Praise then darkness, and creation unfinished

I just tried a new apple, Kiku, which was labeled as being from New Zealand. It's tasty in a mild sort of way, with a good crisp texture and reasonably juicy. It struck me as nicer than most of the apples I've had since moving to Washington, though that may be a seasonal problem: we got here in mid-April, so any North American apples will have been quite old. It's during or just after the New Zealand apple harvest season, and even with nitrogen storage there's a noticeable difference between a recently-picked apple and one six months old.

Based purely on looks, I guessed there was some Gala in this variety's ancestry, which is part of why I decided to try it: I like Gala. Something about Kiku reminded me of Macintosh, maybe the crispness, though it's not as flavorful as a good Macintosh or Macoun.

Yes, I am writing this based on eating one apple; if the other two we bought are significantly different I will revise the post. (While comments are welcome, a large part of the point of this is so, a year or three from now, I can search for the "apple" tag and see what I've tried.)