Mar 11, 2016

New England group gives Jonagold a new name

In the era of restricted apple releases, some regions are feeling left out. Popular new varieties like SweeTango, Kiku and Lady Alice have exclusive membership. SnapDragon and RubyFrost can be grown in New York state only. Cosmic Crisp and Sunrise Magic can be grown in Washington state only.

Those without access are finding different ways to hop on the club variety bandwagon. In Ohio and surrounding states, growers formed the Midwest Apple Improvement Association to breed apples themselves. After nearly two decades, that effort is starting to bear fruit with the release of the EverCrisp apple.

Small and medium-size growers in New England are trying a different strategy: rebranding an existing apple.

It took the New England industry a lot of thought and discussion to get to this point, said Russell Steven Powell, senior writer with the New England Apple Association.

The association initially approached the breeding programs at the University of Minnesota and Rutgers University about breeding varieties that would be unique to New England’s climate. They couldn’t nail down any viable candidates, however. Even if they could, the trial process is so lengthy that it would take years for a superior variety to emerge. Also, the New England Apple Association isn’t big enough to take on the administrative role required – things like ensuring compliance and managing licenses – when launching a new variety, Powell said.

“As a small region, we had to come up with a creative way to compete in this environment,” he said.

Since they couldn’t feasibly launch their own variety, New England growers decided to reinvent one that already exists – a variety with which they’re familiar, with trees in the ground and fruit ready to be picked right away.

They settled on Jonagold, a “vastly underperforming apple” with a lot of potential. Jonagold always rates well in taste tests and has a beautiful gold-red color, but for some reason it hasn’t caught on in supermarkets, Powell said.

One theory behind Jonagold’s poor performance is the name. Released by Cornell University back in the 1960s, it was named after its parents, Jonathan and Golden Delicious. But these days, the name “Jonagold” lacks the excitement of a newer name like Envy or Jazz, he said.

With help from a marketing consultant, the association came up with a new name for Jonagold, a name that could be exclusive to New England: JuicyGold.

Powell said “JuicyGold” has several virtues. It’s not so different from Jonagold that it will confuse consumers. The “juicy” part speaks to one of the apple’s attributes, brought up again and again in taste tests (and they couldn’t find another apple with the word “juice” in its name). The “gold” part suggests something of value, as well as referring to one of the apple’s parents.

The association is applying for a trademark on the JuicyGold name, said Powell, who is directing the JuicyGold project. He expects the trademark to be approved by June.

According to the association’s legal advisers, an existing variety can be marketed under a new name. The nearest parallel Powell could think of was Pink Lady: it’s the same variety as Cripps Pink, but its marketing club uses a different, trademarked name.