9 ms·
Cosmic Crisp Apple Launch
- empath75 7y agoI'm disappointed that this isn't about rocketry.
- blakes 7y agoBeen waiting for this apple for years! I've yet to try it but it sounds super interesting. I love honeycrisp, this seems like exactly what can replace it.
- trimbo 7y agoWhy would you want to replace Honeycrisp though? I've tried all of these varieties people have claimed are as good (Ambrosia, Jazz)... none even comes close.
- scottlamb 7y agoPrice. My understanding is that they're a pain for growers, which is why they cost more than other apples.
- losteric 7y agoCosmic Crisp supposedly has the Honeycrisp taste without the fragility... so, in theory, lower prices. imo, the coloration is much more appealing too.
- hosh 7y agoCosmic Crisp has the taste (and some claims better taste than the Honeycrisp). They are easier to grow. You need to grow smaller honeycrisps to sell well, and that has been an issue. Honeycrisps bruise easily while on the tree, making picking and packing difficult. They bruise easily in transport. Many people love them, but 25% of the fruit gets thrown out somewhere along the way. They don't store well. The Cosmic Crisp was crossed with the Enterprise. They don't grow to problematic sizes. They are easier to handle. They store very well -- all the way into the next harvest season. A lot of the Red Delicious orchards in WA are converting over to these. So we're expecting to see a more consistent supply rather than something that is finicky and seasonal -- better price variability, and probably better prices for consumers.
- matthewmcg 7y ago“crossed with Enterprise” I can’t help but read this as a B2B software pitch. I imagine a landing page that says this is the fruit that consumers know and love but is somehow more robust. Instead of pricing by the pound or bushel they would have “click here to speak with a representative.” Does Gartner have a magic quadrant for fruit?
- Fomite 7y agoHoneycrisp apples are awful to grow. Terribly fragile, etc. but they distort the market through demand in such a way that farmers in places that can't grow them well still have to.
- BurningFrog 7y agoTry an Opal or Envy. Really good apples, in different ways than Honeycrisp!
- Alex3917 7y ago> I love honeycrisp, this seems like exactly what can replace it. Not necessarily. A single cosmic crisp is undoubtedly more enjoyable than a single honey crisp because it's both sweeter and tarter (they had them at NYC farmers markets last year), but what about after your 10th apple of the season? You can imagine a situation like where almost 100% of people might agree that a Unicorn Frappe is better than a shot of straight espresso, but where almost 0% of people feel the need to have more than one of them in a lifetime. Not anywhere near that extreme of course, but just to illustrate the idea.
- scrumbledober 7y agoI don't even really like apples but for some reason i've been following this apple for several years... very excited to try it!
- awakeasleep 7y agoSummary: They've bred the red delicious with the honeycrisp. The honeycrisp is enjoyable to eat, the red delicious is bad to eat but good for apple warehousers and sellers. So now we get the middle of both worlds.
- badfrog 7y ago> Summary: They've bred the red delicious with the honeycrisp. From the article: > The Cosmic Crisp (right) is the result of crossbreeding two varieties: the Honeycrisp (left), which growers find finicky but which gives the Cosmic Crisp its texture and juiciness, and Enterprise, a late-ripening, long-storing apple. Is Enterprise a fancy word for red delicious?
- fiter 7y agoI think they are different[0][1]. [0] https://www.orangepippin.com/varieties/apples/red-delicious https://www.orangepippin.com/varieties/apples/red-delicious [1] https://www.orangepippin.com/varieties/apples/enterprise https://www.orangepippin.com/varieties/apples/enterprise
- danso 7y agoApparently "Orange Pippin" is a variety of apple, but I'm amused that a site with "Orange" in its name is actually "all about apples, pears, plums, and cherries"
- jelliclesfarm 7y agoPippins are usually light green(like Granny Smiths) and can be yellow too..with a tinge or red or orange as it’s cap... no one knows the exact parent of Orange Pippin that used to be known as Cox(after the breeder) but it could have been a Pippin but Cox’s Orange Pippin is a russet/orange. Having said that, I have a very old Apple tree that came with the house(this is in California) and is probably over 25 years old at least(if not more)...it looks like a Granny Smith but it tastes like a Pippin to me.(not entirely..still reminds me of my favorite Cox Orange Pippin from the UK. Nothing in America compares to Cox Orange Pippin afaik)...I don’t even pick it before first frost. After first frost, something happens to the tart flesh and the sugars as it comes to the surface. It’s magical. I never pick apples before first frost. Not from this tree anyways. I have a newer Gala and it’s ok. The first frost trick doesn’t work on it. I wish I knew the name of my green apple variety.
- antidaily 7y agoI buy Pink Ladies. And recommend them to you. Tart, crisp.
- steveads 7y agoseconded. Taste just as good or better than HoneyCrisp and cost less :)
- fiter 7y agoThis article has an interesting part about Pink Ladies; how the apples you buy in the store labeled "Pink Ladies" might be a different cultivar than Cripps Pink which was the previously copyrighted cultivar that originally had the "Pink Lady" name!
