Cosmic Crisp

There's big anticipation about a new Washington apple variety called "Cosmic Crisp," that should hit the market in time for Christmas.  Washington has bet the farm on this apple, planting 11 million trees in just three years, the fastest ramp up of any apple variety ever.  It took 20 years for the the popular Honeycrisp to reach that volume. Cosmic Crisp growers are ripping out less profitable varieties as fast as they can.

In old-fashioned Red or Golden Delicious orchards, there are about 100 very large trees per acre. But as we drive through the Wenatchee area these days, we see more small trees growing on upright trellises. These trees have a dwarf rootstock, so the growers can plant up to 1800 per acre. The Cosmic Crisp is bred for this dense planting, and 1,500 acres can accommodate a mind-boggling 2 million trees.

If you have time, there's an interesting article about developing the Cosmic Crisp in Seattle Business Magazine CLICK HERE.

Of course, Cosmic Crisp will command a premium price, much like the Honeycrisp. But it has competition from other growers around the country, who have also been busy developing new apple varieties.

Really, they must hire English majors to name these apples:

Ruby Frost, SnapDragon, Crunch Time, SweeTango, EverCrisp, Rave, Kiku, Opal, Koru, Aurora, Smitten, Juci and Autumn Glory, to name a few.

If that doesn't make you want to eat an apple today, nothing will.

Cosmic pie

 

The Cosmic Crisp apple landed in Seattle in December 2019, along with lots of marketing hoopla. They were about $4 a pound then, and never caught on as the growers hoped. Cosmic Crisp store well in the fridge, but for an eating apple, the skin is tough compared to Honey Crisp.

How times have changed. QFC (Kroger) had Cosmic Crisp this week for 99 cents a pound, probably trying to move last season's surplus. They are good for pie, especially at that price, and cook down sweet and juicy after a long bake.

This one was in the oven for almost two hours. 

 

Yes I know, another yucky corned beef picture (if you don't like it.) 

But John said this was my best ever-- although if you've done something 50 times you should be good at it. After years of boiling, now I braise the meat (after rinsing off the salty brine) with onions and white wine, then add the vegetables later, so nothing gets too mushy. 

Cosmic Crisp lands in Seattle

Now that's a pricey apple. About $2.35 for just one, to be exact.  Years ago, Washington state bet the farm on Cosmic Crisp becoming a big hit. Here they are, but only in upscale grocery stores for the holidays.

When all those millions of trees start producing the price should go down, but the orchardists have a huge investment to recoup in the coming years. This will probably never be a cheap apple.

John surprised me with one from at our pricey Metropolitan Market. This is the store where all common sense about money flies out the window when you walk in the front door.

The verdict?
 Santa says, "Meh, overpriced."
John says, "I'd rather have a Red Delicious."
I said, "Not as good as the best Honeycrisp I've ever eaten, but better than the average Honeycrisp."

Some positives about the Cosmic Crisp: they supposedly keep for months in the fridge without getting brown and mushy. You can also bake with them-- however, that would be one expensive pie. 

Chance seedlings

 Lady Alice

Ambrosia

Move over, Honeycrisp.  There's some new kids on the block.  When Honeycrisp was introduced in 1991 by the University of Minnesota, it became immensely popular and set a new apple standard for crispness and juiciness, not to mention high price.  But you've probably noticed the flavor and quality can be really inconsistent.  Nothing like a $2 bad apple to make a person feel ripped off. Plus they turn mushy in the fridge after just a few days, becoming an expensive treat for Spanky and Belle. 

In the search for the perfect apple, Washington State University recently created the Cosmic Crisp, a cross between Honeycrisp and Enterprise.  It is firmer but not too hard to bite, high in sugar and acidity, so it holds flavor and crispness all year, even after weeks in a kitchen. 444 Washington growers entered a lottery,  and the University selected 24 lucky winners to plant Cosmic Crisp.

While we wait, there are other varieties to try, like Ambrosia and Lady Alice, that were not created in a agricultural lab. These are called "chance seedlings," the product of unintentional breeding. In other words, an apple dropped on the ground and a tree grew from one of its seeds.  What an original concept  :-) The real miracle is that someone in the orchard noticed and let it grow, just to see what would happen.

The Ambrosia was discovered on the Mennell family orchard in British Columbia.  The exact parentage is unknown, but it might be a cross between Starking Delicious and Golden Delicious.  The Mennell website says the original Ambrosia mother tree still stands. The thousands of Ambrosia trees growing around the world grew from branch clippings of a single tree.

The Lady Alice was also a happy accident.  This apple was discovered in 1979 as a chance seedling in Gleed, WA, and is a registered trademark of the Rainier Fruit Company.

Apples, of course, are harvested in the fall and cold-stored for the rest of the year.  I read on the Wiki page that Lady Alice is at her best in March, but there was no explanation why.

Anyway, I bought Lady Alice and Ambrosia at QFC this week for $1.50 a pound, which is as cheap as apples ever get here in the Apple State. Both are delicious, with a fine crisp texture, sweet but not cottony. Since I'm mostly off the ice cream and cookies these days, munching on a good apple makes a satisfying dessert while watching TV.  Especially with a bit of that dark chocolate John gave me for Valentine's Day. Which doesn't really count as "candy" in my book.

Purple Air

 

It's pretty sad when the Purple Air website is the first thing you look at in the morning. The only good thing are those red dots out to the west of Seattle. That means the air quality will gradually improve today as the onshore flow increases in front of the first fall storm. We've had a mere half inch of rain the entire summer. Yes, another record.

Wildfire smoke affects both the body and mind, making people feel anxious, stressed and trapped. I think the sight and smell triggers some primal survival response in animals. Friends who have lived here their entire lives say they've never experienced heavy smoke like this. Seattle was almost invisible yesterday.

Well, this too shall pass. I'm making an apple pie tomorrow to celebrate the return of rain. Cosmic Crisp apples were 79 cents a pound at Safeway! 

Remember that big fuss when Cosmic Crisp were first introduced? This was the most over-hyped apple of all time that could probably never live up to the expectations. 

A reviewer described it as a "beautiful looking apple worthy of a Wes Anderson prop" but the apple itself "screams mediocrity" with below average sweetness and a tough skin people dislike. Stay tuned on the pie potential. I'll set John to work peeling with one of his razor sharp knives.  He's watching a YouTube video now on how to peel apples. Correctly.

Have a good weekend dear family and friends.

Cosmic flop?

 

Do you remember all the hype about the introduction of the new Cosmic Crisp apple?  I wrote a blog post back in November 2019, about how thousands of acres of old orchards had been torn out to replant with this super star apple. 

Cosmic Crisps were $4 a pound when they first came out, but now they’re on special for $1.50. A glut of unsold apples in the spring doesn't bode well for the success story.

The big selling point is they supposedly keep "forever" in the fridge drawer without getting mushy, but the trade off is a rather tough skin.

They seem to be a dandy baking apple, though. These are filled with chopped dates, pecans and a touch of brown sugar and cinnamon. A pat of butter on top, and then baked covered under loose foil for an hour or two until fork tender.  An easy and tasty no-guilt dessert, at least until you smother it in vanilla ice cream.

Today is March, coming in like an old boring lion.  More showers, although we finally have a gradual warm up this week, getting close to 60 which will sure feel nice.  It is a magical time of year in the garden as everything springs back to life, including the weeds.