Live data from Hacker News

The Curse of the Honeycrisp Apple

bloomberg.com

1–10 of 106 posts

Re: The Curse of the Honeycrisp Apple

#2
So this article is about east coast orchards complaining that a plant that was bred to grow in Minnesota doesn't grow as well on the east coast? Well duh. As Karina Gallardo, an agricultural economist at Washington State University was quoted in the article saying “There’s a higher investment and production cost in places that are not Minnesota,” And yet it seems these orchard still make money off Honeycrisp so I'm not sure why this article was written in the first place.

Re: The Curse of the Honeycrisp Apple

#3
1. Pink Lady > Honeycrisp (though Honeycrisp is very good).

2. "The Honeycrisp variety is now so popular, consumers will spend three times the cost of other apples to experience it." Wow, I'm thankful I live in Oregon. Our local grocery store has about 10 varieties of apples on sale and Honeycrisp are usually no more expensive than other varieties.

Re: The Curse of the Honeycrisp Apple

#4

1. Pink Lady > Honeycrisp (though Honeycrisp is very good). 2. "The Honeycrisp variety is now so popular, consumers will spend three times the cost of other apples to experience it." Wow, I'm thankful I live in Oregon. Our local grocery store has about 10 varieties of apples on sale and Honeycrisp are usually no more expensive than other varieties.

Pink lady better than Honeycrisp? Pink lady's are okay but they are less sweet, not as crunchy and much more dense then a Honeycrisp. Also Honeycrisp are not that expensive if you buy them on sale, just got some for $1.85 a pound in Minneapolis.

Re: The Curse of the Honeycrisp Apple

#6

1. Pink Lady > Honeycrisp (though Honeycrisp is very good). 2. "The Honeycrisp variety is now so popular, consumers will spend three times the cost of other apples to experience it." Wow, I'm thankful I live in Oregon. Our local grocery store has about 10 varieties of apples on sale and Honeycrisp are usually no more expensive than other varieties.

Pink lady better than Honeycrisp? Pink lady's are okay but they are less sweet, not as crunchy and much more dense then a Honeycrisp. Also Honeycrisp are not that expensive if you buy them on sale, just got some for $1.85 a pound in Minneapolis.

$1.85 a pound in Minneapolis? Probably cheaper near you because they're grown closer to you.

I rarely see them for that cheap a cost in the bay area. I think I've seen them as low as maybe 2.20/lb but that's it.

Re: The Curse of the Honeycrisp Apple

#7
> at a certain point the consumer doesn’t want to buy an apple the size of a grapefruit

Um... yes I do. Is the Honeycrisp itself not sufficient proof that apple growers have had absolutely no clue about what consumers really wanted, for decades? In the same vein, where have all the honkin' big seeded watermelons gone? You remember those, back when they had big black seeds, and actual flavor? Don't blame the consumer for not wanting to buy things they can't find in the store any more. The truth is that the apple infrastructure cannot pick and ship fruit that size, so they refuse to try, and then they blame the consumer for their choices.

It bears repeating that the first Honeycrisp tree was thrown away, without anyone ever tasting the fruit. Even now, remedying that error has basically led to just one guy tasting all the apples, to the point where he has to use special toothpaste to save his teeth from the malic acid, and making the clone or cut decision based on that one bite.

> The demand for this one apple exceeds supply—it’s all consumers, and therefore supermarkets, want.

This is patently false. I frequently pass up Honeycrisp for other varieties (Fuji, Gala, Pink Lady), because the latter are $1.29/# and the former is something insane, like $3.59/# . I like Honeycrisp, but not three times more than other firm, tart apples. And I don't want Honeycrisp to be my only option for table fruit.

How often do we have to remind growers that monoculture is stupid? Stop cloning Honeycrisp everywhere just because it's a sure sale, and try out some new varieties. If it fails as a table variety, you can always make hard cider, or applejack, and sell it to Millennial hipsters.

Re: The Curse of the Honeycrisp Apple

#9
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pink lady better than Honeycrisp? Pink lady's are okay but they are less sweet, not as crunchy and much more dense then a Honeycrisp. Also Honeycrisp are not that expensive if you buy them on sale, just got some for $1.85 a pound in Minneapolis.

$1.85 a pound in Minneapolis? Probably cheaper near you because they're grown closer to you. I rarely see them for that cheap a cost in the bay area. I think I've seen them as low as maybe 2.20/lb but that's it.

$2.20 is not a bad price for Honeycrisp, If I saw that price and the apples looked good I would buy a bunch. They seem to come in two prices in Minneapolis just under $4 dollars a pound or just under $2 a pound, depending on the season and if they are on sale or not.

Re: The Curse of the Honeycrisp Apple

#10

1. Pink Lady > Honeycrisp (though Honeycrisp is very good). 2. "The Honeycrisp variety is now so popular, consumers will spend three times the cost of other apples to experience it." Wow, I'm thankful I live in Oregon. Our local grocery store has about 10 varieties of apples on sale and Honeycrisp are usually no more expensive than other varieties.

Lady Alice > every other apple.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Alice_(apple)

Post reply on HN