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Honeycrisp sounds like cereal, but it's an apple |
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Written by McClatchy-Tribune
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Thursday, 09 November 2006 |
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 Bite into a Honeycrisp and the first sensation is a juicy crackle as your mouth fills with the sweet, tart flavor that has made it the reigning celebrity of the apple world.
The trademark explosive crunch of the official state apple comes from cells that are twice as big as those of other apples and a micro-thin, delicate skin that pops with every bite.
Developed at the University of Minnesota Excelsior breeding station in 1961, Honeycrisp was bred for Minnesota’s, ahem, hardy climate.
It likes cool weather, short summers and the early fall sun that brings out a bright red tinge with a bit of yellow-green around the stem. The trees easily withstand Minnesota’s roller-coaster temps.
But that doesn’t mean the apple itself is hardy. Orchard growers have learned the fruit needs cosseting and must be picked and packed carefully.
“It takes about the same impact to bruise a Honeycrisp as to break an egg,” said Dennis Courtier, owner of Pepin Heights, the state’s largest producer of Honeycrisps.
Orchard manager Lauro Sarabia climbs a short ladder to reach the tip of an 8-foot tree. Carefully, he plucks a Honeycrisp and clips all but an inch of stem.
Honeycrisps can have their skins marred by just a slight poke from an unclipped stem, Sarabia explained, resulting in a spoiled apple. Workers on the Honeycrisp line must have their nails closely trimmed or don protective gloves as they sort.
The Honeycrisp hit the market in 1991. “It’s just a really great apple,” Courtier said. “The perfect apple has the right balance of acid and sugar. Honeycrisp has that plus a great juicy crispness.”
APPLES HANDLED WITH CARE
Once Honeycrisps are plucked from the tree and laid in wooden crates, they go to the on-site processing plant and begin their trip through what one young visitor called the “apple car wash.”
And that’s just what it’s like. Crates brimming with apples travel along a conveyor belt and submerge in water, allowing the apples to float to the top. There, a river of apples bobs along to a stream of water that bathes them. A blast from fans dries them while bristles buff them from underneath. A light blast of wax, another buffing for shine and off they go for hand-grading.
The conveyor belt has chutes for apples destined for the juicer and polyethylene bags for the others.
Except, Courtier noted, Honeycrisps.
“We don’t bag our Honeycrisps,” he said. “They would bruise.” In fact, he has pulled his product from careless grocers that tumble the apples into display bins that could damage their skins. Honeycrisps are hand-packed in boxes, each apple sheltered by cardboard.
“If you want a ‘durable’ apple,” Courtier sniffs, “get Red Delicious. You can kick that one all the way to the grocery store and nothing will happen.”
Red Delicious, by the way, is almost universally despised by apple aficionados. Bred for “durability” — meaning it travels well —and for color, Red Delicious has over time turned into a sweetly bland, inoffensive apple that excites no one and is freakishly red from the moment it appears on the tree.
Now is the peak season for Honeycrisp, and the apples are so popular they fly out the door of most orchards as soon as they’re picked. That’s partly taste and partly because savvy customers know Honeycrisp is an exceptional keeper that can be successfully stored for months, providing a burst of fall flavor even as winter settles in.
“People start calling days in advance asking ‘Are they there yet?’ ” said Deb Fick, who tends the Pepin Heights store.
NOT JUST A MINNESOTA APPLE
Not only is the Honeycrisp the official state apple, but it has gained worldwide popularity. Sold in Europe as Honeycrunch, the apple has been in demand from Nova Scotia to South Africa.
But Honeycrisp very nearly was a reject, with no future.
The process for taking an apple variety from experimentation to commercial viability is a long one, and can span more than a generation. In the late 1970s, after years of testing, a combination of poor location and exceptionally brutal winters had led researchers at the university to conclude that Honeycrisp was a bust. Four struggling trees were marked for removal.
Then, in 1979, David Bedford took over. He noticed that the research notes said little about the flavor. “Just on a lark, I thought I’d keep them,” he said.
When the trees next bore fruit, he bit into one. “My first thought was, ‘Wow!’ ”
recalled Bedford, who tastes between 500 and 600 apples a day. He knew he had a winner.
At the time, he said, “There was nothing else like it. It had the most unique texture I’d ever tasted in an apple.”
Honeycrisp is a paradox, Bedford said. “It’s not a hard apple, but it’s crisp,” he said. And it keeps well — up to eight months with proper refrigeration.
Oh, by the way, that last part is important. As nice as a dish of apples might look on your table, he said, apples age five times as quickly at room temperature. That’s aging, not ripening. Not good. Put some pears in the dish and keep the apples in the fridge.
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APPLE TASTING PARTY
Think of apples the way you would wine. Flavor undertones can range from the nuttiness of chestnut crabs to the faint anise in Sweet 16 and candy-sweetness of Fujis.
Like wine, cheeses can bring out and complement those flavors. Sharper cheeses are a good match for apples with deep, complex flavors; delicately flavored apples call for milder cheeses.
Beverages could include a sherry, port or micro-brewed hard cider. Good nonalcoholic choices would be fresh-pressed cider or any tea without high citrus notes.
Have on hand some salty nibbles — picholine or buttery black olives — and bowls of almonds and pecans. Don’t forget baguettes and crackers as palate cleansers.
HERE ARE A FEW SUGGESTIONS:
Cameo: A West Coast apple with a delicate flavor. Pair with a ripe Camembert.
Gala: Sweet and aromatic, galas match up with buttery Tilsit.
Chestnut crab: Can be hard to find outside of orchards; they have intensely flavorful, firm flesh and a slightly nutty flavor that teams up nicely with Gouda.
Cortland: Pretty on the plate, Cortlands stay white after they’re cut and offer a complex, sweet-tart flavor and tempting aroma. Try them with the earthy, slightly grainy Gruyere.
Haralson: A Minnesota original dating back to the early 1920s, with a tart taste that stands up well to thinly shaved slices of Parmigiano Reggiano.
Honeycrisp: An almost perfect balance of sweet and tart, set off well by a rich Dubliner Irish cheese, a sharp, aged Cheddar or even a full-on gorgonzola.
McIntosh: An old New England apple with tender, white flesh and a tart flavor. Can handle a nutty Emmental.
Sweet 16: As you would expect from the name, this is a high-sugar apple favored by kids and, interestingly, Southerners, who prefer a sweeter flavor profile than do Midwesterners. Pair it with a mild Colby, another kid favorite.
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RECIPES
Click on the recipe card for a larger view.
Cranberry Orange Dip
Blue Ridge Apple Berry Crisp
Apple Harvest Fruit Tart
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