This year, the largest harvest yet will arrive in stores just a few days after the 2022 Apple Cup. The official December 1 release date ensures apples are harvested and shipped for peak texture, juiciness, and flavor.
Cosmic Crisp® is the brand name for the WA 38 apple variety, originally bred at WSU’s Wenatchee research station in 1997. WSU researchers evaluated WA 38 against other contenders for more than a decade before releasing it to growers in 2017. The apple first went on sale to consumers in December 2019.
This year, about five million 40-pound boxes were harvested; this is in excess of more than a million boxes more than the 2021 crop. Harvested apples are stored in refrigerated warehouses and will be shipped to stores and made available to consumers starting Dec. 1, with availability happening soonest in the Pacific Northwest.
Source: news.wsu.edu
Photo source: Dreamstime.com