Dec 16, 2019
The Cosmic Crisp, Washington’s own long-awaited apple, lands in stores

Cosmic Crisps have landed. Hailed as the first apple to be developed in the state of Washington and backed by a massive marketing rollout, the new apples are arriving in grocery stores, ready for lunchboxes and dining room tables.

According to a Dec. 13 story originally published by the Kitsap Sun,  located in Bremerton, Washingotn, the apple, a hefty, tasty cross between Enterprise and Honeycrisp varieties, is a product of the Washington State University Tree Fruit program.

Horticulturist Bruce Barritt first made the cross between the two in 1997, giving the world WA 38, now known by the brand name Cosmic Crisp. Two decades later, the apple is ready for consumers. The university holds the patent on the variety and has hired Yakima-based Proprietary Variety Management to bring the fruit to market and manage a $10 million marketing budget. The apples, which will be grown exclusively in the state for at least 10 years, first went on sale in stores Dec. 1, the Kitsap Sun reports.

“They were bred for flavor first and foremost,” said Kathryn Grandy, director of marketing for PVM, which describes the apple as “remarkably crisp, sweet, sharp, tangy and unbelievably juicy.”

And because they store well and maintain their flavor for more than a year, customers can expect to be able to buy the variety year-round, she said.

Also, according to the story,

“This year, about 400,000 boxes of the apples are available, but in the following years, production is expected to ramp up quickly, Grandy said. Around 2 million boxes are expected for 2020, 5.6 million boxes the following year and in 2022 around 10 million boxes are expected to be available.

Now though, “The demand is huge,” said Jim Foley, who manages produce for Town & Country Markets and Central Market locations, including ones on Bainbridge Island and in Poulsbo. “We were getting questions a few years ago when they were first putting (trees) in the ground. The marketing has been really strong.” “

We’re selling everything we can get, and we’re selling it in a day or two and sometimes not getting more for a few days,” he said.

Ron Colello, owner of Colello’s Farm Stand Produce in South Kitsap, said his produce stand has been selling the apples as fast as it can get them, moving around 600 pounds of them over one recent five-day period.”

For more on the story, visit here.




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