Apples

The Phactors took an excursion yesterday to the Wolfe orchard just east of Monticello IL.  Since this is just a "hobby" orchard they only have 350 trees and about 66 varieties of apple for sale, 33 were available yesterday.  And most importantly, one of those varieties was northern spy, our favorite apple, so we bought half a bushel.  This variety originated as a seedling around 200 years ago just about 50 miles west of where TPP grew up in upstate NY.  A few new varieties were on hand.  One was Kandil Senap (image), a variety of Turkish origin with Orange Pippin parentage.  It's a very oval apple, quite crisp, but a bit dry.  Among the heritage varieties are Baldwin, spitzenberg (probably a parent of Johnathon), golden russet, Ben Davis (no harder, drier apple exists, but it stores well), smoke house (tart), and winter banana (a pale yellow apple that will taste better after some storage).  They also have a variety called buff from a relative's farm in western North Carolina, a big apple with a crisp white and juicy flesh; it performs well for making pies.  Here's the best thing: they'll let you taste every apple they've got.  Wonderful!