- ravedave5 7y agoIt seems like a weird plan, if 1/3 batches are a different variety and I don't like them now I think all pink ladies are bad.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- twic 7y agoI find Pink Ladies rather bland. IMHO Braeburns are the best of the industrial apple varieties (the modern ones which are tasty, sweet, and unchallenging); Fuji and Gala are somewhere behind, and Pink Lady behind that. Cox is still the best, though!
- lame-robot-hoax 7y agoI didn’t know I could get so hyped over the launch of a new apple.
- steveads 7y ago"22 years from cross to launch". It will be interesting to see if the time to market will be cut in the near future which could lead to an explosion of new flavours and produce products.
- InvaderFizz 7y agoIt wont be cut too much. Making new apple breeds is mostly creating a bunch of variations/hybrids, and waiting 5 years for it to produce fruit. This is a good read on it: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/apples-breeding-experimental-orchard-fruit-growing https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/apples-breeding-experi...
- benj111 7y agoThey're all propagated from cuttings. You need to to spend 5(ish) years to get a crop to see what the apples actually taste like, then you've got one tree to take cuttings from to get the first 'generation', which you'll be waiting a similar amount of time to get fruit, longer to get a decent crop. It just takes time to scale up the number of trees, from just the one, and then for the trees to get mature enough to bear a decent crop.
- jelliclesfarm 7y agoA company found a technology to clone from tissue culture and was sued by WSU. It’s old news now as it’s all been settled. But in the Apple/Fruit world, this was a closely watched lawsuit. https://www.geekwire.com/2018/cosmic-crisp-conflict-washington-state-university-sues-spinoff-company-dispute-apple-future/ https://www.geekwire.com/2018/cosmic-crisp-conflict-washingt...
- tootie 7y agoNow I want a pear.
- m0zg 7y agoSweetango is already much better than Honeycrisp. Expensive though, so not an "everyday" apple.
- roflchoppa 7y agoGreen apples and peanut butter plz
- pkaye 7y agoRed delicious apples are terrible. My previous employer used to have fruit delivered twice a week and everytime the banana runs out in an hour, the oranges by end of day. The red delicious apple never runs out. They did switch it for better apples later on.
- leetrout 7y agoI buy them by the bag for $3-4 and use them as a transport for peanut butter. The good apples are stupid pricey and $3+ / pound and seem to get mushy in just a couple days.
- monkmartinez 7y agoYou could use better apples as PB transport. I never buy apples at full price and rarely spend more than $1.29 a lb. for Gala, Fuji or Honeycrisp (they do go on sale now and again)... Most of the apples I eat are for Almond butter or PB transport... I live for that meal.
- ajmurmann 7y agoThis! I honestly don't understand why that some still exists. I'd wager that those apples have turned enough consumers off apples that the Apple industry as a whole might be better off if that apple variety had never existed.
- spudlyo 7y agoI grew up in the 80s in Washington eating them, and man, I remember the Red Delicious being my favorite apple of all time. Something has happened to the quality, or I just had no taste when I was younger, because I am mostly disappointed when I get them nowadays. My current favorite is the Pacific Rose, which has a similar skin and is delightfully sweet. Call me a Philistine, but there is something about the Red Delicious that appeals to me still.
- jcims 7y agoPennsylvania here, same vintage. Agree 100%, red delicious used to be my jam. That stark contrast between the deep red skin and bright, clear flesh, those proud knuckles on the bottom, perfect crunch, sweet fresh taste, they used to be so good.
- syphilis2 7y agoI still don't understand: what is the difference between calling it WA 38 and Cosmic Crisp?
- NikolaeVarius 7y agoOne is a code and the other is a marketable name?
- syphilis2 7y agoBut what does it mean that someone "is able to answer only WA 38 questions, and not Cosmic Crisp ones."?
- toddsiegel 7y agoI love apples, and am very excited to try this new one. However... it's tough to beat the humble Fuji, IMO. At peak freshness they are sweet, a little tart with hints of honey, and last pretty long. I feel I can find decent Fujis into late winter, at my local grocery. I was briefly enamored by the Honeycrisp, but they are not as consistently good as Fujis and almost twice the price. This winter I discovered Jazz apples. They taste good, but more importantly they are often hard like rocks. I detest even the slightest bit a mealiness, and Jazz are a great late season apple. When the Fujis looked shabby, I'd pick up some Jazz. Incidentally, this is why I'll never use a grocery delivery service. I love food, I love cooking and am choosey about what I eat. I actually like going to the store and looking over the fruit, and chatting up the person behind the meat counter, etc. It'd be a shame if this ever went away. Don't disrupt grocery distribution. Disrupt whatever incentives that took carrots and made them taste like cardboard, instead of the sweet carrots I remember from my childhood.
- mc32 7y agoMy one gripe with Fujis is if not at perfect point can taste “green”. Like a kind of really light sap taste.
- mikeash 7y agoI’ve become a recent convert to Envy. They seem more robust than Fuji and taste at least as good. With other varieties, I’d always go though a cycle where I liked them for a few weeks, then got a few gross ones and I’d give them up for a few weeks, and repeat. I haven’t had a gross Envy yet despite going for several months. The price is decent too!
