Both Mom’s and my head snapped around obviously at the man chomping down on an apple.
His hand pulled back from his mouth revealing an apple tinged pink with every bite.
Mom and I looked at each other and winced. Was this apple man the sorry victim of bleeding gums? It was almost all my brain could wrap itself around until we walked further up the park to reach the beginning of the Farmers Market throng. An apple stand specializing in heirloom varieties greeted us.
And indeed they have pink fleshed apples!
Tart, small and yellow skinned? faint bruises of pink show through the thin peel to indicate that all is not normal with this small gem. As we continued on through the market with our heirloom spoils in hand, I couldn’t help but reach up and chomp on my own pink gum apple as heads snapped to us in the crowd.
17 Comments
Haha I love that you thought his gums were bleeding?what a gorgeous apple!
What a beautiful apple ? I’ve never seen one like it. What’s the variety?
Oh goodness- that’s the other part of the story. I can’t quite remember the name. I thought it was Pink Pearl until a friend reminded me that, Uh no- that’s a tampon name and likely not also an apple one.
?McAuliflower
Ok, ew. You’ve now associated bleeding gums and tampons with this apple. I think I’m going to be sick.
Oh but it is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_Pearl_%28apple%29
I think those would make a fantastic looking applesauce.
that is so cool! It looks like a fantastic apple.
Haha I thought that I would be seeing a Candy Apple coasted in pink chocolate. That’s not it at all. 
What a glorious apple! Is there anyway you could find out the variety?
It’s in the previous comments- it is indeed a Pink Pearl.
?McAuliflower
First of all- how pretty!
Secondly- I’ve got some “pink pearls” upstairs! lol.
I had some pink apples last year that were called “Surprise!” Yours seem to fit that bill too?
but how do they taste?
“Tart” reminded me of crab apples of my youth.
?McAuliflower
As far as I read in the past this “red flesh” variety is a genetically modified one which comes from New Zealand. I am not sure if I would want to eat it?
Nope- not the case here. This apple farm specializes in heirloom varieties. Besides- I bet this engineered apple you reference is trademarked in a way that wouldn’t be fruitful for a small scale farm to sell at market.
It’s well known that heirloom varieties of apples come in different colors- both skin and flesh. For more information on this, I suggest reading Michael Pollan’s Botany of Desire. His chapter on apples hints at the mass variation that our modern society is missing out on.
?McAuliflower
There’s a Sacramento bakery (http://realpiecompany.com/)that makes apple tarts from Pink Pearls when the season first begins. They are absolutely beautiful and very tasty. The woman who runs this place is dedicated to seasonal, local produce. Each week her chalkboard lists the farms where each kind of fruit was grown.
My little city, all grown up!
So cool!
I have never seen such a thing. It reminds me of the first time I tasted a grapple.
half apples half grapes!
Strangest things.Personaly, I didn’t find them so yummy though.
But you say these are tasty?
-Cupcakes
Thanks for your blog. I bought my first heirloom apples a couple days ago. When I cut one open this morning I thought something was dreadfully wrong! I was going to return them to the store but thought to check the internet first. The joke’s on me!
They’re pretty good but I still prefer Fujis for everyday eating.
Indeed, Pink Pearl and Surprise are both pink fleshed apples, hybridized by Etter. Greenmantle Nursery in Northern California owns the trademarks on most of Etter’s pink-fleshed creations. There are quite a few!
Check them out (and the story of Etter and Greenmantle) at http://www.greenmantlenursery.com/2008revision/fruit2008/rosetta-apples2008.htm
Useful info. Lucky me I found your site by accident, and I’m shocked why this coincidence did not happened earlier! I bookmarked it.
