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    Home » Apples » Everything You Need to Know About Cosmic Crisp Apples

    Everything You Need to Know About Cosmic Crisp Apples

    Published: Aug 28, 2024 by Eric Samuelson

    The apple, called #AppleofBigDreams with Infinite Possibilities, has taken the produce world by storm unlike any other apple since Honeycrisp. Learn about this new Washington grown Honeycrisp cross and why it may be coming to knock Honeycrisp off its perch.

    This blog post has been updated in 2024 to show how things have changed since I first wrote it back in 2019.

    Hype can be a powerful tool.

    It gets people excited and wanting to have badly whatever is being hyped.

    Out of all the new apple varieties that have been released in the last 10 years, and there has been a lot of them, none have had the hype behind them as great as Cosmic Crisp. A real life astronaut has been involved with promoting them!

    Does the Cosmic Crisp live up to the hype or will it soon be afterthought?

    🍎 Why You'll Love This Apple

    • It has the crispiness you expect from an apple related to Honeycrisp
    • The sweet & tart flavor will satisfy everyone in your family.
    • Cosmic Crisp is available year round at most grocery stores for a fantastic price, often cheaper than Honeycrisp.
    Jump to:
    • 🍎 Why You'll Love This Apple
    • 🚜 Where Did Cosmic Crisp Come From?
    • 👅 What are Cosmic Crisp Apples Like?
    • ⭐ Why Is It Called Cosmic Crisp?
    • 💲 How Much Do They Cost?
    • 🛒 Where to Buy Cosmic Crisp
    • 📅 How Long Do They Last?
    • 🥗 Are They Good for Salads?
    • 🎧 Podcast Episode - The Children of the Honeycrisp
    • 🕵️ Watch for These Apples in the Store

    🚜 Where Did Cosmic Crisp Come From?

    Cosmic Crisp began it's life as WA38 in 1997 at Washington State University. A Honeycrisp apple was crossed with an Enterprise apple. We all know what Honeycrisp is like, but you probably haven't heard of Enterprise. I have had it a few times. It's an apple when fresh off the tree is pretty acidic but mellows out in cold storage. It also stores for a long time in cold storage, a good characteristic you would want to see passed on to future generations of apples!

    New apples don't arrive in stores that fast! It's not uncommon for it to take 20 years or more after an apple is created for it to show up in your grocery store. It takes a lot of time and energy and of course money. Even if the apple tastes good, is it going to produce a consistent crop for the grower? Are the apples going to be hard or easy to harvest? So much goes into this and the grower doesn't make any money on it while this slow process is taking place.

    Once an apple is deemed viable for the market place, it takes time for the trees to be planted and production to start. Once you have enough apples, how is the public going to respond? Are the stores going to buy into the variety?

    Since I originally had my first Cosmic Crisp in 2019, the growth of the apple has exploded. While it was hard to find those first couple of years, we have known gotten to a place where they are available year round. Enough trees have been planted and have reached maturity to produce enough apples.

    In 2023, Cosmic Crisp has entered the top 10 in most sold apples. That's an incredible achievement in the amount of time they have been out. Hats off to everyone involved!

    Cosmic Crisp apples up close

    👅 What are Cosmic Crisp Apples Like?

    I celebrated my birthday in 2019 with trying my first ever Cosmic Crisp apple. The experience is what I expected, but that's not a bad thing.

    The apple is certainly crisp. In a way I like better than Honeycrisp. I find I get sick of chewing the Honeycrisp which I think are crisp to a fault, but that's my opinion.

    The apple is both sweet and tart with the scale ever so slightly to the tart side. It's not overly sweet like an Ambrosia apple, but sweeter than a Pink Lady apple.

    The actual flavor of the apple is good. I have to say that I have grown to like them more as time goes on. As the trees mature, the quality of the fruit they produce can go up as well. I can say I have for sure seen that as time has gone on as the flavor has gotten more consistent. In the first couple years, I had some Cosmic Crisp that were kind of bland but that doesn't happen anymore really.

    As far as modern apples go, this one has great flavor. My own personal preference is the flavor in a lot of the older style, heirloom apples with really rich and sharp flavors, which you don't see in grocery stores.

    If I am given a choice between Honeycrisp and Cosmic Crisp, my pick will always be Cosmic Crisp. Hear about another apple that I prefer over Honeycrisp that is related to it as well.

