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It wasn't completely ripe yet. The seeds would be a uniform dark brown. The pale blotches on the seeds show your apple still needed some time on the tree for peak flavor. The root system was probably too small to support even the one fruit. You probably don't want to hear this but you should thin it heavily again next year also, if not completely pick all of the juvenile fruit off. It will allow the tree to concentrate on growing the root system and branches to produce many apples.

Fireball. That sounds like excellent advice and I will follow it. Even though it wasn't completely ready, it was enough for me to verify that it was an Empire apple. The pleasant surprise was how good it taste. Thanks, Bill

You're welcome Bill. Here is what orangepippin has to say. Look at the tabs across the top when you are done perusing the basic specs to find the reviews tab. You can see what others have to say about the apple. I myself have never tasted one.

Here is a link that might be useful: Link to orangepippin.com