New apple variety Snowflake, bred in Canada, has rosy-red skin and white, snowflake-like lenticels. Its white flesh is juicy, crisp and sweet with a hint of tartness. (Courtesy Marketing Partners)
New apple variety Snowflake, bred in Canada, has rosy-red skin and white, snowflake-like lenticels. Its white flesh is juicy, crisp and sweet with a hint of tartness. (Courtesy Marketing Partners)

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s tree fruit breeding program has partnered with Canada’s largest apple grower, Algoma Orchards in Ontario, to release a new apple variety.

Branded as Snowflake, the new apple has rosy-red skin and white, snowflake-like lenticels. Its white flesh is juicy, crisp and sweet with a hint of tartness. It has excellent storage attributes, according to an announcement.

Algoma Orchards has exclusive rights to grow and market the new variety in Canada. The company has given licenses to six other Canadian growers to grow Snowflake apples, said Algoma president Kirk Kemp. 

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, which developed the Snowflake, has been breeding apples for the Canadian fruit industry since 1924. At AAFC’s Summerland Research and Development Centre in British Columbia, researchers annually sort through 30,000 distinct apple varieties. Apples are subjected to a long and intense regimen of countrywide testing and analysis before the best fruit is chosen for release. 

Led by the Kemp family, Algoma Orchards has been tending apples in Ontario since the 1800s. They sort and pack their fruit in a state-of-the-art packing facility outside of Newcastle, Ontario. 

—by Matt Milkovich