Kanzi vs Koru Smackdown

This week the Wholesale Gods have coughed up two good, and not entirely dissimilar, apples: Kanzi (left) and Koru.

They both bear mysterious two-syllable names (trademarks, really) beginning with K and ending with a vowel.

It's February and that's what's on the menu today.

Note Note

Smaller Kanzi has a saturated red blush decorated with tiny distinct lenticel dots. The blush covers about two thirds of the peal, which is otherwise a cheerful lemon yellow tinged with green.

Koru's streaky blush is more subdued and spread over nearly all of its green-yellow surface. Koru's tan lenticels are less obvious, but more tactile if you run your thumb over them.

Both are tapered, but Kanzi is more squat and Koru has a more-classical shape. Ribbing is minimal on both.

Koru has the thinner, taller stem, while Kanzi has the shallower stem well and an open calyx (Koru's is shut). Both feel rock hard.

Koru wears a russet crown. Both are shiny with wax.

The beauty contest is easy—it's Kanzi. But it's what's inside that counts.

Nom Nom

I started with Koru, biting into coarse-grained, juicy, yellow flesh.

Koru's flavors are quite agreeable, on the sweet side but not overboard. They include orange, flowers, spice, and vanilla, though not in great measure.

Kanzi is crisper and denser and a slightly lighter shade of yellow inside, but still coarse-grained and plenty juicy.

Its greater tart acidity gives it a bit of a kick, but this is still a sweet, mainstream apple.

Flavors include sugar and spice, with an echo of what you might call vinous.

I previously rated both of these as one-star apples, and this proves a point I like to make—one-star apples are pretty good!

Num Num

Switching back and forth emphasizes mostly the differences in sweet (Koru) versus tart (Kanzi, relatively speaking). These apples coexist but do not especially interact—there is neither magic nor antagonism.

Today, I am finding Kanzi's relatively tart kick to be particularly appealing. It has the snappier crunch, too. But trying to score these objectively, Koru is fuller, with some very nice flavors.

This is a dead heat.

Name Name

Kanzi is a new European variety, actually named Nicoter. The patent owner says "Kanzi" is the Swahili word for "hidden treasure," but Google Translate says it means "work." Something lost in translation?

Koru is from New Zealand and is actually named Plumac. The variety owner says this name is a Maori word "for the new unfurling fern frond as it unfolds to create a new leaf." Google Translate has another idea.

Now to finish those apples.