I slept in a tree again?

These apples looked weird and sickly at first glance when I saw them in Sprouts, but the color grew on me -- yellow with a hint of almost neon orange. Then I looked them up online:



Whoa, cool.

Lucy Glo is one of two new "Lucy" apples, the other being Lucy Rose. Says their website:

Lucy™ Apples are grown in the heart of Central Washington by a small group of pioneering growers who are passionate about developing new varieties. Through countless years of research and development, they discovered they could grow a great tasting, pink-red interior apple.

Lucy™Apples are part Honeycrisp, which give them their sweet, tangy flavor and crunchy texture we all love. Lucy™Rose has a red skin and sweet berry notes in the flavor profile. Lucy™Glo has a gorgeous yellow skin that allows the red interior glow from within and is tangy with a hint of sweet.

Sounds great! I couldn't wait to try it.



I cut it in half first -- yep, it's pink inside! Neat.



Verdict: NEVER HAVE I BEEN SO BITTERLY DISAPPOINTED BY AN APPLE. "Tangy with a hint of sweet" should be right up my alley. Unfortunately, what it actually tastes like is "nothing, with a hint of watery apple." The dominant impression is bland and watery, faintly sweet. There was a barely detectable hint of tartness at the start, but it was gone before the apple was. The aftertaste isn't terrible -- it actually leaves a little lingering tanginess -- but that's the best I can say for it.

Buy again? Are you kidding? I got two, and I don't even want to eat the second one. Maybe they were handled badly -- this is another one from the beat-up stragglers bin at Sprouts. I suppose I'll try the other to see if it shows any more promise. But... meh.

Apparently by this I mean "Newtown Pippin," but the sticker just said "Pippin."

(Newtown) Pippin is not a new apple, so it doesn't have fancy marketing or trademarks. "Its clean, highly aromatic flavor, a blend of pine, citrus and walnut that somehow epitomizes apple, has an ideal balance of sweetness and acidity and a complex, lingering aftertaste," says the New York Times, of all places.

Adam says, " The flavor is tart and moderately acid balanced with sweet, with hints of lime and cider. The overall effect is astringent, lively, and refreshing. Promoters sometimes represent other apples as an American version of the popular Granny Smith. Although no one seems to have made that comparison with respect to Newtown, this is the only variety I have sampled that has anything like Granny's fundamental tang and crunch."

All the Pippins I saw looked like weird green peppers, which is unfortunate because I really hate green peppers. I promise not to hold that against this apple, though.



Verdict: I like a tart apple, so I liked this. It seemed a bit less acidic than Granny Smith, which is a good thing for my teeth. Mostly I got "tart" and "sweet" and "sweetly tart" and "tartly sweet" out of it, which wasn't really nuanced, but was enjoyable. A lot of places say that Pippins get more complex with age, but I don't know how to store an apple for months on end without anything going wrong with it. Besides, I've got things to do, apples to eat. And I was hungry.

Buy again? Sure. I'm actually surprised I haven't seen these around a little more, though, so I don't know how many opportunities I'll have.

Right now, I have several more varieties queued up: Green Dragon, Crimson Gold, Arkansas Black, and Empire (thanks, captainsblog!). I might check some of the local organic-type grocery stores for others this weekend. I didn't make it to Julian during apple season, but it looks like I'll still have quite a few new apples to try.

This is a catch-up review; I actually ate this several weeks ago, but never wrote about it.

I was excited to find this delicately pretty apple at the grocery store -- those colors! I wanted to like it, though the name didn't fill me with hope, since extremely sweet apples are not my thing. Its website calls it "Gala’s sweeter, crunchier cousin," and says "Sweetie apples are highlighted by a sweet taste and firm texture and their beautiful red color is accented by golden cheeks."

Adam says: "The flavors are a bit washed out, but pleasant and harmonious: a faint trace of oranges, and a floral note, accent a sweet mild whole. Thought experiment: What if you diluted one Cox's Orange Pippin into a peck of Red Delicious?"



Verdict: Adam seems spot-on for this one -- there's something interesting there, but extremely diluted, and the rest recalls memories (not fond) of Red Delicious. Though I haven't actually dared to eat a Red Delicious recently. I'm hoping to find a good one somehow? Supposedly Red Delicious is a good apple that's been murdered by mass production.

Buy again? BUT IT'S SO PRETTY. I might be tempted to get another and try it again just because of that. But generally, no, mine was rather bland, with a hint of Red-Delicious-skin that did not appeal to me.

Not to be confused with Pink Lady or Lady Alice, these are tiny little apples splotched vividly with red and green. One site says, "Its flavor far from tart, rather quietly sweet tart with a succulent but subtle finish. Hence, it has been noted that Lady apples are grown far more for their size and appearance versus their culinary virtues." That seems a bit contradictory, but okay.

Another site says: "Lady is small but intense! Its bright white flesh is crisp and juicy, with hints of citrus. Some liken it to the flavor of dried fruit. ... But Lady first and foremost is a culinary apple, packing a powerful punch of sweet-tart flavor. Its small size make Lady less than ideal for cooking, but they are popular in salads, eaten fresh, and pickled sweet or sour, in the latter case sometimes served with a hot sauce." This is the first time I have heard a recommendation for pickled apples with hot sauce.

Adam says, "Her flavor is light and delicate, balanced with sweet notes and no acidity. The dominant taste is sweet but there is a savory, nutty quality as well, though this is watered down. These tastes conclude with a lovely minty note. A bit like spearmint. ... The juxtaposition of these flavors versus their tentative expression is curious and light and wonderful. It takes about three bites to dispatch one, plus nibbles."

