Smoky Mountain Limbertwig

With a name like an Old Timey singer (or perhaps contortionist), the Smoky Mountain Limbertwig sports a beautiful deep red blush.

That color nearly covers all of the otherwise green-tinged yellow peel of these medium-to-large apples.

The apple is only moderately ribbed, and there are tiny light lenticels scattered in the glossy blush.

Mine are nice and firm and smell exactly like apple cider.

Let’s eat

The crunch is a bit yielding, and at the start I got flavors that reminded me a good deal of Arkansas Black after a few months in storage.

There is a little vanilla, something savory, and a little bit of pear in the mix, blended and melded together. It is sweet but balanced by a little tartness.

The flesh is a medium-grained light yellow and probably not at its very best, but still good to eat. I wonder if the flavors might not be easier to note in another sample.

That texture is nothing like AR Black, of course. I think the combination of savory and sweet, with the little bit of pear and an even littler bit of cherry and raspberry, is what made my tasting brain jump there, unbidden.

There is a Smoky Mountain in Utah, and another in Idaho. However, the Smoky in question, though singular, surely refers to the Great Smokies in the southeastern US.

These are the mountains that are to all the Limbertwigs what the Tian Shan are to all apples: mother land and incubator.

Thanks to Jesse Downs of Down Home Farm, far from the Smokies, for a taste of these apples.