Just in time for Thanksgiving, the much-hyped Cosmic Crisp apple variety is headed from Washington state to stores around the country.
First developed at Washington State University 20 years ago, the sweet and tart so-called “apple of the future” first started selling near the end of last year.
On Monday, a number of retailers were listed on the Cosmic Crisp website as places where consumers could get their hands on the apple.
With the holidays just around the corner and a flurry of shipping about to take place as the #CosmicCrisp goes nationwide on the 23rd, here's a soothing, sunny look at our Mother Tree to remind us all to stay grounded and enjoy the sweet (and juicy and crunchy) things in life ? pic.twitter.com/A2IfhBfZ8l
— Cosmic Crisp® Apple (@thecosmiccrisp) November 21, 2020
“There’s never been an apple that’s been planted at scale so quickly,” Kate Evans, a professor of horticulture at Washington State University and head of the breeding program that birthed the Cosmic Crisp, said a year ago when GeekWire first bit into the apples.
Officially known as WA 38, the variety was first created at WSU in 1997 under the guidance of Bruce Barritt, who ran the school’s program before Evans took over in 2008. Traditional cross-breeding is a game of both numbers and luck since trees can take five years to bear fruit.
Technology has been used to accelerate the Cosmic Crisp cross-breeding process, as DNA is being used to help breeders pick the most promising combinations of tree parents and to screen out seedlings that are least likely to be successful. Researchers have also identified genetic markers that are tied to traits like texture and acidity.
