Free Republic

There's never been a better time to eat — and cook with — American apple varieties.One day in 2004, Brooke Hazen noticed something unusual about one of his Golden Delicious apple trees. “Some people are lucky enough in their career to have their own bud mutation variety that they get to name,” says Hazen. “Out of the thousands of trees I have, one branch on one tree decided to do its own thing.” What it did was yield an apple with the typical green-yellow skin but an unusual pink patch where it faced the sun and a sweetness and fragrance...

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Apple fans in Minnesota will soon be able to find a favorite apple in grocery stores year-round. The Honeycrisp apple has come a long way from its humble beginnings here in Minnesota. When the apple was first introduced in 1991, University of Minnesota researchers only produced a three-week supply. Now, Honeycrisp is the No. 1 desired apple in America. “When you find a winner, you stick with it,” scientist and Honeycrisp breeder David Bedford said. Spring usually means Honeycrisp apples fans must do without their favorite fruit. But Bedford says researchers found a way to have the...

EGG HARBOR, WI (AP) -- Signs advertising Honeycrisp apples dot the Door County peninsula, where travelers and local families eagerly pony up $2 per pound or more for the prized fruit. That's still cheaper than in Milwaukee, where Barb Lucking paid $3.25 for two Honeycrisp at a farmer's market. They're firm, she said, with "sweetness, but not tartness." "I'll buy these all the time, where I'll pass up the other ones," said Lucking, 55. Introduced in Wisconsin 16 years ago, Honeycrisp have been a boon to apple growers, some of whom might otherwise have gone out of business. They command...