    👨‍👧‍👧 A family favorite - My two oldest daughters are my apple lovers, and tend to like completely different apples, with one preferring sweet apples and one preferring tart apples. I can buy Cosmic Crisp and they both will eat and enjoy the apple. That's a winner in my book for sure! As I was updating this post my daugther told me how much she loves "slicing up Cosmic Crisp along with some sharp cheddar cheese and reading a book in the afternoons!"

    Cosmic Crisp apples on a space ship toy

    ⭐ Why Is It Called Cosmic Crisp?

    The little dots on the skin of the apple resemble stars in the sky. You see that on it's parent Enterprise as well. The crisp part is, well, because it's a crisp apple related to the Honeycrisp. People are really attracted to crisp apples. It was probably the number 1 question I got about any apple when I worked at Whole Foods Market.

    Does the Color Matter? Do the darker colored apples have a better flavor? Does it matter at all? I wrote about a taste test I did for my What Apple to Eat Today Substack newsletter last winter.

    💲 How Much Do They Cost?

    Here is a picture of the first display of Cosmic Crisp I ever saw. It was at Holiday Market in Canton, Michigan in December 2019.

    Cosmic Crisp apples at Holiday Market in Canton, Michigan

    Let's just say I only got a few to try that day because as a food blogger, I needed to!!!

    Since then, prices have come down quite a bit. $1.99 a pound is what I am personally seeing the most, but I have seen even cheaper. Here is a sale from this past winter in a Smith's (Kroger) store as their Weekly Digital Deal.

    Winco Foods had them for the everyday price of 99 cents a pound while their Honeycrisp were more. ALDI has been a great place to get them as well. At this point I really don't think price is a reason to pass Cosmic Crisp by.

    🛒 Where to Buy Cosmic Crisp

    With the availability of Cosmic Crisp nowadays there really isn't a point in having a list anymore. They are in pretty much in every major and minor grocery store chain. I haven't been to one lately where I didn't seen them.

    🏅 My favorite places to buy Cosmic Crisp are Winco, Costco, ALDI, and any Kroger brand store.

    I had this list up when I first wrote this blog post so I thought I would still keep it up just in case people still want to know where to get them.

    StoreLocations
    AJ's Fine FoodsArizona
    Albertsons'sID
    ALDIAll locations
    Big YMA, CT
    Community Food Co-OpWA
    CostcoAll locations
    Delicous OrchardsNJ
    Deromo'sFL
    Fresh MarketVarious
    Fred MeyerOR, WA, ID
    Galati Market FreshCanada
    Gelson'sCA
    Good Fds Co-opKY
    Grocery OutletWA
    HaggenWA
    Harmon'sUT
    H-E-BTX
    Holiday MarketMI
    Hollywood MarketsMI
    Hy-VeeIL, IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, SD, WI
    Jewel OscoIL
    KrogerAll locations
    King SoopersCO
    Kings SupermarketsNY, NJ, CT
    Kowalski'sMN
    Market DistrictOH
    Metropolitan MarketWA
    New Seasons MarketOR
    Nugget MarketsCA
    Payless Food StoreWA
    Plum MarketMI
    PublixFL, TN
    QFCOR, WA
    Ream'sUT
    RosauersWA
    SafewayAll locations
    Sam's ClubAll locations
    Schnuck MarketsMO
    Shoprite Select lcations
    SproutsAll locations
    Trader Joe'sAll locations
    The Market at EdgewoodCA
    Whole FoodsAll locations
    Yoke's Fresh MarketWA
    Zupan's MarketsOR

    📅 How Long Do They Last?

    This is the beauty of the Cosmic Crisp apple. It lasts and lasts and lasts. That is why it has become a year round variety because it does so well in cold storage.

    Storing them in the fridge is the best option. But if you are short on space and eat through them in a reasonable amount of time, you can get by with storing them outside the fridge.

    In our camper we have a drawer underneath our cabinet that we store fruit in. I have put Cosmic Crisp in that drawer many times and have never had an issue with any of them going bad or even getting soft.

    I do have to say that I prefer the flavor of an apple at room temperature, so it's not a bad idea to pull them out and let them come up to temperature before eating, but certainly not necessary. Some people like a cold apple with that crisp, cold juice entering their mouths at each bite.

    Honeycrisp apples are available year round as well. But I have had a lot of people complain about the quality of them as we get into the winter and into early spring. Flavor wise they just don't hold that flavor well in cold storage.

