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Honeycrisp apples went from marvel to mediocre

An investigation into the Honeycrisp apple and how a complex string of events led to a decline in the quality of a beloved apple variety.

It was a chilly Saturday morning in October, and at my local grocery store, shoppers were browsing the apple selection: piles of Gala, Pink Lady, Golden Delicious, Fuji, Snapdragon, and Honeycrisp beckoned. I couldn’t recall the last time I ate an apple for pleasure, on its own—not in my hand as a grab-and-go breakfast as I rushed out of the house, not sliced up and slathered with nut butter, and not peeled, cored, chopped, and baked into a pie. Growers in Washington never intended to sell their tidy little Honeycrisp crop at local markets during its short season—they wanted to supply the apples year-round, and in large enough quantities to stock supermarket shelves across the country in order to make some serious money.

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