alt.hn

3/6/2026 at 5:46:28 AM

A basket of new fruit varieties is coming your way

 https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2026/03/04/a-basket-of-new-fruit-varieties-is-coming-your-way

by vinni2

3/8/2026 at 6:54:16 PM

I wish they'd sell old varieties of apples. The new ones all insist of having Red Delicious (so called) as part of the genetic makeup. It does not impart a good flavor. There are all these nice old ones, like Cortland and Winesap, but you can't get them anywhere.

by prewett

3/8/2026 at 9:31:29 PM

In Sweden and I think Europe, there seems to be quite much product development in apples. I think one of the reasons is that storage seems to have been more or less perfected so that the produce can be sold over almost a whole year.

Using only traditional methods there are several "new" Swedish varieties, Aroma, Frida and Saga that are very nice - and especially Saga is absolutely fantastic - On par or better that international varieties Jazz, Pink Lady and Honeycrisp.

Some of the more traditional varieties are also sold more and for a longer period because of the improved storage, even though that I think they have a shorter storage window.

by kpil

3/9/2026 at 2:59:18 PM

Another reason I think is that not all of these varieties thrive as small trees, and most factory farmed trees are kept small because it makes picking them easier.

by jaapz

3/8/2026 at 6:59:34 PM

I love Boskoop, and they are thankfully still all over German supermarkets. If not, Holstein Cox will do, and if they have it, Elstar.

The real good ones, like Berlepsch, are hard to find here, though, unless you travel to a plantation.

by Tomte

3/9/2026 at 9:11:47 AM

Also love Boskoop, but I feel like they can be more difficult to find than other Apples in German supermarkets.

Any other Apple variety just feels not nearly as juice and regularly too sweet for my taste - especially when you want to use them for baking.

by FinnKuhn

3/8/2026 at 8:37:13 PM

+1 on Boskoop. But also Cox Orange and James Grief

by black_puppydog

3/8/2026 at 9:11:05 PM

There's an apple orchard that sells at the farmers market in my city with >40 seasonal varieties, most of which you'd never see at a supermarket. Apples grow well in a lot of the US, its worth looking for local options

by ac29

3/8/2026 at 9:34:45 PM

I always feel personally attacked when people bad-mouth (ha) the Red Delicious. It's true that many are this mealy disaster -- but I think that's a product of crappy long cellar times and trying to get money for 'old' apples. If you get a good fresh one, it should be the right level of tart, sweet, crisp, and juicy. And when they are good, they are probably my favorite. It's just so damn hard to get the good ones and no great ways to tell if they're good before biting in.

by whycome

3/8/2026 at 10:15:15 PM

I've picked them straight from the tree and they still end up a mealy disaster. But hey, maybe I'm just bad at picking 'em.

by SauntSolaire

3/8/2026 at 11:22:58 PM

They’ve long since been overbred to look pretty at the price of texture. They’ve done the same to Macintosh, too.

by apothegm

3/9/2026 at 1:03:42 AM

That makes sense, they were by far the prettiest apples at the orchard near me. Of course that just makes it all the more disappointing when you go to eat one.

by SauntSolaire

3/9/2026 at 2:32:21 AM

Oddly enough, the same exact thing has happened to Macintosh computers...

by simulator5g

3/8/2026 at 11:15:43 PM

Because golden delicious and red delicious were everywhere in the 90's and spontaneous hybridization is a very, very low success rate.

