nestled into their wells. A wide calyx allows me to peer into the bottom of the apple.

John Chapman, popularly called Johnny Appleseed, is responsible in large part for the genetic diversity of American apples.  ¶  He was also born not far from where I live, and his birthday was last month (which is when I tasted this apple).  ¶  So it seems entirely appropriate that someone should name an apple for him. Similarly, that they should be ripe on his birthday, ready for me to taste and tell you about.

My two Joseph Musch apples are quite large and broad in the beam, moderately ribbed (one of them has a single half bulge), and with open calyxes .  ¶  Each has a warm red blush comprising stripes of variegated intensity, with faint tiny tan lenticels that are not easy to see (a bit more visible on one of the apples).  ¶  The underlying color is yellow, expressed as orange where the blush is thin.  ¶  One sample has a bit of a dimple that I might suppose was from hail earlier in life. However, this apple grew under a roof (more on that latter), so that's not likely.

Today's striking apple, somewhere between medium and large, has a blush that ranges from deep to streaky over yellow.  ¶  Classically shaped and lightly ribbed, Legace wears many small light lenticel dots in its scarlet coat.  ¶  I'm not sure why, but the color of this apple in my photo is less vibrant and saturated than in person. That might be due to lighting or perhaps the existence of a bit of a bloom that has rubbed off my tasting sample. I am quite sure I have the right apple, however.

Today's apples (I have two) are large and medium sized, both with an attractive and mostly saturated streaky blush over yellow green.  ¶  There's also a light milky-blue bloom that isn't visible in the photo.  ¶  The apples are more round than anything else; there is very light ribbing. The larger one is lopsided but I think that it grew that way competing for room with another apple. Speaking of the vissicitudes of orchard life, the smaller apple has discolored indentations on the side not shown above. They might be the marks of hail.

My Scrumptious has a crimson blush with a beautiful dark region that that may reflect time spent on the tree. It is on the small end of medium-sized and very oblate, wider than tall.  ¶  That blush is not entirely dark. There is a small yellow patch on one side, surrounded by red and orange streaks. A crown of russet radiates from the stem well.

I have 3 small apples from Moldova.  ¶  Other than that, no information. They could be a Moldovan cultivar, a chance seedling, or a variety that originated elsewhere. They are ribbed and oblate with a slight taper. Calyx open, color a very green tinted yellow with a patchy, streaky partial red blush.  One must peer at them closely to see the lenticels, even in the blush where they are small light dots. They sport a glossy peel. These have a very rich aroma of sweet cider.