Apples. Farm fresh apples
Saturday, November 15, 2014
I’m not talking about the primped commercial beauties sloped high on supermarket platforms, pretty little things waxed to within an inch of any flavor. No, I’m talking about farm-fresh apples. The real apples. The ones at the farmers market in my neighborhood that are carted in honest, old-fashioned apple crates. That’s where the real apple action is this time of year.
Some ripen early but by now it’s a full flood to sweep me away in its shifting diversity. Ancient apples, such as the velveteen-skinned ’Ashmead’s Kernel’, crisp and tart. The bumpy green curves of ‘Calville blanc d’hiver’, so important for a real tarte Tatin. My newest favorite of my favorites. ‘Pink-a-boo’. Again crisp, and just this side of tart, but with a surprise of pink colored-flesh hiding under the skin to delight the eye. Is it so wrong to want to eat this one in front of a mirror? Of course there are always a few more well-known names, back by popular demand, but even those seem to taste better taken from real hands in season.
Now, of course, I need to get home. Good thing the farmers thought to set up their Saturday markets so close to me.
The vanishing point. ’Ginger Gold’, Jonagold’, ‘Macoon’, ‘Fuji’ and many others fade off into the horizon.
‘Spy Gold’ and ‘Mutsu’, and ‘Blondee’
‘Macintosh’, ‘Blondee’, ‘Fuji’, ’Northern Spry’, ‘Pink-a-boo’, ‘NY 428’, and ‘Akane’
‘Akane’ and ‘Melrose’
‘Blondee’
‘Honey Crisp’, ‘Pink-a-boo’, ‘Blondee’ and ‘Calville Blanc’. Oh, and some plums that snuck in.
‘Red Delicious’
‘Pink-a-boo’, ‘Calville Blanc’, ‘Gala’, ‘Elstar’, and Ashmead’s Kernel’
‘Gala’
‘Ashmead’s Kernel’