Juci (Juci Delite) *

NEW APPLE

This new Honeycrisp x Braeburn cross is emerging from the development stage (grafting and planting trees) to retail (enough fruit-bearing trees to bring apples to market).

Its saturated blush is a deep crimson—darker in person than in my photo.

Nonetheless my camera captures the tapered and blocky shape of this fruit and its small but distinct light lenticel dots. Click on the photo for a better look.

The blush is attenuated on the shade side, where the underlying yellow of the peel is visible. The stem well is deep and the stem is thin.

Juci is an attractive apple, firm and solid and full of promise.

Bon Apetit

Biting in reveals medium-grained yellow flesh, balanced and caramel sweet, with a pleasant savory flavor overlain with melon. There is a generic floral note.

These flavors are rich and saturated.

Those who have trouble with very hard apples may not go for this one, but the texture is very good, though just a little granular (at least in January).

The flavor is superior to Honeycrisp. It's not exceptionally juicy.

Crossing Honeycrisp and Braeburn has produced a crisp apple that is clearly part of the pro-flavor trend.

Those lenticels are slightly indented, for a subtle tactile experience. My second sample was not as good, with muddled flavors.

What's in a name

I hope there is nothing in the above that betrays my personal distaste for a name like Juci or, still worse, Juci Delite, which was apparently one of the options trademarked.

The name makes me feel like my food has sent a note on pink paper with little hearts doting each i.

Juci has been in the wings since at least 2016, when it crushed an attempt by New England farmers to market Jonagold under the name JuicyGold.

Consequently, I cannot help but compare the two—mentally, since Jonagold is out of season.

In my head, Juci has the better flavor, and Jonagold the better texture.

Links

• Honeycrisp x Braeburn
• Flavor trend in new apples
• Lenticels
• Juci takes down Jonagold, 2016, also told here
• Jonagold