The University of Minnesota has awarded Stemilt Growers the license to grow, pack, and market a new, early to ripen apple cultivar.
The patent name for the cultivar is MN55, and the University of Minnesota plans to trademark a name for the fruit in conjunction with Stemilt in the near future.
MN55 was born 17 years ago at the University of Minnesota’s apple breeding programme, the same place that the Honeycrisp variety heralds from.
The new cultivar is described as having exceptional flavours, colour and fracture and will be the first variety to harvest in Washington State and go to market in 2017.
MN55 is a cross between Honeycrisp and an unreleased variety labeled as AA44 that is sometimes known as MonArk. With similar yet more defined flavour and quality attributes as Honeycrisp and AA44’s characteristics to ripen early yet colour well and maintain a crisp, juicy texture through the summer heat, Stemilt believes the new cultivar is a real winner.
“We have a small block of trees that will produce small volumes of fruit come 2017, and a larger planting that will increase volumes for 2018 and beyond,' said Stemilt marketing director Roger Pepperl. 'We are thrilled at the prospect of having a high quality dessert apple that will reinvent the month of August for the apple category.
“MN55 is very juicy and sweet and holds excellent pressures,' he continued. 'These are unusual qualities for such an early apple to possess, and the exact qualities that consumers have come to love in an apple.”
In the coming months, Stemilt and the University of Minnesota will develop a trademark name for the apple.
“It’s going to be fun to name an apple that will have so much appeal to the marketplace,' Pepperl added. 'It will be a signal for an early coming to the apple season, and hold a great position in back-to-school promotions in order to boost the apple category during a time of year that has previously gone untapped.'
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