Apples 101: Cosmic Crisp, Best Varieties, and Uses

Hey FA readers! When we asked which fall flavor you loved more, pumpkins or apples, plenty of you said apples. So we tracked down an expert to answer your most common apple questions and to talk through newer varieties like Cosmic Crisp. What follows is the story of a young grower who carries generations of family history in one hand and a smartphone in the other.

Kaitlyn Jill Thornton is a fourth-generation apple farmer and a young entrepreneur who started her own fruit selling company, Kait’s Crates, at 15 years old. She used Facebook Marketplace to set up meet ups and sold crates of apples during her lunch breaks in high school. That let her keep her time tight, stay in school, and work toward a business degree.

Over the last few years, this self-proclaimed “Apple Girl” has built a following of nearly 350k on TikTok. At her meet ups, crates of apples sell out in minutes. An award-winning innovator in business technology, she studies marketing at Washington State University, where the popular Cosmic Crisp apple was first bred.

Read on for her story, her favorite apples, and the best pairings for baking, snacking, and sauce.

Finding Success and Making New Connections

One thing we love about Kait is that she carries decades of family wisdom into the next generation on purpose. She grew up in a little town called Tonasket, Washington, where there is not even a stoplight. Yet her knack for new technology, Facebook, and other social media has earned her more visibility than many city dwellers ever get. She shows how a grower can till the digital land while still picking apples by hand.

The key to Kait’s success is the heart-connection she makes with customers. She uses social media to put a face on her brand, and along the way she gets to know the people who buy from her.

She says, “Growing up, we would pick the fruit and send it off to the warehouse, but we never knew where it was actually going. But with social media, I can see where it ends up. I can see how happy it makes people. There is a lot of satisfaction there.”

What Makes Cosmic Crisp Different

The Cosmic Crisp shows up all through Kait’s answers below, so it is worth a quick word on where it came from. It is the first apple bred in Washington State, developed over about two decades by the tree fruit breeding program at Washington State University and released to shoppers in December 2019.

According to Washington State University’s tree fruit variety notes, the Cosmic Crisp is a cross between Honeycrisp and Enterprise. It gets the sweet, juicy crunch of one parent and the firmness and long storage of the other. Kept cold, it can hold its texture for months at home and up to a year in commercial cold storage, which is why Kait can still sell it deep into winter.

The name is a nod to the tiny pale flecks, called lenticels, that dot the deep red skin like stars across a night sky. It is a modern apple with an old-fashioned virtue: it keeps.

7 Questions For Kait

1) We heard that you are very popular among hunters. How did this start?

Yes. It is always hunting season when I have fresh apples. I have customers who travel from other states to grab a couple of boxes. This year I have an order of 8 boxes going to South Dakota.

Hunters love our apples because they are easy to pack, healthy, and refreshing, with no packaging to hold onto. And if they do not eat all the fruit on their trip, it will still last another month or so.

2) Is there a trick for making apples last longer?

Cold temperatures are best, but you do not want freezing. Many refrigerators have a compartment that lets you control humidity, and a low humidity setting works well. Apples can sit on the counter, but they will not last as long.

In the past, many Americans stored apples in root cellars, which held the right cool, steady conditions for keeping apples all winter long.

3) How does drought affect apple growing?

We live in an arid, desert climate, which is actually ideal for the fruit. We irrigate with mountain runoff and the river that runs through our valley.

It is important that we stay conscious of water use, since it is not as plentiful for us as it is in other parts of Washington. We are always looking at more efficient and sustainable irrigation because of that.

4) Besides the customer connection, why do you sell through Facebook Marketplace rather than farmer’s markets?

I used to go to farmer’s markets, but I found they were not worth my time. I would rather take all my orders, pack them in the morning, deliver during the day, and be done. Then I can focus on whatever else I need to do. Facebook handled a lot of that for me. My loyal customers could reshare a post, and I would be talking with them right away, so no order came in without a face attached to it.

In a rural area, Facebook groups get a lot of use. That model worked especially well for me before I had my own fruit stand.

5) What is next for you and your business?

I just planted peaches and nectarines, so we are expanding.

My parents started with 23 acres and built it into 440 acres, which is huge generational growth. We have had to build infrastructure, including standing structures to work on all of our equipment. We run semis and handle all of our own transportation.

As for my own business, I started out of our shop. It has no electricity. I would lift the doors open at night to let in the cold air, then close them so the apples would stay good. In the morning I would use my truck’s headlights to pack all my fruit. I would get up before school, pack the fruit, and deliver during lunch.

This past year we bought the warehouse my great grandpa built. It has a cold room I can use, and it sits right off the highway, so people can come pick up orders instead of always meeting me somewhere.

6) What are your plans for the rest of autumn and into winter in terms of what you are selling?

When we run out, we run out, but we typically have Cosmic Crisp through February.

7) If people are interested in buying your product, what is the best way to contact you to arrange a sale?

Right now my brother and I only offer local sales within 150 miles, though we plan to ship in the future when I can give it more time. People can follow along with the business and crop updates by following the Kait’s Crates page on Facebook.

How to Store Apples So They Last

Kait’s storage advice is the same rule good keepers have followed for generations: cold, but never frozen. Here is how to stretch a bag of apples from the orchard into a winter’s worth of snacking.

