A new Washington apple is making headlines

The latest apple sensation is ‘Cosmic Crisp’, a variety created at Washington State University over the last twenty-four years. It is one of several designer apples, including SweeTango, Envy and Zestar, that have been introduced to consumers recently.

Two decades of crossing a Honeycrisp and Enterprise apple produced a variety that not only tastes excellent, but has a yellow burst of color around its stem, resembling the sun, and tiny dots of white covering its dark-red peel, resembling stars in our cosmic universe, hence its name, Cosmic Crisp.

Work began in 1997 to develop Cosmic Crisp when Bruce Barritt, WSU Horticulturist and original developer of Cosmic Crisp, set out to create a firm, crisp apple that was still juicy and sweet. The apple was labeled WA38. Since 2008, Kate Evans, Director of Washington State University Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center, has led Cosmic Crisp’s hybridization. In 2019, Cosmic Crisp was introduced to consumers as a revolutionary new apple variety with extra crispness and a sweet flavor that was “out of this world”. It must be very rewarding to see decades of diligent research and hybridization ultimately lead to a new apple that may push Honeycrisp off its spot as most popular apple with consumers. No one knew in 1997 that WA38 would ultimately become a game changer in the apple world.

Cosmic Crisp was bred the old-fashioned way by cross-pollinating trees, testing the fruit for flavor, color and texture, then choosing trees with the best traits and cross-pollinating again, again and again. There was no genetic modification in this apple’s creation, just a lot of time and effort by its hybridizers. Another selling feature is that the apple doesn’t brown when cut and exposed to air like most other apples. It is also resistant to bruising, which extends its shelf life. These two features

make Cosmic Crisp popular with both retailers and consumers.

Kathryn Grandy, director of marketing and operations at Proprietary Variety Management, is in charge of publicizing Cosmic Crisp throughout America. In this age of brand names for everything from jeans to athletic shoes, she said, why wouldn’t our fruit have their own brand names, as well? Washington State University is counting on its multi-million-dollar advertising campaign to propel this new variety into the forefront of apples sold nationwide.

Around 450,000 boxes of Cosmic Crisp apples were shipped in 2019, its introductory year. Over2 million boxes were shipped in 2020. Its projected sales will reach 21.5 million boxes by 2026. These numbers far exceed Honeycrisp sales which took twenty years to reach 3.7 million boxes a season.

It seems Grandy may be correct when she stated, “Our goal is for Cosmic Crisp to become the most popular apple in America.”

Farmers in Washington State, the largest supplier of apples in the United States, were given exclusive growing rights to Cosmic Crisp for the next ten years. Washington farmers have already planted over 15 million Cosmic Crisp apple trees, sparking a renewed interest in growing apples.

Prior to the introduction of Cosmic Crisp, the top apple varieties grown in Washington were Gala, Red

Delicious and Fuji. Apples are grown in central Washington’s arid valleys and hillsides, a few hours east of Seattle. Irrigation provides water to the orchards.

Apples are a $2.5 billion a year business in Washington, which grows about 60% of the nation’s supply, or nearly 140 million boxes. There are around 1,500 apple farmers and 175,000 acres of orchards. About 50,000 workers pick the apples by hand each fall and ready them for shipping

throughout America and 60 other countries.

Desmond O’Rourke, retired Washington State University economist and world apple analyst, stated that Cosmic Crisp is not an early producing apple like Honeycrisp and will not be sold until December. This gives Honeycrisp three months of extra sales before Cosmic Crisp appears

in stores. O’Rourke added that new varieties, such as Evercrisp, Pazzaz and SweeTango will be strong competitors of Cosmic Crisp.

“Retailers do not have shelf space for the 40+ apple varieties being grown,” Grandy said. “Retailers will stock what consumers want, and sales will dictate what apples are stocked.”

I was excited to find Cosmic Crisp apples sold in special plastic bags at Albertsons recently. Be on the look-out for this new kid on the block and see what you think of its flavor and texture.

Happy gardening!