Will mine pack a "powerful punch of sweet-tart flavor"? Or will they be "light and delicate, with no acidity"? Perhaps "Quietly sweet-tart with a succulent but subtle finish"? Let's find out!



Verdict: I enjoyed these! They have quite a bit of tanginess, which I appreciate in an apple. They are quite hard, though, and due to their small size the skin to apple ratio felt a bit off, making the overall impression tougher/chewier than it should've been. By the time I finished two, my jaw was getting tired, but I still wanted to eat the third -- which was the only one that had the "nutty" quality that Adam mentioned. It was also the only one where I accidentally bit into the seeds, ugh.

Buy again? Perhaps, though not without reservations. I'd appreciate a larger apple with the same flavor, though the aftermath did leave my mouth feeling a little tart/parched, much like Granny Smith (which make my teeth hurt if I eat them too much). And the chewy skin was a bit eh. Okay, I may not buy more. Still, give me an apple with some bite over those bland sweet things any day.

Apparently Rave is an extremely new apple, in its second year of distribution. Adam hasn't even reviewed it! "They're like Honeycrisp-meets-Granny Smith," says a headline (yes, there are headlines). "Rave is the social apple that you have to tell someone about after trying one. We’re supporting the brand and its social side with consumer events, influencer outreach, and geo-targeted activations in the markets carrying Rave," says Stemilt Growers' communications manager. "Outrageously juicy with a refreshing snappy zing," says the marketing material.



Verdict: It's very juicy, it has a very strong apple-y taste, and there's a nice bit of tartness, but the texture is a little mealy. It could be that it's suffered from bouncing around in my bag for days. The flavors don't quite seem to harmonize -- it's "apple juice! tartness! no, apple juice!" rather than a coherent whole. I want to like it more than I do. The aftertaste is tart and acidic, like a Granny Smith, so it's probably one of those apples that will make my teeth ache if I eat it too often.

Buy again? I'm surprised to say no, but it's just not really grabbing me.

I found new apples at Bristol Farms this morning! They're from New Zealand, like most new apples in Northern Hemisphere summer. I've been eating Korus for a while now, and they're pretty good, but it's time for some novelty!

Adam's Apples likes these: "The flavors are interesting and include a delicate hint of mint and cocoa at the start of the chew. There's corn syrup, a little nectarine, and some floral notes.

It sounds strange, but Divine's flesh is at once crisp and chewy. The apple's marketing boffins have promulgated the unlovely phrase "cottony crisp" to describe this quality.

I find this both unfortunate (who's for a mouth full of cotton?) and oddly apt. The texture in person is not at all unpleasant.

This apple is worth a bite if only for its unusual flavor set."

How could I resist?



Verdict: I can't get "cottony crisp" out of my head. It's an unfortunate turn of phrase, but a pleasant enough apple. Sweet, but with a bit of complexity and fruitiness, even the slightest hint of tartness now and then. I'm missing the "mint and cocoa," but that's okay. Personally, I'd prefer it to come on a little stronger, and be just a little less sweet, but it's a fine apple.

Buy again? Sure, if I see them. It was a pleasant change of pace.

Today's apple is Koru. It's from New Zealand like Smitten, which I ate earlier this week. When I was picking this out at the grocery store, the guy stocking it cut one up and gave me half, and it really didn't taste like much to me, but a) it was chilled and b) I'd just had a big dinner and did not in the least want to eat an apple but felt like I should accept the gesture.

So I think I should go into this with an open mind. The apple's website says it's "crisp, sweet and juicy with complex aromatic honey flavours," and Adam says it's "rich and cidery, with hints of orange juice and something tropical in the mix. There are also little spice, some floral notes, and a very faint whisper of vanilla." I can't quite parse that last sentence, but you get the idea.



See that logo? What does it make you think of? From a distance, it made me think the apple looked like a rose; close up, it looks like maybe it has a tiny worm inside it.

Unsurprisingly, that was not the intent.

The word 'Koru' is a Maori (pre European settlers of New Zealand) word for the new unfurling fern frond as it unfolds to create a new leaf. The design is an important symbol in both Maori and New Zealand culture symbolizing new life, regeneration, growth, strength and peace.

The symbol also is one for renewal, and hope for the future as the circular shape conveys the idea of perpetual movement and the inward coil suggests a return to the point of origin, symbolizing the way in which life both changes and stays the same.

In choosing the colours for the KORU® Plumac c.v. apple branding, we decided that the distinctive red with orange tint of this apple was similar to the traditional red ochre colour used in Maori art. This colour is a symbol of mana (prestige, power and status). The other traditional colours in Maori art are black and white and have also been incorporated into the design. We employed a graphic designer to incorporate these concepts and the KORU® Plumac c.v. Brand logo, PLU sticker and box design flowed from this.

Verdict: Either it tastes better and less bland at room temperature than it did cold, or this is a better apple. Cidery and spice notes are definitely there, and it's juicy and crisp (but not tooth-breakingly so) with a hint of acidity. Sometimes it teeters on the edge of being too sweet, but the other flavors stay strong enough to balance it out. Unlike Smitten, the sweetness didn't eventually drown out everything else and make it a chore to finish.

Buy again? Did I say I'd buy Smitten again, last time? I must have been getting desperate. If Bristol Farms has both of these for a while, Koru is the one I'll be getting. It's actually quite good.