Apple innovation isn’t just about the latest iPhone or MacBook—don’t forget about the fruit, too! Brandon Kondritz bit into the University of Minnesota’s apple breeding program, discovering more about some of the world’s favorite varieties along the way.
This story originally aired as part of the A.I. Special Broadcast.
(music: “Borough” via Blue Dot Sessions)
As a kid, David Bedford wasn’t the biggest apple fan.
BEDFORD: I used to put apples in the same category as Brussels sprouts. They’re good for you, but it doesn’t mean I have to enjoy them.
But 45 years ago, he took a job at the University of Minnesota. That’s when things changed. It was the beginning of a career in apple innovation.
BEDFORD: Somewhere along the line, I had an epiphany that apples can be better than Red Delicious. So that was the first level of change in my world.
Let’s take a step back.
(background music volume up, then down)
If you like apples, you’re probably familiar with Red Delicious, Granny Smith, or Gala. They’re some of the most popular types, and they’ve been around for decades.
But what about the Honeycrisp, known worldwide for its sweetness, juiciness, and crispy texture?
(natural sound: biting into apple)
It’s only been on the market for about twenty years, but it commonly rivals some of the oldest varieties. How did it come to be?
The answer lies only two states away, and a few Zoom meetings unlocked the world of apple breeding at the University of Minnesota.
(natural sound: Zoom welcome tone)
BEDFORD: The University of Minnesota apple breeding program began back in 1907. The whole point of our breeding program was to develop apples that would live in a northern climate. Minnesota is even a zone colder than Illinois, so it really pushes the limit of where apples can grow. Anything that you would know the name of does not really live in Minnesota.
That’s David Bedford, from before. Even though apples weren’t always his fruit of choice, he’s worked throughout his career to raise the bar for apple enjoyers worldwide.
BEDFORD: My job has been to develop new varieties that not only can live in Minnesota—we have to still remember that always—but it has to be something that excites the palate. Something that gives you a memorable eating experience, is the way I look at it.
Bedford has been a key player in the cultivation and development of nearly 30 new apples. Honeycrisp is the most popular, though, and he says it put the U of M research team on the map.
BEDFORD: In 1991, we released Honeycrisp, which really has done very well around the world and kind of elevated our program and people’s awareness of it. We’ve released several since then, but we’re using Honeycrisp genetics quite heavily in the program. That’s still the bar that we measure everything by. If it’s not as good or better than the Honeycrisp, then we get rid of it.
Dr. Jim Luby, a professor at the University and the fruit breeding program’s director, has been beside Bedford since the beginning. Although they didn’t make the cross that gave rise to the Honeycrisp, they oversaw its development. They both remember the first time they tasted what would later become a worldwide favorite.
LUBY: The cross was made well before David and I were there—it was made back when we were in elementary school or before. (Laughter) When we arrived and sort of found it in 1982 or 1983, David was the first one to taste it out of the two of us, and he recognized that it was a really unusual apple.
BEDFORD: It was so different than what was normal that I was intrigued by it but a little confused, like ‘what is this?’
LUBY: He brought some in for me—I happened to be working in the office that day—and I agreed with him.
BEDFORD: The closest comparison I had at the time would have been Asian pears. Crisp, juicy—I’ve always been a big fan of texture, and crisp texture in particular.
LUBY: Yeah, this is a really unusual texture and a good flavor.
(music: “Tall Harvey” via Blue Dot Sessions)
Developing the Honeycrisp was no easy task, however. It was a complicated process that requires patience, and they still follow it today. It all begins with crossing the pollen of two existing apple types. There’s a short window for that process.
BEDFORD: We have about one week a year, as I say, one week a year to save the world from mediocre apples.
And luckily enough …
BEDFORD: That is right now—you’ve called right at the front end of this. The breeding will actually start this weekend.
That period is now. Mid to late May is when the weather is perfect for making those crosses.
BEDFORD: It all has to happen in the bloom period of apples. In Minnesota, that’s about a week long. In Illinois, you get a little longer—maybe yours is two weeks, you know, but once the apples are done blooming, there is no breeding.
This window is crucial, as thousands of new trees result.
BEDFORD: Every year, we generate about somewhere in the neighborhood of 5,000 new trees that come from our hybridization, and over the next 15 years of each cross we throw them away, throw them away, throw them away until only a few are left. The real job is getting through all those trees and finding the few that look promising. For Honeycrisp, from the time the cross was made until the time it was released was 30 years. We have reduced that now down closer to 20, 18, something like that, but it’s still a long-term process.
