What’s the Next New Apple to Know? Try a Honeycrisp and Cripps Pink Hybrid
Sliced ‘WA 64’ apples show the newly released variety’s yellow-pink skin and white interior.
Photo courtesy of WSU College of Agricultural, Human, & Natural Resource Sciences
Washington State University’s newest apple variety, ‘WA 64’, is a sweet, tart, firmly crisp hybrid of ‘Honeycrisp’ and ‘Cripps Pink’, a variety that includes the well-known ‘Pink Lady’.
Officially released for commercial licensing this summer, ‘WA 64’ is expected to reach stores in 2029. WSU will select a partner in the coming weeks to make trees available to Washington growers, and the college will choose a brand name for the new apple in 2024.
“With WA 64, we’re hoping to fill a useful space in the apple market,” says Jeremy Tamsen, Director of innovation and commercialization for WSU’s College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences.
Crossed in 1998, ‘WA 64’ was chosen for its outstanding eating and storing qualities. Featuring a pink blush over a yellow background, it is slightly less hard but crisper and juicier than its ‘Cripps Pink’ parent.
“In its bite, it’s more akin to Cripps Pink than Honeycrisp,” says Kate Evans, Professor and WSU apple breeder. “In consumer taste-tests, people have preferred its texture to Cripps. It’s crisper than Cripps Pink.”
WA 64 maintains that crisp texture after months in cold storage. Like WSU’s successful ‘WA 38’ variety, also known as ‘Cosmic Crisp‘, it’s self-thinning, meaning growers don’t have to invest as much labor in thinning fruit. It also has high packout, ensuring that apples aren’t tossed for bruising or punctures before they reach the grocery store. ‘WA 64’ is harvested at about the same time as ‘Golden Delicious’, giving growers of that apple a fresh alternative.
“The main focus of our breeding program is to provide new and improved apples that appeal to consumers and work for the Washington apple industry,” Evans adds.
The timing of harvesting should also appeal to growers, Tamsen says.
“It makes sense for the industry to have an apple that falls within the ‘Golden Delicious’ harvest window, with qualities that consumers want right now.”
For more, continue reading at news.cahnrs.wsu.edu.
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