Cosmic Crisp - New apple variety to debut at grocery stores

I am curious where and if these new variety of apples will be available in the Chicagoland area..

Up close picture of the Cosmic Crisp apple:
https://localtvkdvr.files.wordpress.com ... cosmic.jpg

They call it the Cosmic Crisp. It’s not a video game, a superhero or the title of a Grateful Dead song.

It’s a new variety of apple, coming to a grocery store near you Dec. 1.

Cosmic Crisp is the first apple ever developed in Washington state, which grows the majority of the United States’ apples. It’s expected to be a game changer.

Already, growers have planted 12 million Cosmic Crisp apple trees, a sign of confidence in the new variety. While only 450,000 40-pound boxes will be available for sale this year, that will jump to more than 2 million boxes in 2020 and more than 21 million by 2026.

The apple variety was developed by Washington State University. Washington growers, who paid for the research, will have the exclusive right to sell it for the first 10 years.

The apple is called Cosmic Crisp because of the bright yellowish dots on its skin, which look like distant stars.

The new variety keeps for a long time in storage and in the refrigerator, said Kate Evans, who runs the breeding program at Washington State University.

And it’s an exceptionally good “eating apple,” she said. “It’s ultra-crisp, very juicy and has a good balance of sweetness and tartness.”

Cosmic Crisps are a cross between the disease-resistant Enterprise and the popular, crunchy Honeycrisp varieties. The Honeycrisp, nicknamed “Moneycrisp” by some growers, was the latest apple to spark a big buzz in the United States when it was introduced a couple of decades ago. It was developed by the University of Minnesota

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/20 ... 045896002/

Hi,

Just yesterday, when editing this podcast, I heard it will not bruise as easily as a Honey Crisp.

I am not a Honey Crisp fan, it is more texture than flavor.

I am having a harder time finding Jonathon's, which seem to be quickly disappearing.

Regards,
Cathy2

https://story.californiasunday.com/cosmic-crisp-apple-launch

either a media blitz from Big WA Apple, or this variety has the industry very intrigued... possibly both. the blitz worked, I'll definitely be on the lookout to try at least one.

dudefella wrote:https://story.californiasunday.com/cosmic-crisp-apple-launch

either a media blitz from Big WA Apple, or this variety has the industry very intrigued... possibly both. the blitz worked, I'll definitely be on the lookout to try at least one.

Completely PR-driven (not that that invalidates the varietal).

=R=

Read about these the other day. I love Honeycrisps so much that they are the first apples that I've ever made a point to buy,so these are definitely on my must try list.

Neither here nor there, but:


Last weekend we hit our favorite orchard for pickin. Honeycrisps were available for picking, but the trees were mostly bare. Picked clean. The horse drawn wagon guide told us we could check the honeycrisps if we wanted to, but she was sure we'd come away empty handed.

I'm familiar with a decent number of varieties, so I knew what we'd target. Evercrisps were ready for picking, so that was our target. They had every bit of 100 Evercrisp trees and they were literally sagging with fruits. We picked 25 lbs of Evercrisps, and probably only touched 6 trees. Each tree was just chock full.

No idea why the Evercrisps were so abundant, my best guess was that not many are familiar with the variety. Evercrisps are every bit as good as Honeycrisps, y'all.

For reals.

I brought three to a coworker who said he only eats Honeycrisps, and Fujis, and he swore I didn't know anything about apples. He ate all three before lunch.

Hi,

Mirai corn is heavily promoted. I have seen people stop at a farm stand with wonderful corn. When they learned it was not Mirai, they simply left.

People can be educated to think they know better, when sometimes they don't.

Regards,
Cathy2

In August and September, a new variety of apple was introduced here in Arizona. The Rave Apple is a cross between the Honeycrisp and the MonArk apples. I will quite honestly say that they were the juiciest apple that I have ever experienced. This variety was an attempt to capture the flavor of a Honeycrisp apple with the earlier growing season of the MonArk. This means that the apples get to market approximately four weeks before the Honeycrisp. They are grown by Stemilt Growers in eastern Washington state.

While these apples are great for eating, they are terrible for baking and quickly lose their texture when heated.

About five years ago, I talked to some of the plant geneticists at the University of Minnesota at the Minnesota State Fair. They probably have 100+ hybrids in process at any given time. All are patented.

seebee wrote:Neither here nor there, but:


Last weekend we hit our favorite orchard for pickin. Honeycrisps were available for picking, but the trees were mostly bare. Picked clean. The horse drawn wagon guide told us we could check the honeycrisps if we wanted to, but she was sure we'd come away empty handed.

