In the 1990s, the Washington State University cast its envious eye at the success of the University of Minnesota's Honeycrisp, and asked, why can't we do that?
"That" in this case was not just apple breeding, but also a new business model. Honeycrisp was a club apple, restricted to select Minnesota growers while the plant patent lasted. (It expired in 2008.)
Cosmic Crisp (left) is Washington's answer, and Washington growers have gone all-in, planting tens of millions of trees since its 2015 release.
But Sunrise Magic (right) was an early contender. Released in 2009 as WA-2, it got its own brand name in 2016.
(And Cosmic Crisp's secret identity is WA-38.)
(And WA-2 is also marketed as Crimson Delight.)
So let's see how these two scions of the Evergreen State stack up against each other. They are pretty different visually!
Behold
Sunrise Magic's blush is warmer and more saturated, over yellow. Its tan lenticels are quite large on one side of the fruit, which is extremely ribbed.
Cosmic Crisp has only minimal ribbing, and shows a classically tapered shape. Its peel is glossy while Magic's has more of a semigloss finish.
Some other differences: Sunrise Magic sports a russet cap, and where its calyx
is wide open, Cosmic Crisp's is clenched shut.
Cosmic has a faint, sweet aroma, while Sunrise Magic has none. However, that difference could be attributable to storage and handling. Some storage techniques suppress aroma (and flavor).
These examples are kind of extreme cases of their breeds. In particular, the Magic I chose shows off that variety's potential for an irregular shape, extreme ribbing, saturated blush, huge lenticels, and crown of russet.
These are all visual elements I find especially appealing. Ironically, they might rule out this variety in your supermarket.
I am hungry enough for two apples, so let's dive in.
Chomp-for-chomp
Like the underlying peel, the flesh has a green tint to it, suggesting the apple was picked a bit early.
It is floral, spicy, and almost vinous. Still quite sweet, but its unripeness has lent some nice tart counterbalance that was absent from my other, better samples.
There is only a very little of the smokiness I've found in other examples too.
Sunrise Magic's crunch is not quite in that league, but is still very good. Very good. Its coarse-grained yellow flesh has floral notes and something fuller, nearly vanilla, and a hint of oranges.
These are fun to eat together, each as a palate cleanser for the other.
Liner notes
Cosmic was going for an astonishing $1.29 per pound: I wonder how the "all-in" Washington growers feel about that!
Modern varieties like these are made to withstand a few knocks (and they do), but all varieties are sensitive, cumulatively, to issues with storage, shipping, and handing.
And the winner...
But of these samples I like the riper Sunrise Magic just a little better.
I was on the tasting panel for both varieties. In the interest of sensory objectivity, we could not use words like "delicious" or "best." But now I can say it. The WA 2 was the better apple. It was more complex and interesting.
ReplyDeleteIt is still early days. But in 5 years I will not be surprised if the conventional hindsight is that WA should have diversified by planting more WA-2 alongside all that WA-38.
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