Cosmic Crisp Naturally Developed
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with today’s Fruit Grower Report. It’s become very popular over the past five or so years, and the Cosmic Crisp apple came to us with no artificial assistance.
Jeremy Tamsen, senior director of innovation and entrepreneurship within WSU’s Office of Research, says they developed the Cosmic Crisp naturally over 20 years through conventional breeding …
TAMSEN … “When we talk about that, some people think, oh, it must be genetically modified. Oh, it must be, you know, a laboratory-created product. No, this was the product of natural breeding, crossing thousands and thousands of different apple varieties together, monitoring those crosses over time.”
But time, Tamsen says is what it took …
TAMSEN … “It’s a tree, so the timelines are sort of crushing when it comes to growing them out, but yeah, I mean a tremendous amount of work went into it to find this sort of “needle in the haystack” and we’re really happy with the product.”
And of course, it’s Tamsen’s favorite …
TAMSEN … “For me, it’s the only apple that I buy any more. And not because, maybe it is because of my bias but I genuinely believe that it’s the best tasting apple.”
It’s also become more affordable …
TAMSEN … “The first couple of years production was still ramping up and, yeah, the price has leveled out quite a bit. And that has allowed us to gain a really strong foothold in the national market, and in the international import markets as well.”
The Cosmic Crisp is a cross between the Enterprise and Honeycrisp designed for crispness, flavor, and storage life.
