

Honeycrisp and SweeTango – Apple Breeding, Branding, and Trademarking - dpflan
http://discover.umn.edu/news/food-agriculture/apple-breeding-program-continues-shine

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dpflan
Also, here is a Planet Money episode about this:
[http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/05/27/410085320/episo...](http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/05/27/410085320/episode-627-the-
miracle-apple)

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ccurtsinger
I grew up in MN and always loved Honeycrisp, but after relocating I was
surprised to hear people describe them as tasteless or mealy. It turns out
they vary a lot depending on growing region. Cold hardy apples produce very
different fruit in warmer climates. I have heard this is a big part of why the
SweeTango brand has been limited to a small number of growers in select
regions.

Minor correction for the title: "SweeTango" has just one 'T'
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SweeTango](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SweeTango))

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dpflan
I think the idea of keeping apples to their proper growing climate is a
crucial point: these new tasty apple discoveries occur in the UMN orchard, and
once selected, a branded apple really will do well on the market if its
quantity is constrained and only grown by a few farmers. So, with the UMN
orchard as ground zero for the apple discoveries, it would seem that farmers
nearer to the orchard have a huge advantage with regard to actually taking an
apple from lab orchard to farm to market.

Tainting the identity of the Honeycrisp for example because it was grown in
the wrong climate would be something any farmer growing Honeycrisps would want
to prevent, else risk the bad impression and lower sales.

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colinbartlett
Honeycrisp are easily the best apples I've ever tasted.

Which makes me wonder how we ate so many Red Delicious when I was a kid,
because they taste -- as the article said -- like sawdust.

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specialist
The Red Delicious of your youth was probably a lot better. I loved Golden
Delicious, but now can barely stomach them.

I don't understand how a cultivar degrades over time. A buddy of mine comes
from an apple growing family. He explained the decline to me, which I barely
understood.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Delicious](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Delicious)

Plus the best of the bunch get exported, so we're eating the rejects.

