Malus pumila, Honeycrisp | |
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![]() Honeycrisp apple | |
Species | Malus domestica |
Hybrid parentage | Keepsake × MN1627 |
Cultivar | Honeycrisp |
Origin | Minneapolis-St. Paul Minnesota, USA, 1960 |
Honeycrisp (Malus pumila) is an apple cultivar (cultivated variety) developed at the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station's Horticultural Research Center at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Designated in 1974 with the MN 1711 test designation, patented in 1988, and released in 1991, the Honeycrisp, once slated to be discarded, has rapidly become a prized commercial commodity, as its sweetness, firmness, and tartness make it an ideal apple for eating raw. [1] "...The apple wasn't bred to grow, store or ship well. It was bred for taste: crisp, with balanced sweetness and acidity." [2] It has larger cells than most apple cultivars, a trait which is correlated with juiciness, as larger cells are more prone to rupturing instead of cleaving along the cell walls; this rupturing effect is likely what makes the apple taste juicier. [3] [4] The Honeycrisp also retains its pigment well and has a relatively long shelf life when stored in cool, dry conditions. [5] Pepin Heights Orchards delivered the first Honeycrisp apples to grocery stores in 1997. [6] The name Honeycrisp was trademarked by the University of Minnesota, but university officials were unsure of its protection status in 2007. [7] It is now the official state fruit of Minnesota. [8] A large-sized honeycrisp will contain about 113 calories. [9]
U.S. Plant Patent 7197 and Report 225-1992 (AD-MR-5877-B) from the Horticultural Research Center indicated that the Honeycrisp was a hybrid of the apple cultivars 'Macoun' and 'Honeygold'. [1] However, genetic fingerprinting conducted by a group of researchers in 2004, which included those who were attributed on the US plant patent, determined that neither of these cultivars is a parent of the Honeycrisp. It found that one parent was a hybrid of the Keepsake (itself a hybrid of Frostbite (MN447) x Northern Spy) [10] while the other was identified in 2017 as the unreleased University of Minnesota selection MN1627. The grandparents of Honeycrisp on the MN1627 side are the Duchess of Oldenburg and the Golden Delicious. [11]
The US patent for the Honeycrisp cultivar expired in 2008, though patent protection in some countries continues until as late as 2031. [7] Patent royalties had generated more than $10 million by 2011, split three ways by the University of Minnesota between its inventors, the college and department in which the research was conducted, and a fund for other research. [3] [7] The University of Minnesota crossed Honeycrisp with another of their apple varieties, Minnewashta (brand name Zestar!), to create a hybrid called Minneiska (brand name SweeTango), [12] released as a "managed variety" to control how and where it can be grown and sold. [3]
SugarBee is an open cross-pollination between Honeycrisp and an unknown variety discovered in Minnesota in the early 1990s. [13]
Honeycrisp apple flowers are self-sterile, so another apple variety must be nearby as a pollenizer in order to get fruit. Most other apple varieties will pollenize Honeycrisp, as will varieties of crabapple. [14] Honeycrisp will not come true when grown from seed. Trees grown from the seeds of Honeycrisp apples will be hybrids of Honeycrisp and the pollenizer. [1]
Young trees typically have a lower density of large, well-colored fruit, while mature trees have higher fruit density of fruit with diminished size and color quality. [15] Fruit density can be adjusted through removal of blossom clusters or young fruit to counteract the effect. [15] Flesh firmness is also generally better with lower crop densities. [15] Bitter pit disproportionately affects Honeycrisps; typically 23% of the harvest is affected. [16]
As a result of the Honeycrisp apple's growing popularity, the government of Nova Scotia, Canada, spent over C$1.5 million funding a five-year Honeycrisp Orchard Renewal Program from 2005 to 2010 to subsidize apple producers to replace older trees (mainly McIntosh) with newer higher-return varieties of apples: the Honeycrisp, Gala, and Ambrosia. [17] [18]
Apple growers in New Zealand's South Island have begun growing Honeycrisp to supply consumers during the US off-season. [19] The first batch of New Zealand-grown Honeycrisp cultivars being introduced to the North American market have been branded using the "HoneyCrunch" registered trademark. [20] [21] According to the US Apple Association website it is one of the fifteen most popular apple cultivars in the United States. [22]
Fruit tree propagation is usually carried out vegetatively (non-sexually) by grafting or budding a desired variety onto a suitable rootstock.
Golden Delicious is a cultivar of apple. It is one of the 15 most popular apple cultivars in the United States. It is not closely related to Red Delicious.
Pollination of fruit trees is required to produce seeds with surrounding fruit. It is the process of moving pollen from the anther to the stigma, either in the same flower or in another flower. Some tree species, including many fruit trees, do not produce fruit from self-pollination, so pollinizer trees are planted in orchards.