Ambrosia apples appear to be a spontaneous cross of grandchildren of Golden and Red delicious apples.

by hinkley

3/8/2026 at 8:35:45 PM

I’d like to see a citation - I’m not sure this Red Delicious assertion is true.

by grosswait

3/8/2026 at 8:16:43 PM

Cosmic crisp seems very commonly available(at least, here in colorado) and has a great taste and texture with no red delicious genes present

by IncreasePosts

3/9/2026 at 7:13:18 AM

Honeycrisp is still a grandchild of golden delicious, though as it turns out not the one the university intended. They claimed it was Macoun and Honeygold but it was a different one of their test experiments after genetic testing.

by hinkley

3/9/2026 at 2:25:45 PM

Yes, I think both enterprise and honey crisp partially descend from golden delicious, but golden and red delicious are not actually closely related

by IncreasePosts

3/9/2026 at 8:24:45 PM

The implication was that red delicious are kind of garbage and definitely pedestrian and it’s the same company that introduced both to the world. So I’m lumping them into the same boat on general principle. As an adult I won’t touch red delicious but I will once in a while eat a golden.

But the thing is that apples the size for eating are all tetraploid mutants, but meiosis does not guarantee that the pollinated flower receives 2 full sets of genes from both parents. So you get a lot of giant grab apples which are okay for cider or a pectin source for making jam but that’s about it. Most of the modern crosses are coming from one or two ag universities running giant breeding programs.

They say that you need about a thousand (or was it 10,000?) saplings to yield one interesting specimen. Mark Shepard has a sort of yolo mentality here does wild crosse and grows what he can, which is only in the hundreds, and culls any trees that struggle, because he doesn’t want to throw good time after bad. And sells his surplus for root stock. His thought is that if enough farmers do it then one of them will win the lottery. He likes to diversify and hedge his bets.

by hinkley

3/8/2026 at 8:46:48 PM

Depends on where you are maybe? Cortland is still readily available here (Quebec). Hope it stays that way, I'm feeling slightly worried. Seems like the trend of trademarked new apple varieties has not quite caught up here yet as orchards are not interested in replacing tried and true stocks.

by smashed

3/8/2026 at 9:24:04 PM

Yeah, I think my neighbor has a few Cortland trees in New England. Lots of Mcintoshes which aren't great for cooking but generally good for eating. Apples are probably about the last thing I'd say you couldn't get varieties of.

by ghaff

3/8/2026 at 7:53:48 PM

Not if you have a local amish plug

by simojo

3/8/2026 at 7:31:30 PM

Have you ever even Honey-Crisped, Bro?

by dodger-dog

3/6/2026 at 6:34:27 AM

The improvements in fruit over the years has improved my quality of life so much. If you have never tried a sumo citrus, I recommend it -- they are only in season till April iirc.

Benefits of sumo citrus: Easy to peel Pith does not remain attached to orange Super juicy Excellent taste and texture, balanced acid and sugar levels.

https://archive.is/wBogT

by Cider9986

3/9/2026 at 2:05:34 PM

Similarly, the Tango variety is becoming more commercially available. It has a zipper peel, seedless, and outstanding flavor. It's usually marketed as "Mandarin", though. You kind of have to know what it looks like to be able to tell what's a clementine or not.

Others to watch out for are Gold Nugget (my favorite, but I very rarely see them at the store), and I also saw Kishu at the grocery store for the first time this year.

by bitshiftfaced

3/8/2026 at 8:45:27 PM

Funny enough I was eating a Sumo as I came across your comment. They are certainly very tasty, but for the price (which is high at least here in Ohio) I much prefer the tartness of a traditional in-season California satsuma.

by fanatic2pope

3/8/2026 at 9:49:31 PM

All the California satsumas I can find here in California have all converged on the dekopon/Sumo taste and form. It’s confusing because the satsumas on Google images are still mostly the round ones without the bumps.

The prices vary wildly. At the end of the season I can find them in some ethnic grocers for $0.33 a pound while right now they’re $1.50-2 a pound. When they were first coming out years ago they were $4 a piece at Trader Joes.

by throwup238

3/9/2026 at 2:09:32 PM

There are dekopon trees that give fruit with the bump and without the bump. You may be finding the ones without the bump. But satsumas have a different enough flavor that you should be able to tell. Also, satsumas are smaller, more oblong, and tend to have a thinner skin.

by bitshiftfaced

3/8/2026 at 11:11:04 PM

Japan does have the bumpy ones. Clementines tend to be more thin-skinned.

by hinkley

3/8/2026 at 11:10:13 PM

I highly recommend trying a cold Sumo. Refrigerated sumos are a bit of an aranciata vibe.

