When the Honeycrisp apple debuted in the 1990s, consumers responded ravenously. True to its name, it was sweet and crisp, each bite of blush and gold fruit bursting with juice. Seen as a paradigm shift in apple breeding, Honeycrisp production has continued its overall increase, on track to upset Gala and Red Delicious, and at pick-your-own orchards, customers ask for it by name.
But for farmers who balance production and demand against climate change, disease, and other factors, the Honeycrisp apple can represent a mixed blessing, as it can be finicky and difficult to grow.
“It’s arguably the apple we love to hate,” said Jon Clements, a University of Massachusetts Extension tree fruit specialist who advises growers.
“We love it, because it’s what the customer wants,” he said. “We hate it because it’s got some peculiarities in terms of management that make it difficult or perhaps more expensive to grow.”
While profitable, the Honeycrisp’s fussiness can take its toll on growers.
“It’s just become such a ‘you have to have it,’ and there are so many other apples,” lamented Ted Painter, owner of Shelburne Farm in Stow.
Among the Honeycrisp’s crimes, he said, are its susceptibility to a condition known as pre-harvest fruit drop.
“You’ll see this beautiful block of Honeycrisp and then we get a windy day,” he said. “We take up a lot of acreage with Honeycrisp, and if everything works out perfectly, then everyone’s happy.”
But if it doesn’t, dropped or spotty apples can turn customers sour. What’s more, Honeycrisps can go biennial, which means that they can alternate production by year.
“It is our number one variety on the farm now in sales,” said Tougas Family Farm owner Andre Tougas. “It is also the most difficult apple that we’ve grown, and has the most challenges. . . . We’d be happy to replace it with something that’s a little more forgiving.”
Unlike some varieties, Tougas said the Honeycrisp circulates calcium poorly, requiring special treatment in order to avoid a condition called “bitter pit.” A too-heavy crop can produce small and colorless apples — a problem for customers, who want red ones.
“If you’re not growing Honeycrisp, then you’re not really serious about growing apples,” said Tougas.
According to a report by US Apple, Honeycrisp’s production rate dipped slightly in the 2024-25 growing season, suggesting that the variety’s growth may stabilize over time.
Consumers have their own ideas about what constitutes a perfect apple.
David Pearson of Braintree stood among the apple trees at Carver Hill Farm in Stow. For him, aesthetics trumped name brand.
“Is it more circular and symmetrical?” pondered Pearson. “Or does it have that kind of traditional, more like Red Delicious-looking shape where they’re more plump on the top? And then you look at the color, you look at the texture.”
On her way to find the McIntoshes, Molly FitzGerald of Jamaica Plain had joined the Honeycrisp resistance after tiring of family and friends trumpeting them.
“I feel like they’re just too popular,” she said. “And then I get an attitude about it.”
Clements said growers are partially responsible for the apple’s popularity.
“Sometimes I think half the liking is its name,” he said.
Pearson, amid the trees, agreed.
“It’s almost like wines,” he said. “They just make up names, right?”
David Bedford, an apple breeder at the University of Minnesota, can answer that. A member of the team that bred the Honeycrisp, Bedford said naming his creation was easy.
“A couple of us got together,” he recalled. “‘This is a sweet apple. It’s a crisp apple. Whoa, ‘Honeycrisp!’ There you go.”
Shape, color, texture, and even name are all factors considered by apple breeders. But once upon a time, Bedford didn’t much care for apples at all.
“I ate them, as much as I probably ate my vegetables back in that era,” he said.
Bedford has served for 45 years on the team responsible for Honeycrisp. A core of his work involves taste-testing the apples that we may eat someday — as well as their outtakes. It amounts to as many as 600 apple samples per day at the peak of the season.
“People say, ‘Oh, what a dream job you have,’” he said. “But let me tell you, the first 100 aren’t too bad. And after that it becomes real work. And furthermore, most of those 500 are not very good.”
About one in 400 will advance to further testing, and about 1 percent of those make it to market. Over the course of 20 years, a variety has a 1/10,000 chance of being bred for production. Since its start, the team has developed 29 varieties of marketed apples. But it was Honeycrisp that changed everything.
It takes an hour to bake a pie, but could be 15 years while an apple meanders through the selection process. For Honeycrisp, it took 31.
“In 44 years, I’ve had my heart broken many times with a variety, like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s the one,’” said Bedford. “Three years later, no, it’s not.”
Progress is incremental for apple breeders, he said.
“[If] we have a variety we like, we make some crosses with it, it becomes a little bigger, a little sweeter, a little redder. But every now and then you get that cross that is just different and beyond and better than either parents. And that’s what Honeycrisp was.”
Imitators line up hoping to create the next great apple, especially seeking “crisp” variations. Bedford said his team monitors for texture and flavor above all, checking bite by bite, monitoring about 20 overall criteria.
Competitive apple breeding is a national sport. Patented apple genetics are tightly controlled; one grower’s collective is in fact called The Next Big Thing, which produced the firmly guarded SweeTango apple. The prolific Midwest Apple Improvement Association is another. Researchers at Cornell University and Washington State University also lead in the field. Growers pay for apple patent licenses — known as “club” varieties, while others grow unconstrained varieties.
Tougas said the Honeycrisp is a bet worth taking, helping raise overall apple popularity. For one thing, demand brings customers to the farm earlier in the fall — the apple comes into season in September — helping more evenly distribute crowds. And, it is an ambassador for other varieties: its genetic offshoots, such as Rosalee, Evercrisp, and Ludacrisp, draw customers.
Beyond Honeycrisp, Painter hopes visitors can keep open minds.
“I’m constantly looking to see what is the next best or latest, greatest in what’s coming,” he said.
Orchards are often places where newer apples emerge prior to supermarket availability: Braeburn, Rosalee, and a newer Midwest-bred apple called the Sweet Zinger are a few of Painter’s favorite varieties.
“Try something you haven’t tried before,” said Painter. “You’ll be surprised what you’ll discover.”
As for the taste of apples to come, last fall, Bedford’s team unveiled a new apple called Kudos. That variety adds a more robust, tropical flavor to Honeycrisp texture. More than 20 years in the making, it will be a few years yet before it becomes established in orchards.
But the next paradigm-shift has yet to materialize. Bedford said breeders are currently exploring apples with red-fleshed interiors.
“It’s stunning when you see it,” he said.
Bedford’s ideal apple is still to come: ultra-crisp with tropical or cherry notes.
“If I’m dreaming at night about my perfect apple, yeah, that would probably be it,” he said. “And . . . if we get some red flesh, that’s OK.”
It is rare that we are able to taste what we dream. But our future apples may be just that.