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Honey Crisp
The Honeycrisp apple trees began life a cross between Macoun and Honeygold...or did it?
The University was looking to grow winter hardy cultivars with high fruit quality. The seedling was planted in 1962 at the University of Minnesota Horticultural Research Center. But the original parentage posted at the University appears to be in doubt!
DNA tests have identified that their own records were defective and the parentage is at this point in time unknown. Some authorities believe Keepsake is one of the parents. Extremely embarrassing for the university!!
Anyway. in 1974 it was approved as a possible new and exciting variety. Honeycrisp then known as MN 1711 was tested at locations Minnesota, Michigan and New York at the Cornell Research Station in Geneva.
In 1988 the plant patent was applied for and in 1991 the apple we know as Honeycrisp was released for commercial propagation by the nurseries around the Country. Now Honeycrisp apples are known around the World.
Honeycrisp apple trees are not self-fruitful. Trees grown from the seeds of Honeycrisp apples will be hybrids of Honeycrisp and the pollinator. In 2006, the Andersen Elementary school in Bayport petitioned for the Minnesota state legislature to make the Honeycrisp apple the state fruit; the bill was passed in May 2006.
As a result of the Honeycrisp apple's growing popularity and recognition, the government of Nova Scotia has encouraged its local orchards to significantly increase their supplies through the Honeycrisp Orchard Renewal Program. From 2005 until 2010, apple producers in Nova Scotia can substitute older apple trees with Honeycrisp trees at a subsidized rate.
A good many of the orchards in the Annapolis Valley on the Bay of Fundy have mature trees and plentiful supplies of Honeycrisps during the harvest season.
Apple growers in New Zealand's South Island are aiming to start growing Honeycrisp to supply consumers during the US off season.
Honeycrisp is an appreciably vigorous tree with a rather spreading growth habit. It seems to be well suited to a central leader training system, though the leader may need staking or some fruit removal due to early bearing.
The tree is a dependable annual bearer and has shown good precocity on dwarf rootstock.
Honeycrisp fruit is defined by an astonishingly crisp and juicy texture. Its flesh is cream colored and coarse. The flavor is sub-acid and ranges from mild and well-balanced to strongly aromatic, depending on the degree of maturity. It has consistently ranked as one of the highest quality apples in the University of Minnesota sensory evaluations.
Honeycrisp fruit has also shown excellent storage characteristics and can be kept for at least six months in refrigerated storage without atmosphere modification.
Honeycrisp apples ripen evenly and hold well on the tree. They can be harvested over an extended period or in a single picking. Honeycrisp blooms in the early to middle part of the apple flowering period. It produces viable pollen that has successfully fertilized numerous other cultivars in experimental hand pollinations.