Apples of mine eye
The cats are settling in apace, by which I mean it's a little difficult to tell when the aggressive play crosses over into the naked aggression on both their parts (that is, I can't tell and I'm not sure they can either), so their meetings are now daily but brief.
But I am here to talk about apples: I acquired a bunch from Away (Michigan), apples I'd never tried before, so I'm on an apple-tasting binge. To wit:
Margils are small and squat and round, from Michigan. They're yellowish green, but so completely russeted you can hardly tell. Firm white flesh, nice snap to the bite, mildly sharp in flavor, good fresh balance, the kind that brightens other flavors around it. My favorite of the exotic bunch. I feel like I've been let in on a secret with this variety, and am only sorry I'd never heard of them till now: they're documented as far back as 1750, but just slipped into obscurity over the years. (Where am I going to get more? Closer than Michigan, I mean?)
I've had I think exactly one Cox's orange pippin before; I gather they'll grow here but they're too prone to disease to flourish. They're yellow-orange-red streaks, with some russeting, medium-sized and roundish. Softer flesh, a little yellow, and they're just sweet all over: a jolly flavor, bright, not too challenging, but not a cloying sweetness like you'd expect. This is, I am told, the classic English eating apple, much lauded, and I can see why.
(I bought a local honeycrisp for contrast, and it is a contrast: its sweetness is a little more -- overt, more direct and straightforward. Firm yellowish flesh, good snap, large size. I like honeycrisps, but when I eat them I'm always vaguely thinking that they were designed by committee for maximum appeal. There's also the basic problem that if they aren't grown in a climate with cold winters, they're terrible, so you sometimes get unlucky with sourcing.)
(Cripp's pinks aka pink ladies without the trademark, on the other hand, are conical and simple and unchallenging. I don't know where they're trucked in from, but I can get them at my local supermarket, and I think they're basically the next incarnation of red delicious: a generically good apple doomed to be ruined by its own acceptability. Also, they're not really pink, but do have reddish skin over pale yellow flesh. I find that brand-named pink ladies are routinely mushy, and not suitable for eating, but cripp's are firmer, and fine in hand.)
The pink pearls are exactly that, pink! Green flesh with a mild blush on the outside, hilariously neon pink streaks inside. Medium-to-large in size, crunchy flesh, and fairly tart.
I gather gravensteins grow all over except for around here, and I got a bunch of red gravensteins from Michigan. They are indeed reddish, small and round, with soft flesh. As eating apples, they're just okay, mildly sweet and tending to mushiness. I used four of them in apple crisp, though, and they came out great: the baking or the brown sugar brought out their richness. I gather they're cider apples in much of the world, and if cider presses did not cost hundreds of dollars, I would be able to tell you so myself.
Mothers are also sweet, also small and round-to-conical, but with a more consistent red. They're firmer of flesh, yellowish, but with crunch rather than snap to the bite. Mild flavor. Not too complicated, but not with that forward brightness of the Cox's. Originated in Massachusetts, apparently, but I've never seen them here before; online discussion tends to indicate they flourish best in colder climates than mine -- maybe west of the state, Maine, Nova Scotia.
We're just at the beginning of macintosh season, and in the middle of macouns. I have found over the years that I gravitate to macouns over their kin: the delicacy of mac flesh is just irritating, both because of bruises and because I want to have to chew on an apple, not just dissolve it on my tongue. Macouns are firmer, bigger, crunchier, hold their shape better. I find macs tart and macouns tarter, so can only eat one at a time for fear of upset stomach, but that's the idea of an apple in my head, that tartness and the acid against your teeth.
I checked, and the baldwins aren't in yet -- I can get those by the half-peck at the grocery store, presumably trucked in from upstate New York where they originate. I like them a lot too, especially because they keep well, and will eat and bake with them well into December. Northern spies and are my absolute fave late-season apples, and will not even come ripe till November. Wikipedia reports them to be baking apples, but I eat them out of hand.
And man, if you're looking for a wiki hole to fall down into, you could do worse than the Orange Pippin apple cataloging-and-reviewing site. You can get maps of the registered trees of any given variety! That is some serious nerd.