• Reach for the crisper drawer. Set it to low humidity and keep the fridge cold but above freezing. Apples like it right around 32 to 40 degrees.
• Keep them apart from other produce. Apples give off ethylene gas, which ripens and softens nearby fruits and vegetables. Store them on their own or in a separate drawer.
• Pull the bad ones early. One bruised or rotting apple speeds up the rest, so check the bag now and then and remove any that have turned.
• Borrow the old root cellar idea. A cool, dark basement or an unheated garage that stays above freezing works much like the root cellars earlier generations relied on.

A firm keeper like Cosmic Crisp or Fuji will reward you the most here. Softer varieties are best eaten within a few weeks.

Kait’s Favorite Apples and Best Uses For Them

Here are 5 ways to eat apples, with Kait’s variety pick for each.

Baking: Goldens are my base for baking and cooking. They have great texture and cook down well. I like to mix in another variety like Cosmic Crisp for a more complex flavor.

Raw eating: My go-to for raw eating is SugarBee, a sweet, juicy, crisp apple. I reach for Cosmic Crisp again when I want a little more acidity.

Cheese: Apples and cheese are a match made in heaven. For me, Pink Lady, also called Cripps Pink, is the perfect apple for any cheese, especially a sharp one. It is a tart apple, and a lot of people like to pair it with wine and cheese.

Apple chips: Honeycrisp. Thanks to their larger size and sweet-to-tart ratio, they are my pick for dehydrating. I sometimes add cinnamon, but they do not need anything else. Honeycrisp is a great all-around apple, and it really takes the cake for drying.

Applesauce: I love Fuji for this. Fuji is a consistent variety that does well for me and my customers when it comes to sauce. It stores well, gives you flexibility in how you make the sauce, and you really do not need to add sugar to it.

Fujis also hold less water than varieties like Honeycrisp, which can make applesauce trickier. I have a customer who gets copious amounts of Fujis from me every year to make sauce, because she and her husband are diabetic, and they swear by it.

What You Are Making	Kait’s Apple Pick
Pies and baking	Golden Delicious, with Cosmic Crisp mixed in
Eating out of hand	SugarBee, or Cosmic Crisp for more tang
Cheese and wine board	Pink Lady (Cripps Pink)
Dehydrated apple chips	Honeycrisp
Applesauce	Fuji

Thinking of Planting Your Own Apple Tree?

You do not need 440 acres to grow apples. A single tree in the backyard can keep a family in fruit for years, and the timing matters as much for a fruit tree as it does for a row of beans. Most bare-root apple trees go in during late winter or early spring while the tree is still dormant, once the ground can be worked.

Traditional Gardening by the Moon wisdom favors planting fruit trees in the light, or waxing, of the Moon. Our Gardening by the Moon Calendar lists this month’s Best Days to plant in your area, and our companion planting guide can help you decide what to tuck in nearby. If drought is a worry where you live, our long-range forecast can help you plan watering around the drier stretches.

A Final Thought

The next time you are in the apple aisle, we hope you think of Kait’s story and her practical advice. Pick up a variety you have never tried, make a note of how it tastes and how you like it, and tell us here. If you have any further questions, let us know in the comments below.

If you happen to live near Washington state, reach out and grab one of Kait’s crates while supplies last.

Share this article with a friend to help spread the word. Cheers to a sweet and crisp fall.

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Farmers’ Almanac (@farmersalmanac)

Join The Discussion

What is your favorite kind of apple? Do you have any questions about apples? Have you ever purchased one of Kait’s Crates? Let us know in the comments below.

Apples: Frequently Asked Questions

What are the best apples for baking?

Golden Delicious is a reliable base for pies and baking because it has good texture and cooks down well. Kait likes to mix in a more complex variety such as Cosmic Crisp for deeper flavor. Firm apples hold their shape better than soft ones once the heat is on.

What is a Cosmic Crisp apple?

Cosmic Crisp is the first apple bred in Washington State. Developed by the tree fruit program at Washington State University and released to shoppers in December 2019, it is a cross between Honeycrisp and Enterprise. It is prized for a firm, juicy crunch and unusually long storage life.

How do you make apples last longer?

Keep apples cold but not freezing, around 32 to 40 degrees, at low humidity. Store them apart from other produce, since apples give off ethylene gas that softens nearby fruits and vegetables. Remove any bruised or rotting apple early so it does not hurry the rest.

Which apple is best for applesauce?

Kait reaches for Fuji. It is sweet enough that you can skip added sugar, it stores well, and it holds less water than a variety like Honeycrisp, which keeps the sauce from turning thin. Fuji is also forgiving if you like to adjust the texture as you go.

How long does a Cosmic Crisp apple keep?

Cosmic Crisp is one of the longest-keeping apples on the market. Stored cold, it can hold its crunch for months at home and up to a year in commercial cold storage. That is why growers like Kait can still sell fresh Cosmic Crisp deep into winter, often through February.

Does drought hurt apple growing?

Apples actually do well in an arid, desert climate as long as there is water to irrigate. Growers in dry valleys often rely on mountain runoff and rivers, and they watch water use closely by moving to more efficient irrigation. Careful watering matters more than total rainfall.

Related

21 Apple Varieties

When Is The First Day Of Fall?