Cider apples are a group of apple cultivars grown for their use in the production of cider. Cider apples are distinguished from "cookers" and "eaters", or dessert apples, by their bitterness or dryness of flavour, qualities which make the fruit unpalatable but can be useful in cidermaking. Some apples are considered to occupy more than one category.
The Haralson is a cultivar of apple that is medium-sized and has a round-conic shape.
Jonagold is a cultivar of apple that is a cross between the crisp Golden Delicious and the blush-crimson Jonathan; the name Jonagold is a portmanteau of these two variety names. It was developed in 1943 in New York State Agricultural Experiment Station of Cornell University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, selected as N.Y. 43013-1 in 1953, officially released in 1968 by Roger Way.
Gala is an apple cultivar with a sweet, mild flavour, a crisp but not hard texture, and a striped or mottled orange or reddish appearance. Originating from New Zealand in the 1930s, similar to most named apples, it is clonally propagated. In 2018, it surpassed Red Delicious as the apple cultivar with the highest production in the United States, according to the US Apple Association. It was the first time in over 50 years that any cultivar was produced more than Red Delicious.
A rootstock is part of a plant, often an underground part, from which new above-ground growth can be produced. It could also be described as a stem with a well developed root system, to which a bud from another plant is grafted. It can refer to a rhizome or underground stem. In grafting, it refers to a plant, sometimes just a stump, which already has an established, healthy root system, onto which a cutting or a bud from another plant is grafted. In some cases, such as vines of grapes and other berries, cuttings may be used for rootstocks, the roots being established in nursery conditions before planting them out. The plant part grafted onto the rootstock is usually called the scion. The scion is the plant that has the properties that propagator desires above ground, including the photosynthetic activity and the fruit or decorative properties. The rootstock is selected for its interaction with the soil, providing the roots and the stem to support the new plant, obtaining the necessary soil water and minerals, and resisting the relevant pests and diseases. After a few weeks, the tissues of the two parts will have grown together, eventually forming a single plant. After some years, it may be difficult to detect the site of the graft although the product always contains the components of two genetically different plants.
Malus sieversii is a wild apple native to the mountains of Central Asia in southern Kazakhstan. It has recently been shown to be the primary ancestor of most cultivars of the domesticated apple. It was first described as Pyrus sieversii due to its similarities with pears in 1833 by Carl Friedrich von Ledebour, a German naturalist who saw them growing in the Altai Mountains.
'Macoun' apples are a cross between the 'McIntosh' and 'Jersey Black' cultivars. The Macoun was developed at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, by Richard Wellington. It was first introduced in 1932, and is an eating apple. This apple is popular for making European style apple pies because it does not break down during cooking and remains firm. Macouns are also very popular at roadside stands and pick-your-own farms. Availability is generally October through November.
Cripps Pink is a cultivar of apple. It is one of several cultivars sold under the trade mark name Pink Lady. It was originally bred by John Cripps at the Western Australia Department of Agriculture, by crossing the Australian apple Lady Williams with a Golden Delicious; the result is a combination of the firm, long-storing property of Lady Williams with the sweetness and lack of storage scald of Golden Delicious.
An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree. Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus Malus. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, Malus sieversii, is still found. Apples have been grown for thousands of years in Eurasia and were introduced to North America by European colonists. Apples have religious and mythological significance in many cultures, including Norse, Greek, and European Christian tradition.
The Zestar! apple or Minnewashta (cultivar) is an apple cultivar released in 1999. It was developed by the horticulturalists at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum's Horticultural Resource Center, at the University of Minnesota.
The kishu mikan is a hybrid variety of mikan, or mandarin orange, found in Southern China and also grown in Japan.
SweeTango is the brand name of the cultivated apple 'Minneiska'. It is a cross between the 'Honeycrisp' and the Zestar Apple belonging to the University of Minnesota. The apple is controlled and regulated for marketing, allowing only exclusive territories for growing. It has a sweet-tart taste that some food writers have described as something between brown sugar and spiced apple cider.
Reikou is a cultivar of tangor. It is a citrus hybrid of a hybrid of Kiyomi and Encore and Murcott tangor.
'Ariane' is a modern cultivar of domesticated apple that was recently developed in France for scab resistance.
The MN55 cultivar apple developed by David Bedford, a senior researcher and research pomologist at the University of Minnesota's apple-breeding program, and James Luby, PhD, professor, Department of Horticultural Sciences, Horticultural Research Center, is a cross between Honeycrisp and MonArk (AA44), a non-patented apple variety grown in Arkansas.
EverCrisp is an American apple cultivar developed by the Midwest Apple Improvement Association (MAIA). Trademarked as EverCrisp, the MAIA-1 variety is a cross between two existing apple cultivars: the Honeycrisp and Fuji. Originally produced in Ohio, EverCrisp has since expanded to apple-growing regions across the Midwest in Michigan, Illinois and Indiana, in the Northeast in Pennsylvania and New York, and in the Northwest in Washington. The apple entered the public marketplace in 2017.