An Apple Tasting

The next morning Liesbeth and I finish our usual early morning stint at the McC’s garden.  I invite her for a cup of coffee and some apples.  Sunlight pours through tall south-facing windows.  A muted blue-green plaid tablecloth covers the round kitchen table.  Each of the five apple samples from Paul’s orchard has its own clear glass plate, a label, and a blue-handled knife ready to cut it open.  I approach the collection just as I do a session of wine tasting.  I bring a combination of ignorance, curiosity, and anticipation.

Yellow Bell Flower 

Our favorite apple by far is the “Yellow Bell Flower.”  It’s a very large apple, yellow with a red bush on the outside, pale lemon-yellow flesh inside.  Paul says it was “considered ancient in 1817.”  It’s crisp to the bite with a fulsome flavor that could be further enhanced by cooking.  I understand why Yellow Bell    Flower is a favorite pie apple. 

Golden Russet

Second on our list of favorites is the “Golden Russet.”  Small and greenish-brown, the apple feels a bit mushy when squeezed.  I am not impressed with this ugly little thing until I bite into a piece of it.  It’s surprisingly tangy and has been used to make cider since colonial times. 

 Two apples tie for third place: “Thompkins County King” and “Baldwin.

In last place is “Fameuse” also called “Snow Apple.”  It is a large red apple with perfect snow-white flesh.  Both Liesbeth and I find its texture and taste insipid, be we are not in the majority.  This apple dates to the 1500s and is still popular today.

As I sweep remnants of our tasting into a pan to make an apple dessert, a lady cardinal arrives at the birdbath.  Here to drink, it seems, and not to bathe, but a change of mind sends her into the basin for a stiff-kneed dip.  Head first, she tosses the water over the top and onto her back and wings.  A robin arrives.  The cardinal departs for a branch in the birch tree.  The robin, a more sensuous bather, squats to get as much of herself as possible into the water, then splashes enthusiastically, sending waves of water over the side.  I chuckle at her antics as I add a topping of oatmeal, brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter to complete the desert.