Cosmic Crip Delivers for Consumers and Producers
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
Differentiated produce continues to be on the rise to delight consumers in terms of quality, consistency, and freshness. Nowhere is that differentiation more evident than in apples, where the Cosmic Crisp has taken the industry by storm. Washington Tree Fruit Commission executive director Ines Hanrahan explains what makes this variety so special.
Hanrahan… “And this apple is kind is what you would call like a super ager. And it's also less likely to bruise, which is nice and the flavor stays very consistent. So you always have a crunchy, juicy piece of fruit that doesn't have these ugly bruises on them and it's slow to brown, which is also cool because you can cut it up, put it in your child's lunchbox or on a charcuterie board and don't have to worry about it. And all of this was by natural selection, which of course, then makes it also very attractive to organic production.”
Hanrahan says not only do consumers love it, but farmers find it easy to grow and profitable.
Hanrahan… “A lot of people don't know that about 30 to 40 percent of apples, they never make it to the consumers because something happens along the way. This one is a totally different thing. It has less losses in storage, but also for the grower, the main cost of labor is usually pruning, thinning, and harvest. And it's a self-thinning variety, so one of the big labor components goes out, so it's like a, it's much lower cost to produce that way.”
Learn more at cosmiccrisp.com.