As you can probably tell, you need a big team to create a brand-new apple. Luby says everything they do wouldn’t be possible without their staff, on and off the field.
LUBY: David’s kind of managed the whole field aspect of our breeding program. We’ve been working together for 40 years, so we can kind of read each other’s minds at this point. David’s kind of the field boss, but you need an orchard manager who makes sure that the crew gets things right and does things at the right time. And the graduate students advance the science. All those people really contribute to the success—David or I probably get more notoriety—but really all those people have key roles to play.
(music: “Furano Line” via Blue Dot Sessions)
Once Bedford and Luby were ready to release the Honeycrisp, they had no way of knowing how it would perform. At the time, the industry was pretty satisfied with the existing favorites.
LUBY: There were a lot of apple growers in the 1980s that weren’t really interested. They were pretty satisfied. They had Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Macintosh, and there was not a lot of interest in new varieties.
BEDFORD: There was no question that we were going to carry it forward and release it, but there was no way to know if the world would accept it or not. It could have been just accepted as that strange apple with the pear-like texture, and it would die quietly out behind a barn somewhere.
Honeycrisp didn’t die out, though. Its texture and sweetness set it apart, and once customers had it, they had to go back for more.
LUBY: It caught on slowly—organic growth, I guess you’d say, mainly in the Twin Cities market at first. And gradually other growers in parts of the country heard about this, it caught on, and consumers in other parts of the country got introduced to it. It went from very little production in the year 2000 up to, I think it’s around 30 million bushels now. It ranks third as far as production in the United States now.
But that crispy texture comes at a price.
BEDFORD: Very good texture is not always an easy apple to handle commercially. You enjoy it when you get it to the store, but that grower has to grow it, pick it, get it through a sorting line, packed, and shipped 2,000 miles without damaging it.
Still, Bedford and Luby say Honeycrisp broke the mold, changing the industry for the better. Its popularity has been a career highlight for them. All of the emails, phone calls, and people on the street who thank them for it make the years of growing trees worth it.
LUBY: Individuals will come up to me and say, oh, you know, ‘thank you for the Honeycrisp!’
BEDFORD: You could say you get used to it, and you do, to some degree, but then I’ll get, I don’t know, one email a month or something. Maybe it’s from England, maybe it’s from California, somebody saying ‘I had the first Honeycrisp of my life, and it’s unbelievable!’ You never get quite used to it. There’s always somebody to remind you that it’s a pretty exciting thing.
Honeycrisp is impacting new varieties, too. Most of the apples the team is working on today come from the unique fruit.
LUBY: We have two varieties that are really coming to market imminently, here. One is called Triumph, and that I actually think debuted last year as far as when trees were available. And then another one just has a number right now until we get the OK on our trademark application from the Patent Trademark Office. That one should come out probably next year.
With all of these new apples and every time-old variety out there, only one question remained …
KONDRITZ: What’s your favorite apple now?
BEDFORD: Well, you know, it’s almost like asking a parent ‘which is your favorite kid?’ I love each one of them in their own way. Certainly, the top three for me would be Honeycrisp. That’s the parent, and the other two that I like came from Honeycrisp. The next one would be SweeTango. I actually like the flavor of SweeTango a little better. And the third one would be one that’s one of the newer ones that came from Honeycrisp, and that’s Rave—that’s an early apple, much tarter.
Although apples are great for on-the-go snacks, apple-flavored baked goods are another way to enjoy them. As you might guess, Luby and Bedford are big fans.
LUBY: My favorite apple dessert is apple crisp. In our house, the favorite apple has always been our Zestar! variety, which is an excellent cooking apple. In fact, when our kids were young, they could even tell when we made an apple crisp with another variety.
BEDFORD: One of my favorites is Waldorf salad made with Honeycrisp. Waldorf salad is a nice combination of tangy and sweet and salty, but put a Honeycrisp in there now, and now you’ve got texture.
(music: “Borough” via Blue Dot Sessions)
And even though David Bedford wasn’t always an apple fan, he sure is now. Next time you’re enjoying a juicy Honeycrisp, know that you have the team at the University of Minnesota to thank.
BEDFORD: We’ve got so much going for us, and it’s so good for you, and now it tastes good. That was the last component we had to get lined up—enjoyable eating—and I think we’ve achieved that now.
(natural sound: biting into apple)
For WNUR News, I’m Brandon Kondritz.
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