While the initial shipments of New Zealand Honeycrisps arrived in late May, the majority are expected to reach the U.S. during the month of June. New York Apple Sales, and their associated grading facilities in the state, will be packaging and selling these Honeycrisps for delivery to stores throughout the summer months. “Our state-of-the-art packing lines are equipped with both internal and external defect sorting, insuring retailers and consumers the highest quality Honeycrisp,” said Kaari Stannard, New York Apple Sales’ president and owner. “90% of these New Zealand Honeycrisps will be packed in New York and there is an excellent, large crop available that we’ll be working with and preparing. Because of their premium quality, we’re happy to be able to deliver more of these great Honeycrisps because they please retailers with their price point and consumers with their flavor.” 2# pouch bags, 3# poly and tray pack cartons are available now from New York Apple Sales.
And to think the apple that is fast becoming America’s favorite almost never saw a tote bag. The original tree was in a less-than-ideal location and had to endure a brutal winter in the late ’70s. So the previous breeder had tagged MN1711 as a throwaway and written in the logbook, “Discard—Badly winter killed 1977.”
When Bedford arrived in 1979 he found four trees that had been propagated before the original tree was discarded and saw the note about them being dropped from further testing. But taking into account the location and the cruel winter of 1976-77, he decided to overturn the discard status and give them another chance.
A few years later the trees began bearing fruit. When Bedford and project director Jim Luby tasted the apples and noticed their texture—“explosively crisp,” as Bedford is fond of saying—he knew they were on to something.
