Cosmic Crisp: The Apple Variety Engineered To Last A Whole Year

When you hear about a new apple product dropping, your mind probably jumps to the latest technological advancement, but in December of 2019, grocery stores were hit with a literal apple release that soon had the culinary world abuzz. Horticulturalists from Washington State University unveiled a new variety of apple named WA 38, better known to the common consumer as Cosmic Crisp. It was an instant hit according to the Yakima Herald-Republic, garnering rave reviews that praised every aspect of the fruit from its bright crimson skin to its texture, which is as out-of-this-world crisp as its moniker suggests.

From a culinary standpoint, the Cosmic Crisp is a very versatile apple because its flavor equally balances sweet and tart notes. It would be a great base for any apple-based dessert, like caramelly baked tarts, but as much as it has been praised for flavor and texture, the Cosmic Crisp has an even bigger claim to fame. In the leadup to its release, the development team from Washington State made the claim that Cosmic Crisp apples can last as long as a year if refrigerated. It sounds almost too good to be true ... and it almost is.

The Cosmic Crisp was developed with storage in mind. One of the issues that the development team sought to address was the seasonal availability of apples. In the United States, most apples are harvested in the fall, so by the time summer comes around, there aren't fresh local apples still available. In summer, apples sometimes have to be imported to American stores, and they typically don't end up tasting as good as fresh domestic ones. The Cosmic Crisp was developed with the intent of producing an apple that could be eaten 12 months after harvest and still taste delicious. They achieved this goal, but only to a degree.

According to Washington State University, Cosmic Crisp apples can last up to 12 months in storage, but not in your standard home refrigerator. They are made to be kept in controlled atmosphere storage, a commercial system that regulates temperature, just like your fridge, but also controls oxygen and carbon dioxide levels to better prevent spoilage. According to Washington State, Cosmic Crisp apples will keep for around four months in refrigerated air, just a third of the time. However, four months is still longer than other varieties of apple, most of which will only keep for up to two months in the fridge. You have the best odds of maxing out the fruit's shelf life if you store apples in the crisper drawer.

What does it take to create an apple that is not only long-lasting, but which garners near-universal acclaim for its taste, texture, appearance, and every other trait an apple can have? The answer is over three decades of research and development. The Cosmic Crisp project began back in the 1980s when a horticulturist at Washington State University named Bruce Barritt raised concerns that apple farmers in the state of Washington had grown overly dependent on the Red Delicious apple. Reliance on a single type of crop is dangerous for farmers because it increases the risk of pests or diseases decimating the whole harvest (via Horizon). Plus, Red Delicious apples aren't actually all that delicious — especially the waxy ones from the grocery store.

Barritt decided that Washington farmers needed to mix in a new variety of apple, and after securing support from the university, as well as funding from the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission, the Cosmic Crisp apple-breeding program was launched. Barritt made the original Cosmic Crisp in 1997 by crossing a Honeycrisp apple with an Enterprise apple, the latter being a particularly disease-resistant variety. It took 22 years from the creation of that first hybrid for the Cosmic Crisp to reach mainstream production, and its availability is still somewhat limited. Farmers in Washington have exclusive rights to grow the Cosmic Crisp until 2029.