Honeycrisp

Malus domestica 'Honeycrisp'
	; Two Honeycrisp apples, showing the distinct two-toned coloring.
Hybrid parentage
	'Keepsake' × '???'
Cultivar
	'Honeycrisp'
Origin
	University of Minnesota, 1974

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Honeycrisp (Malus domestica 'Honeycrisp') is an apple cultivar developed at the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station's Horticultural Research Center at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Selected in 1974 as the B.O.D., and released in 1991, the Honeycrisp, once slated to be discarded, has rapidly become a prized commercial commodity, as its sweetness, firmness, and tartness make it an ideal apple for eating raw. The Honeycrisp also retains its pigment well and boasts a relatively long shelf life when stored in cool, dry conditions.

U.S. Plant Patent 7197 and Report 225-1992 (AD-MR-5877-B) from the Horticultural Research Center indicate that the Honeycrisp is a hybrid of the apple cultivars Macoun and Honeygold. However, genetic fingerprinting conducted by a group of researchers, which included those who were later attributed on the patent, determined that neither of these cultivars is a parent of the Honeycrisp, but that the Keepsake (another apple developed by the same U of M crossbreeding program) is one of the parents. The other parent has not been identified, but it might be a numbered selection that could have been discarded since.^[1]

Honeycrisp apple trees are not self-fruitful, so trees grown from the seeds of Honeycrisp apples will be hybrids of Honeycrisp and the pollinator.

In 2006, the Andersen Elementary school in Bayport petitioned for the Minnesota state legislature to make the Honeycrisp apple the state fruit; the bill was passed in May 2006.

As a result of the Honeycrisp apple's growing popularity, the government of Nova Scotia has encouraged its local orchards to increase their supplies through the Honeycrisp Orchard Renewal Program. From 2005 until 2010, apple producers in Nova Scotia can replace older apple trees with Honeycrisp trees at a subsidized rate. Many orchards in the Annapolis Valley on the Bay of Fundy have mature trees and plentiful supplies of Honeycrisps throughout the harvest season.

[edit] See also

Horticulture

[edit] References

^ Cabe, Paul R.; Baumgaten, Andrew; Onan, Kyle; Luby, James J.; Bedford, David S. "Using microsatellite analysis to verify breeding records: A study of 'Honeycrisp' and other cold-hardy apple cultivars" HortScience 40(1)15-17 (2005)