Cosmic Crisp - The New King Of Washington Orchards?

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United Press International (UPI) has taken notice of Washington State's new apple. The fresh faced fruit even shows up in our talk radio show preparation service. Cosmic Crisp. Is it the future of Washington's apple industry?

UPI reports the " new variety....could potentially revitalize the premium portion of the apple industry. It's called the Cosmic Crisp, and is a deep red with tiny star-like specks, and it will launch in December along with a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign."

The new apple was created by crossing the Honeycrisp and Enterprise varieties over the course of 20 years as horticulturalists set out to replicate the crisp bite and sweet tartness of the Honeycrisp, but without the fruit's "finicky" traits.

Honeycrisps score high in crunch and taste - so what's the problem , the so called finicky traits? The UPI report says" Honeycrisp frustrates growers because of its low harvest yield; only about 50 percent of the fruit makes it out of the orchard, horticulturalists say. Susceptibility to soft scald injury, a skin problem that can develop during cold storage, and bitter pit disorder linked to calcium deficiency make the fruit problematic."

About 450,000 boxes of Cosmic Crisp apples will ship to big grocery retailers such as Walmart, Kroger and Costco starting in December, with bigger numbers to follow.Producers plan to ramp up to 5.6 million boxes in 2021 and 21.4 million boxes by 2026.

Cosmic Crisp plans to spread marketing internationally to such areas as Europe, South Africa, Chile, Argentina, New Zealand, Australia, China and Korea, Brandt said.

Categories: Yakima News

Cosmic Crisp – The New King Of Washington Orchards?