Got Honeycrisp?

Four test trees at the University of Minnesota suffered damage during a harsh winter and had been marked to discard when apple breeder David Bedford began work there nearly three decades ago.

"A little bit on a lark, I decided to undiscard it," Bedford said. "A couple years later, they started bearing fruit, and I was pleasantly pleased with the quality of it. I guess it's just one of those little nuances of fate."

Apples' flavor comes from slight variations in their sugar and acid levels. Honeycrisp is considered a "balanced" apple, something between a tart, acidic Granny Smith and the sugary, but sometimes bland Red Delicious.

But more important than its flavor, growers say, is Honeycrisp's texture. Many liken it to watermelon in the way the fruit breaks when bitten, releasing a spurt of juice. Bedford calls it "explosively crisp."

The cells in a Honeycrisp apple are unusually large, twice as big as in some other varieties, Bedford said. That allows each cell to hold more water, which it releases in a burst when cracked.

The University of Minnesota's apple breeding program released Honeycrisp in 1991. Early interest was mostly in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, partly because of the university's location and partly because the tree does best in areas that have a cool early autumn with a significant drop in temperature at night.