I have moved mostly over to Dreamwidth. Please comment there if you can.
But I am here to talk about apples: I acquired a bunch from Away (Michigan), apples I'd never tried before, so I'm on an apple-tasting binge. To wit:
Margils are small and squat and round, from Michigan. They're yellowish green, but so completely russeted you can hardly tell. Firm white flesh, nice snap to the bite, mildly sharp in flavor, good fresh balance, the kind that brightens other flavors around it. My favorite of the exotic bunch. I feel like I've been let in on a secret with this variety, and am only sorry I'd never heard of them till now: they're documented as far back as 1750, but just slipped into obscurity over the years. (Where am I going to get more? Closer than Michigan, I mean?)
I've had I think exactly one Cox's orange pippin before; I gather they'll grow here but they're too prone to disease to flourish. They're yellow-orange-red streaks, with some russeting, medium-sized and roundish. Softer flesh, a little yellow, and they're just sweet all over: a jolly flavor, bright, not too challenging, but not a cloying sweetness like you'd expect. This is, I am told, the classic English eating apple, much lauded, and I can see why.
(I bought a local honeycrisp for contrast, and it is a contrast: its sweetness is a little more -- overt, more direct and straightforward. Firm yellowish flesh, good snap, large size. I like honeycrisps, but when I eat them I'm always vaguely thinking that they were designed by committee for maximum appeal. There's also the basic problem that if they aren't grown in a climate with cold winters, they're terrible, so you sometimes get unlucky with sourcing.)
(Cripp's pinks aka pink ladies without the trademark, on the other hand, are conical and simple and unchallenging. I don't know where they're trucked in from, but I can get them at my local supermarket, and I think they're basically the next incarnation of red delicious: a generically good apple doomed to be ruined by its own acceptability. Also, they're not really pink, but do have reddish skin over pale yellow flesh. I find that brand-named pink ladies are routinely mushy, and not suitable for eating, but cripp's are firmer, and fine in hand.)
The pink pearls are exactly that, pink! Green flesh with a mild blush on the outside, hilariously neon pink streaks inside. Medium-to-large in size, crunchy flesh, and fairly tart.
I gather gravensteins grow all over except for around here, and I got a bunch of red gravensteins from Michigan. They are indeed reddish, small and round, with soft flesh. As eating apples, they're just okay, mildly sweet and tending to mushiness. I used four of them in apple crisp, though, and they came out great: the baking or the brown sugar brought out their richness. I gather they're cider apples in much of the world, and if cider presses did not cost hundreds of dollars, I would be able to tell you so myself.
Mothers are also sweet, also small and round-to-conical, but with a more consistent red. They're firmer of flesh, yellowish, but with crunch rather than snap to the bite. Mild flavor. Not too complicated, but not with that forward brightness of the Cox's. Originated in Massachusetts, apparently, but I've never seen them here before; online discussion tends to indicate they flourish best in colder climates than mine -- maybe west of the state, Maine, Nova Scotia.
We're just at the beginning of macintosh season, and in the middle of macouns. I have found over the years that I gravitate to macouns over their kin: the delicacy of mac flesh is just irritating, both because of bruises and because I want to have to chew on an apple, not just dissolve it on my tongue. Macouns are firmer, bigger, crunchier, hold their shape better. I find macs tart and macouns tarter, so can only eat one at a time for fear of upset stomach, but that's the idea of an apple in my head, that tartness and the acid against your teeth.
I checked, and the baldwins aren't in yet -- I can get those by the half-peck at the grocery store, presumably trucked in from upstate New York where they originate. I like them a lot too, especially because they keep well, and will eat and bake with them well into December. Northern spies and are my absolute fave late-season apples, and will not even come ripe till November. Wikipedia reports them to be baking apples, but I eat them out of hand.
And man, if you're looking for a wiki hole to fall down into, you could do worse than the Orange Pippin apple cataloging-and-reviewing site. You can get maps of the registered trees of any given variety! That is some serious nerd.
I have moved mostly over to Dreamwidth. Please comment there if you can.