I'm familiar with a decent number of varieties, so I knew what we'd target. Evercrisps were ready for picking, so that was our target. They had every bit of 100 Evercrisp trees and they were literally sagging with fruits. We picked 25 lbs of Evercrisps, and probably only touched 6 trees. Each tree was just chock full.

No idea why the Evercrisps were so abundant, my best guess was that not many are familiar with the variety. Evercrisps are every bit as good as Honeycrisps, y'all.

For reals.

I brought three to a coworker who said he only eats Honeycrisps, and Fujis, and he swore I didn't know anything about apples. He ate all three before lunch.

Can you please share your favorite orchard's name?
Also, I had all the varieties of apples available at the Skokie Farmer's market about six weeks ago. Unfortunately, it was difficult for me to keep straight what varieties I was purchasing. But one, as described above, was the juiciest apple I ever had - like eating an orange!

If anyone spots the Cosmic Crisp in the stores, please post it here!

jilter wrote:...
Also, I had all the varieties of apples available at the Skokie Farmer's market about six weeks ago. Unfortunately, it was difficult for me to keep straight what varieties I was purchasing. But one, as described above, was the juiciest apple I ever had - like eating an orange!

I'm like you, jilter, where I've gotten several varieties of apples from the farmers market, then have no idea which is which. I bought Evercrisp only the last couple of times and like them a lot. Even my Honeycrisp-loving husband was a fan.

jilter wrote:
Can you please share your favorite orchard's name?

If anyone spots the Cosmic Crisp in the stores, please post it here!

Garwood, in LaPorte. We usually try a new orchard every year, but for the past 3 years, we always make at least one trip to Garwood. It never disappoints for our criteria. I kinda wanna keep it a secret.

The Mrs and I were reminiscing just yesterday about what a shame it was that apparently nobody knew what the Evercrisps were. There were honestly tons of them, but the Honeycrisp fields were gutted. We've already eaten that 25 lbs of Evercrisps, and should have bought more at the time, but 25lbs seems like a LOT. We could have easily bought 15lbs more - they showed no sign of bad aging when the bag was almost done.

Bought 10 lbs of Honeycrisps at Pete's a few days ago for 99c /lb.

I've told all my apple lovin friends to be on the lookout for the Cosmic Crisps.

Artie wrote:Read about these the other day. I love Honeycrisps so much that they are the first apples that I've ever made a point to buy,so these are definitely on my must try list.

Artie -
I would love to get you one of the Evercrisps I've had. If you ever see them in a store, pounce.

jilter wrote:the juiciest apple I ever had - like eating an orange!

How is this comparison even allowed.

cilantro wrote:

jilter wrote:the juiciest apple I ever had - like eating an orange!

How is this comparison even allowed.

LOL - * mind blown*

=R=

I'm surprised the internet still works after that post.

Hi- I ran across an article about the cosmic crisp yesterday, and sorry I don't remember where I saw it, but it is not going to be available until 12/1. I have no idea why. It was bred by one of the universities in Washington state, and right now only growers in Washington are allowed to plant them, and they are limiting the number of growers. It took them quite a while to breed the apples, and there was a lot of expense involved. It is a cross between Honey Crisp and Enterprise. They are hoping that this apple will replace the red delicious, which is the number one apple in the US

I just talked to my sister in Michigan that has the farm, and she knew less about these apples than I did. She had vaguely heard about them. I asked her about the Evercrisp, and she told me that she does not have any on her farm. She said that there were not any honeycrisp to upick two weeks ago. They are an earlier apple, and they would have been too ripe on the tree two weeks ago. Hope this helps, Nancy

Well, The Oregonian has an article on the Cosmic Crisp,
https://www.oregonlive.com/food/2019/12/we-tried-the-new-cosmic-crisp-apple-to-see-if-it-lives-up-to-the-hype.html, sounds like a good apple, but questionable that it is worth the extra price compared to Honeycrisp, Crispps Pink (trademarked name, Pink Lady®), etc.

Plant breeders are trying to find ways to extend their control and profits past the point US law allows. First, by US law, a plant varietal name cannot be trademarked. Also, a plant patent expires 20 years from the filing date of the patent application. Honeycrisp is out of patent now, so anyone can propagate it without needed to pay a licensing fee to University of Minnesota (about a dollar per tree.)

