Next Big Thing’s last big thing was the SweeTango apple. Now, it appears, its next big thing will be apples with red flesh.
The Minnesota-based Next Big Thing cooperative has joined with 12 other fruit marketers from 11 countries and five continents in a global consortium called IFORED. The goal is to bring red-fleshed apples to market within five years. IFORED was coined from the acronym of International Fruit Obtention, the French-based company formed in 2004 to breed for red flesh in apples, and the word red.
Tim Byrne, president of Next Big Thing, said IFORED was created in October, when the fruit marketers met at the IFO headquarters in Angers, France. The consortium will test, select, and commercialize red-fleshed apple varieties. Byrne said a few Next Big Thing grower members across the United States and eastern Canada will plant red-fleshed apple selections this spring. “In the next two years, three or four growers will plant 10 to 15 red-flesh selections, looking for those that have commercial potential,” he said.
IFO was created in 2004 when two large French nursery companies combined their assets and began breeding for apples with unique traits, including red flesh, but also emphasizing disease resistance and fruit quality traits. The company has 50 acres devoted to apple breeding.
Next Big Thing was formed in 2006 to grow and market a new apple from the University of Minnesota’s breeding program. Rights to the apple, MN 1914 and named Minneiska by the university, were licensed to Pepin Heights Orchards, which named the new apple SweeTango and fostered creation of the cooperative.
Next Big Thing consists of 45 growers from across the northern United States and 19 growers in Quebec and Nova Scotia, Canada. It began selling SweeTango apples in small quantities in the fall of 2009. Production was hurt this year by freezes across the Midwest, but the crop was fair in the Northeast and good in eastern Canada and in Washington State, Byrne said.
In a press release announcing IFORED, Bruno Essner, president of the board, said, “We see tremendous potential for red-flesh apples. We have put together a marvelous group of experienced growers and marketers from across the world to harness this potential and to bring distinct apple varieties to market.”
Global
“There is a lot of horsepower here,” Byrne said. The new organization creates a global company. Together, IFORED partners own or control about 100,000 acres of apple orchards. They produce 2 million metric tons of apples per year, and market about 2.5 million metric tons of apples annually.
“IFORED is truly global in scope,” Essner said. “The IFORED partners will bring together deep experience and remarkable market reach as we introduce these exciting red-flesh varieties to consumers across the world.”
Byrne said not only color is involved. “There are real opportunities, not only in visual appearance but in flavors and tastes as well,” he said. “There are a lot of flavors that occur in apples that are not currently encountered in our commercial varieties, flavors like citrus and strawberry. There may be health benefits as well, as the red color is associated with antioxidants.”
The varieties under development have flesh that ranges from about 30 percent pink to 100 percent fully intense red, Byrne said, and skin colors include red, orange, yellow, and bicolored.
One apple, which looks like a Golden Delicious outside and a pink grapefruit inside, “ate like a million bucks,” Byrne said, after he tried it.
Flavors in the varieties range from sweet to very tangy, and harvest times range from as early as Gala to as late as Cripps Pink.
IFORED marketers are getting trees ready for planting and will begin commercial production in the next few years. After 20 years of breeding, these third- and fourth-generation selections have been specially bred for reduced astringency, larger size, increased sugar content, more uniform appearance, and improved internal quality, storage, and shelf life, according to IFORED.
In addition to IFO, the partners in IFORED include Montague from Australia, Mono Azul from Argentina, Unifrutti from Chile, Dutoit from South Africa, AMG and Blue Whale from France, Fenaco from Switzerland, NovaMela from Italy, Nufri from Spain, Worldwide Fruit from the United Kingdom, and Next Big Thing from the United States.
Hello,
Are there red-fleshed apples on the market today?
If not yet currently, when might this happen.
I am a college student have decided to write a paper on apples and one point is discussing the future of apples. I am seeking to acquire any further knowledge on red- fleshed apples.
Regards,
Mary
Where can buy or order the French RED Flesh Apples.
I don’t know about the French Red apples but I do know that in Oregon they grow what is called the Mountain Rose that is Red fleshed but it’s more tart than sweet.
I am looking to buy red fresh apples. where can I buy them
Gail, I’d recommend looking at farmers markets or u-pick farms first when apples are in season. In general I’ve found these type of apples are considered a specialty crop and are typically found at smaller farm/markets, not larger groceries.
I have a lot of wild apples growing on all my line fences, about every 3 feet. Many of the wild apples are recognizable as offspring from some trees in my two orchards, others are a total surprise. I do have a mystery Apple in my orchard, it’s skin is deep Burgundy with red edging or streaks in the fleas later in its maturity. It was sold to me many years ago as an Alexander, but obviously is not. The surprise this fall was a small candy apple red fruit on a wild tree, it is much larger then crabapple, and very sweet and tasty. The flesh is the same color as the skin, a brilliant candy apple red, all the way through. I have marked the tree to care for it as I have several other wild apples and will graft it in the spring.
If possible, take some cuttings and send them to Steven Edholm in California. He is a passionate citizen grower on YouTube that has made some real headway in red fleshed apples over the last ten years. Contact him on his website http://www.Skillcult.com for more information. Tell him Patrick from Northern Kentucky sent you, I appreciate it. Thank you.
Would it grow in texas…I would love to try growing some. I love johnathan apples for apple pie but I cant find them anymore.
I am fairly new to apple growing issues, but couldn’t organizations like yours also cultivate apples specially geared to local farmer’s markets that don’t prioritize shelf-life, high sugar content, uniformity for large-scale commercial sales, but instead for nutritional value, flavor, and disease resistance with global warming (and no chemical treatment so the skin is eaten)??? This is the future potential alongside apples shipping all over the world, and a means of preserving or resurrecting the wonderful heritage fruit once developed that could be lost. Discarding the skin of apples means losing a valuable antioxidant against cancer. And who among us has not experienced cancer or had a relative lost to cancer?
Just ate what I thought was a Rome Beauty picked up off the ground in an orchard in western NC. I was surprised to discover it was quite sweet, more that normal, and it had mostly bright to deep red flesh, probably 75 to 80% of the apple. Don’t know if this is a test orchard or what, but if they store well, someone has a winner.
Washington has two varieties: the Lucy Glo and Lucy Rose, both are super edible. One a bit more tart than the other but both very good eating