Sunrise Magic *

This medium-sized apple with its cheerful warm red blush is handsome in all the unconventional ways I admire. 

It's ribbed and lumpy and has boldly prominent tan lenticels. There are streaks of russet radiating from the crown.

Sunrise Magic, what a mouthful! You'd be tempted to shorten it, but if you did you collide with not one but two other varieties already called Sunrise.

So, Sunrise Magic's calyx is wide open; you can see the stamens. A firm, hard apple in hand.

I chose one of the more colorful, lopsided, ribbed examples for my photo.

Hocus tastus

Sunrise M is full of breaking-crisp pale yellow flesh, coarse grained. It's moderate and mild, balanced, neither too sweet nor tart. 

One elusive flavor seems to be in the Vanilla lane; it has a creamy, buttery quality to it. Maybe a little floral, too. 

One sample yields a tiny hint of oranges and the calyx end yields a flash of something that suggests strawberry.

The main thing this has going for it is its great crunch. 

Another reveal inside of this apple, or at least of this batch of them: some have no seeds, and others have only one or two.

This apple actually had one seed.

Behind the curtain

Cutting to the chase: This is probably the "Sunrise" apple I had last October, misnamed.

Magic's real name is WA-2, but you won't see it called that in stores. It is a Splendour x Gala cross, and is harvested in October.

That means this is a new apple from the breeding program at Washington State University. It is not the 20th Century Canadian "Sunrise" or the older English variety of the same name.

Potentially confusing, right? After tasting these I think the "Sunrise" I tasted last fall, so-called by the grower, was really Sunrise Magic too. It is a closer call than I would like, though.

(To muddle things further: this apple is also marketed as Crimson Delight. The alternative trademark is entangled in a patent dispute. O tempora....)

Sunrise not Sunrise

The Canadian Sunrise is a summer apple, described as "early" but possibly harvested as late as September.

In my review of the apples labeled "Sunrise" that I found at an orchard in New Hampshire in October, I marveled at how good a keeper it seemed to be and speculated that the grower had chillers someplace.

Canadian Sunrise has, reputedly, a flavor profile similar to Sunrise Magic's. However, it's not a perfect match, and Canadian Sunrise is also not a keeper according to several accounts.

Meanwhile, despite some differences, the October flavors map well onto Magic's. Better than Canadian Sunrise's.

I agree the apples as photographed are not a good match. (October's at left.) That is partially (but not entirely) because of the Magic sample I chose to photograph this month, and a little bit (but not entirely) because of the difference in lighting.

Also, some of my (unphotographed) samples have thin, light-colored stems like that in the October photo.

So without being 100% certain, I think the "magic" got lost in the translation at the farm stand. This is a hazard of too-clever apple names. 

I guess I've never had a real Sunrise after all.

Here's another riddle: My fresh, local version had clearer, richer flavors in October, but the bagged supermarket samples have the better crunch.

Cox's Orange Magic?

I'm struck by the idea that the best name for an apple in 2009 was "Sunrise" with "Magic" tacked on, versus coming up with something new.

Apparently all the good names are taken, so there is nothing for it but to recycle old ones. "McIntosh Magic" and "Delicious Magic" can't be far behind.