—by Matt Milkovich
The University of Minnesota’s apple breeding program released its 29th apple last fall.
MN33, branded as Kudos, is a cross of two Minnesota-bred apples, Honeycrisp and Minnewashta (marketed as Zestar!), making it a sibling of Minneiska (marketed as SweeTango).
UMN apple breeder David Bedford compared the quality of Kudos, an open release, to the quality of SweeTango, a managed variety released in 2006.
“This is the everyman’s version of SweeTango,” he said. “They’re different apples, but of the same caliber.”
Kudos has Honeycrisp’s “crisp, juicy, breaking texture,” Bedford said, but what really set it apart is its flavor: sweet and well-balanced with “tropical overtones.”
“It reminds me of Hawaiian Punch,” he said. “It’s like having a crunchy, juicy, tropical party in your mouth.”
Kudos is available to all apple growers but will probably gain the most traction with direct-market orchards. New varieties can struggle to penetrate the wholesale market without a strong marketing campaign, so they decided it was better to “send this one out through the grassroots,” Bedford said.
They chose the name “Kudos” because it’s pronounceable, recognizable and positive, but “most importantly, it passed the trademark muster,” he said.
Kudos also inherited Honeycrisp’s scab resistance. The fruit ripens in late September, slightly later than Honeycrisp, and can last up to five months in standard storage. It consistently achieves a nice red color, Bedford said. Kudos is hardy to U.S Department of Agriculture Plant Hardiness Zone 4 and can also grow in Zone 3. Trees have survived minus 35 degrees Fahrenheit in northern Minnesota. The trees have medium to high vigor with a spreading form.
The tree “seems to self-thin,” he said, rarely requiring hand or chemical thinning, and it has proven a consistent annual producer. Fruit hangs on the tree well and can be harvested in one or two picks.
“One consequence of the bright red coloration and juicy texture is that birds are sometimes attracted to it,” Bedford said. “Everyone seems to love it, even in the animal world.”
In Appleton, New York, growers Jill MacKenzie and Mark Russell trialed 10 Kudos trees on Budagovsky 9 rootstock for nearly a decade. MacKenzie said the tree is “remarkably well-behaved” and “grows perfectly.”
Fruit size, crop size and red coloring are “exactly the same every single year,” she said, but the crop load is too light and the fruit too big for their wholesale orchard’s target markets.
Russell said Kudos self-thins down to single fruitlets, managing its own crop load without much input from the grower. The apples are big, almost always larger than 3 inches in diameter, and never fall off the tree.
“It’s an absolutely perfect candidate for a direct market or U-pick operation,” he said.
To learn more, visit: mnhardy.umn.edu/kudos. •
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