- 6thaccount2 7y agoTo me, Envy is considerably better than Fuji.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- toddsiegel 7y ago
- mrguyorama 7y agoOddly enough I actually love the slightly bittersweet flavor of red delicious apples. While they do get mealy very quickly, a fresh one is very flavorful to me.
- Reedx 7y agoPlanet Money has a good short story on how we escaped the tyranny of the Red Delicious: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDShFasYq9M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDShFasYq9M
- russellbeattie 7y agoThe only problem with this apple is that at first glance it looks like the infamous Red Delicious. They should have bred stripes into it or something...
- snegu 7y agoI'm confused, because I had a Cosmic Crisp last year (bought at a grocery store in the Seattle suburbs). My husband and I have been talking about it ever since because it was so damn good. Although this does explain why I haven't seen one since.
- abruzzi 7y agoI was always surprised at the popularity of the "Delicious" apples. My favorite is still Granny Smith, but then I prefer tart apples. I have noticed the explosion of types in the last few decades, but nothing I've tried is as good as a Granny Smith.
- spike021 7y agoIn the past I've personally enjoyed the Golden Delicious apples simply because they are more "mellow" if that makes sense. They're not some artisan apple breed that is starting to become more of the norm. They just work as a simple apple.
- cypherpunks01 7y agoI learned that Honeycrisp is a great-grandchild of Golden Delicious, from a site linked elsewhere here: https://www.orangepippin.com/varieties/apples/honey-crisp https://www.orangepippin.com/varieties/apples/honey-crisp
- hosh 7y agoI have been hearing about WA 38 for a while, and I am eagerly looking forward to tasting it this fall.
- gnicholas 7y agoDoes anyone know the health profile of these apples that are bred to be sweeter? I love fujis and honeycrisps, and I'm sure I'll like these cosmic crisps as well. But I wonder if they're as healthy (i.e., calories, glycemic index) as the apples that we were told were so good for us in our youth.
- askvictor 7y agoApples are not bred, but rather discovered. Most apples grown from seed are small and sour; fine for cider but bad for eating. Every so often a good eating variety pops up, and if humans are around, they'll keep a graft of it and then we have (essentially) clones of that one for evermore. Johnny Appleseed's plantations ahead of the frontier (for the purpose of cider) are responsible for many apple varieties that exist today, on account of the sheer number of trees grown from seed. Edit: actually, as I just read from a link further down, it's a bit more complicated than the and there are breeding programs, but they are still much like discovery, but trying to wrest a little bit of control from a mostly random process. I suspect that there are certain growing techniques (i.e. environmental controls) that are used to enhance size, sweetness, etc, but not really sure about that.
- war1025 7y agoObligatory plug for my favorite apple, the Pinata [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinova https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinova
- noisy_boy 7y agoFor a second I was confused that this was about an Ubuntu launch.
- MisterOctober 7y agoApple [Malus pumila, not the tech company] fanatic here. I've been following the development and pre-launch activities for Cosmic Crisp for a couple years now, mainly through "Good Fruit Grower" magazine. [I've also tried to get a tree of this variety as an experiment, but the nurseries are prohibited from selling Cosmic Crisp trees to non-Washington growers for some time. The amount of scientific, horticultural, and marketing effort associated with this apple is really something. The Washington apple industry is wagering a _lot_ on the success of this variety. Hopefully they can capture some of the success associated with Honeycrisp [undeniably a great variety when grown well, and for years the most profitable variety for growers by far], without the quality problems that attended Honeycrisp's status as an unmanaged variety [especially after the patent expired], some of which are noted in this thread. side note : Cosmic Crisp's "other" parent, Enterprise, is an awesome apple with bright 'candy apple red' skin [rather thick] and a very dense, crunchy flesh [hence its fair resistance to bruising]. It was developed by the Perdue-Rutgers-Indiana apple development program that also produced Williams' Pride, Pristine, and other fine varieties.
- droithomme 7y agoRed Delicious was one of the best apple varieties in history. Growers though decided to pick early, ship unripe, store over 6 months, not curate their orchards, and produce low quality fruit. It's the economics, stupid! Consumers then completely rejected the Red Delicious breed and the brand name is toxic forevermore. The same will happen with all the subsequent varieties. You can have the most delicious fruit anyone has ever tasted, then neglect and abuse its production until it is synonymous with mealy tasteless cardboard. And you will, if you're a commercial apple grower.
- ratsimihah 7y agoI can't tell whether this is a troll launch with troll comments, because an apple launch feels out of place, yet everyone is so into it o_o
- ckemere 7y agoShout out to Central Market here in Houston. They routinely have ~20 or so varieties of apples in stock and will happily (more or less depending on who you ask) cut one up for you as a free sample in the store. I discovered the opal gold this way a few years ago, though I've been a bit disappointed recently as it transitioned from seasonably available to year round. Envy vs Fuji comment - recently our Fuji's have been a lot larger (excess of 1 lb), whereas our NZ Envys and Smittens (my new jam) are about half the size. My sense is that larger apples often don't have as great if texture, and if you're buying by the pound but eating by the apple, the smaller fruits are better value even if they're slightly pricier.