Crispps Pink Patent is officially expired according to Google Patents. So anyone can propagate the tree without any licensing fees. But, to call it a Pink Lady®, you have to pay the Pink Lady America (they manage the trademark here in the US for the Australian trademark owner) and meet their quality standards.

Now, plant breeder are taking the next step with contracts. To even buy an apple tree, you have to sign a contract which limits you and what you can do with the tree. They are trying to keep control, and profit making, past the 20 years allowed by US law.

Probably more than you wanted to know. This is my understanding of it all, breifly, based on years of reading. Oh, and not a lawyer, so none of this is legal advice.

Xoxo, thanks for the update on Cosmic Crisp, but that last line contains one of the most messed up acronyms ever.

David Hammond wrote:Xoxo, thanks for the update on Cosmic Crisp, but that last line contains one of the most messed up acronyms ever.

How did I miss it? I'll go change it, but it meant to say I am not a lawyer. I'm slipping in my old age.

You did remind me of the company, whose name I can't remember, but it was a combination of two techie words, something and Analyst. They took the first 4 letters of each word to get their company name, so Zzzzanal. It didn't look good, and I never heard of them again.

I'll have to see if I can change my name here to Xoxo, seems a lot better than Xexo!

Sorry I got your name wrong, and I did understand what you meant by IANAL. I wouldn't change it.

David Hammond wrote:Sorry I got your name wrong, and I did understand what you meant by IANAL. I wouldn't change it.

Hey, no worries. I did change it, but added to my reply, so it might be worth rereading.

This apple was supposed to come out on 12/1. Has anybody seen it in the Chicago area? Thanks, Nancy

Hello all,

I found the Cosmic Crisp Apple on sale today for $3.99 a pound, so I bought 10, which came out to 8.14 pounds. A bit more than 3/4 pound each. Haven't tried it yet as I spend the day baking cookies with a friend.

Here is the deal, if some one there (a moderator perhaps) in Chicago wants to PM me their address, I will fill a flat rate box as best I can with them (well, I'm keeping one for me) and mail them out tomorrow. The expectation is that they will have some kind of taste/sample/share/event/whatever with the LTHrs in the Chicago area.

Talk amongst yourselves and get back to me. Please and thank you.

HarvestTime (2632 W Lawrence) has Cosmic Crisps for $3.49/lb. They also have Honeycrisps, which, perhaps not coincidentally, were down to $1.49/lb. I bought three of each varietal. We tasted them side by side, only cut into one of each. My verdict: I like both! Couldn't tell much difference in taste or texture, but of course limited sample size. To me it wouldn't be worth $2/apple on an ongoing basis, but amidst the hype, it was fun to try, and I am glad I picked these apples

Jewel will have them this week but right now it's spotty. The 1340 S Canal just got them today,the 2940 N Ashland store hasn't gotten them yet.

I discovered the SugarBee apple last week - another new to the market variety with claims of 'half it's parentage is Honeycrisp'. Tasty apples, sweeter than a HC with a hint of Delicious on the back end. I'll be on the lookout for the Cosmic to test it out.

https://www.chelanfresh.com/sugarbee/

Jewel has Cosmic Crisps in tomorrow's ad for $1.99 lb.

Making me nostalgic for my, uh, youth. Growing up in western NY in the 50s and 60s, we had apples that still are grown widely (at least they are back there) but are often next-to-impossible to find here. McIntosh and Cortlands are readily available, but I can't recall seeing Jonathans much, and can't seeing Rome or Northern Spy or even Macouns.

Gypsy Boy wrote:Making me nostalgic for my, uh, youth. Growing up in western NY in the 50s and 60s, we had apples that still are grown widely (at least they are back there) but are often next-to-impossible to find here. McIntosh and Cortlands are readily available, but I can't recall seeing Jonathans much, and can't seeing Rome or Northern Spy or even Macouns.

The last three I've seen at farmers markets, but not in stores.

Where to Buy Cosmic Crisp Apples:

"This sweet, delicious, crisp apple is shipping from Washington State to produce departments nationwide starting December 1st."

Jewel and Kroger(ie Mariano's) are the 2 Chicago stores:

Code: Select all

Jewel Osco – Chicago
Kroger – Nationwide

https://cosmiccrisp.com/where-to-buy-apples/