    Honeycrisp also tend to get black spots on them, which is called bitter pit. Some apples that go into storage to be sold later end up bad before they make it to the store. I think this is one of the reasons why all these new apples are coming out because Honeycrisp is really a pain in the butt in so many ways!

    Learn more on why I think Cosmic Crisp has a good chance to surpass Honeycrisp as the most popular apple variety.

    🥗 Are They Good for Salads?

    Cosmic Crisp is an absolutely great apple to use in a salad. It resists browning so it won't look off when you slice it up to put on top of a salad. While browning doesn't mean the apple is bad and you can't eat it, it's unattractive and throws people off.

    🎧 Podcast Episode - The Children of the Honeycrisp

    Listen to me talk about the different types of apples that have been made by crossing another apple with a Honeycrisp by clicking the play button below.

    Listen to more episodes of the Eat Shop Waste Not podcast

    🕵️ Watch for These Apples in the Store

    Here are some of my favorite apples to watch for in your local grocery store:

    • Lady Alice
    • Lucy Glo
    • Lucy Rose
    • Sugar Bee
    • SnapDragon
    • EverCrisp

    Have you tried this apple? What did you think? Leave a comment below telling us. Be a helper and share where you found it. You may make someone's day with your insider info on where to get them! If you are a true apple lover, you'll want to check out all of our apple reviews.

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Rebecca H Martin

      August 10, 2020 at 2:44 pm

      LOVE this apple. Found in VA

    2. Rebecca H Martin

      October 03, 2020 at 9:28 am

      Been waiting all year to get the cosmic apple.

    3. Caryn baker

      October 12, 2020 at 4:41 pm

      Wish I could find some of these in north carolina

    4. Eric Samuelson

      October 13, 2020 at 3:17 pm

      Start checking for them in late November/early December.

    5. Wendy Lumbert

      October 16, 2020 at 1:15 pm

      Tasted my first Cosmic Crisp Apple months ago in Walmart & haven’t seen any since. Hope they come somewhere near us again soon. LOVE THEM
      Skowhegan,Maine

    6. Eric Samuelson

      October 16, 2020 at 2:24 pm

      They will be shipping out to stores near the end of November, so look for them at Walmart in December.

    7. Jody L Troutman

      January 08, 2021 at 9:32 pm

      Love this apple found in Kannapolis NC food lion

    8. Eric Samuelson

      January 12, 2021 at 11:21 am

      Thanks for sharing, Jody!

    9. Susan Ziegler

      March 31, 2021 at 12:43 pm

      Just ate my first Cosmic crisp apple and I can't wait to find more since my friend gave me the one I ate... it was delightful and lives up to its name! Costco Illinois

    10. Eric Samuelson

      March 31, 2021 at 2:36 pm

      Thanks for sharing Susan!

    11. Shelley

      October 25, 2021 at 11:23 am

      I live in western WA and discovered this Apple last season. I can’t wait to get them in 2021! I will have to find out if I can drive up and pick some or get them earlier than the stores.

    12. rick grossman

      July 25, 2022 at 3:48 pm

      Love the apple, but the skin leaves something to be desired. The skin reminds me more of a MacIntosh, which I don't care for. Pink Lady has a better skin. I don't know how to describe the differences.

    13. Edith E Seaton

      August 24, 2022 at 11:32 am

      I tried the cosmic crisp apple for the first time today and it is such a delicious apple and is my new favorite apple. It's very juicy, crisp, sweet and not tooooooooooooo tart. Many apples are too tart for my taste. This is a great apple. I found it at Food King grocery store in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I am so happy to find such a perfect apple for my taste. Thank you to the people who created it. Keep up the good work.

    14. Eric Samuelson

      August 25, 2022 at 9:34 am

      Thanks so much for sharing.

    15. Deborah Wood

      January 17, 2023 at 2:55 pm

      I have been eating a lot of apples trying to find perfection. I finally found it! The cosmic crisp is perfection. It’s perfect. It’s everything an Apple should be. Hopefully they will remain in stock in my area.

    16. Eric Samuelson

      January 18, 2023 at 5:30 pm

      Glad you found the Cosmic Crisp and you are loving it.

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    Nice to Meet You,

    Hi! I'm Eric : Father of 4, living just south of Ann Arbor, MI. I'm a reformed picky eater finding a new way to not conform. Eating what's in season is my jam (I also make it!)

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