Cosmic Crisp is an American

apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

with the variety designation WA 38. Breeding began in 1997 at the

Washington State University Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant unive ...

(WSU) Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center in Wenatchee, Washington, and was initially overseen by Bruce Barritt. Kate Evans stepped in to complete the research after Barritt’s retirement from WSU.

Characteristics

The Cosmic Crisp is a cross between Honeycrisp and

Enterprise Enterprise (or the archaic spelling Enterprize) may refer to: Business and economics Brands and enterprises * Enterprise GP Holdings, an energy holding company * Enterprise plc, a UK civil engineering and maintenance company * Enterprise ...

apples. It is intended to have the texture and juiciness of the Honeycrisp, and the late-ripening behavior and long storage of the Enterprise. In breeding the variety, the focus was not on its appearance but on durability and shelf life. The Cosmic Crisp is characterized mainly by uniformly colored dark red skin, dense firm flesh, and an improved shelf life. The look of the apple's light

lenticel A lenticel is a porous tissue consisting of cells with large intercellular spaces in the periderm of the secondarily thickened organs and the bark of woody stems and roots of dicotyledonous flowering plants. It functions as a pore, providing a ...

s against its wine-red skin reminded focus groups of a

galaxy A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, dark matter, bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System. ...

against a night sky, which led to it being named the Cosmic Crisp. It is the first widely grown apple variety developed in Washington. The apple ripens at the same time as the

Red Delicious Red Delicious is a type of apple with a red exterior and sweet taste that was first recognized in Madison County, Iowa, in 1872. Today, the name ''Red Delicious'' comprises more than 50 cultivars. From 1968 to 2018, it was the most produced cu ...

and is expected by producers to replace a large part of Red Delicious stocks. The Cosmic Crisp apple was made available to consumers in 2019, after twenty years of development. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' described the apple as "dramatically dark, richly flavored and explosively crisp and juicy", making it "the most promising and important apple of the future". ''FoodRepublic.com'' called it "firmer than the Honeycrisp, but not too firm. And it is high in both sugar and acidity, making it far superior to the Red Delicious, Gala and Fuji varieties as well." ''Northwest Public Radio'' notes that

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

, which produces 70% of U.S. apples, is betting that the cultivar will "conquer" the market.

First plantings

The variety was first planted for commercial use in spring 2017, with twelve million trees pre-ordered by Washington state orchards. Interest in the cultivar was so high, the trees initially had to be distributed to apple farmers in a lottery held in 2014—WSU had planned to provide 300,000 saplings but were met with requests for four million. Within three years, over thirteen million Cosmic Crisp trees had been planted. Lawsuits emerged between WSU and a Seattle spin off, which the university claimed distributed over 100,000 trees improperly. WSU owns the Cosmic Crisp patent.

Promotion and marketing

A $10 million consumer launch of the product was funded by Washington-State agriculture promotion funds through the

Washington Apple Commission The Washington Apple Commission is a quasi-public body in the United States state of Washington, created by the Revised Code of Washington, which is statutorily authorized to "speak on behalf of the Washington state government with regard to apple ...

and other agencies. The two taglines for the apple were "Imagine the Possibilities" and "The Apple of Big Dreams". It is said to be the largest campaign in apple industry history and included payments to social media influencers and a partnership with a touring children's production of '' Johnny Appleseed''. The term "Cosmic Crisp" is

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...

ed. The apples went on sale in Seattle grocery stores on December 1, 2019, beginning with a

QFC Quality Food Centers, better known as QFC, is a supermarket chain based in Bellevue, Washington, with 62 stores in the Puget Sound region of the state of Washington and in the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area. QFC is a subsidiary of Kroger. ...

store at University Village.

References

External links

Official website
{{apples, state=collapsed 2019 in Washington (state) American apples Apple cultivars Apple production in Washington (state) Food and drink introduced in 2019 Washington State University

Characteristics

First plantings

Promotion and marketing

See also

References

Further reading

External links