Sep 11, 2017

University of Minnesota’s Rave apple sold by Stemilt Growers

The Rave is described as a successor to the Honeycrisp.

This new apple variety is the result of a pairing of the popular Honeycrisp apple and the MonArk apple, an early to ripen apple from Arkansas.

Bite into the bright red skin and you’ll be rewarded with “outrageously juicy with a refreshing and snappy zing,” promise the creators.

According to mlive.com If you have shopped at a Meijer  store in recent weeks, you might have spotted — and tried — this Washington grown apple.

Mlive.com reports:

“Rave was 20 years in making, and is a collaboration with the University of Minnesota, which developed the new apple cultivar – dubbed MN55 – and fruit industry pioneer Stemilt Growers, which is growing them.

What is unique about the apple is its timing. Rave was created to ripen in late summer so it can be on the store shelves before the competition begins arriving in the fall.

“Bringing a new apple to market is a very special thing,” said West Mathison, Stemilt president and a fifth generation apple grower, in a statement.

“Of the thousands of varieties out there, very few prove commercially viable, but with its juicy crisp crunch and zingy sweet flavor, Rave has everything today’s consumer looks for. In fact, this apple was named Rave because it’s so good, we think people won’t be able to stop talking about it.”

Stemilt estimates a crop of 11,000 40-pound cartons this debut year, with the volume growing quickly through 2020 as new acres come into production. Rave apples have retailed for about $3 to $4 a pound.

The Wenatchee, Wash.-based Stemilt, owned by the Mathison family, is a leading shipper of sweet cherries and one of the largest suppliers of organic tree fruits in the nation.”

For more on the story, click here.

Photo above: New Washington-grown Rave apples, pictured here in Grand Rapids on Thursday, Sept. 7, 2017, are a cross-pollination of Honeycrisp and MonArk apples. Photo: Cory Morse, Mlive.com.