Sumos are bright and brightly flavored fruit often have a better experience when chilled.

by hinkley

3/9/2026 at 2:11:12 PM

It depends on the season, but they tend to have too much acid at first. Leaving them in the fridge reduces the acid over time improves the flavor profile. But really you should refrigerate all citrus.

by bitshiftfaced

3/9/2026 at 8:30:47 PM

Nah. Mandarins I prefer at room temperature. But I refrigerate apples because I like the crunch.

by hinkley

3/8/2026 at 7:18:06 PM

It is always a good time of year then they come along. I have had WAY too many of them but thats not going to stop me from having many more.

by HerbManic

3/8/2026 at 11:13:41 PM

Like sumo, but love minneola!

by waldothedog

3/8/2026 at 6:53:46 PM

I love fruits and vegetables, and am excited about this! That said, I do worry long-term about changes to increase sugar content. Sure it’s delicious, but I think it’s almost strictly worse for me. If only the high-sugar items sell, it will become harder to find low-sugar items. Not to mention the amount of self-control that will be required.

by pinkmuffinere

3/8/2026 at 10:50:11 PM

One thing I love about low-sugar citrus is the ability for it to not spike my sugar levels.

I use Miracle Fruit extract which alters the taste buds temporarily to turn sour flavors into sweet flavors. I can eat an entire lime and it tastes like sweet candy, with no real sugar content. No artificial sweetening either.

by leptons

3/9/2026 at 12:06:50 AM

I worry for your enamel.

by vscode-rest

3/9/2026 at 6:16:28 PM

It's not like I'm eating a lime every hour, or every day. It's just an example.

by leptons

3/8/2026 at 7:00:07 PM

Faced with a full-length pop-up saying they care about my privacy just made me think, "if you cared about my privacy, you wouldn't track me and therefore wouldn't need ny consent for anything"

by passwordoops

3/8/2026 at 9:25:51 PM

They bury the "Reject" button behind two clicks too.

by Cpoll

3/8/2026 at 9:41:36 PM

one thing I don't like about fruits nowadays is that they're too sweet, I don't remember grape being so sweets when I was younger for example, it's like eating sugary water.

by deepriverfish

3/8/2026 at 9:49:30 PM

They're a disaster. I have had to stop eating bananas and grapes for this reason. Also, taking the seeds out of grapes makes them much less healthy.

by OutOfHere

3/9/2026 at 2:20:37 AM

I thought bananas have been the same variety for a very long time now?

by jemmyw

3/8/2026 at 10:35:02 PM

have you had those cotton candy grapes?

by liveoneggs

3/9/2026 at 4:07:41 AM

no, but judging by the name I take they're super sweet?

by deepriverfish

3/9/2026 at 7:07:48 PM

They taste like cotton candy. It's the ultimate "wtf is going on with grapes?!" grape

by liveoneggs

3/9/2026 at 2:15:54 PM

I have no doubt that blackberries will go this direction because it's annoying to get seeds stuck in your teeth. On the other hand, compare the fiber of blackberries (8g in one cup) to modern grapes (1g in one cup).

by bitshiftfaced

3/9/2026 at 7:23:12 AM

New cultivars are kinda screwing up classic canning recipes because a common change is more neutral pH, which makes them more susceptible to decay organisms.

Honeycrisps and red Fuji are pretty high.

by hinkley

3/8/2026 at 11:16:54 PM

Label the fruit as a gmo and the market for them collapses. Which is why we're not allowed to have clear stickers at the store.

by rngfnby

3/8/2026 at 6:56:02 PM

I don't really care if my food is GMO as much as I worry about nutrient content being reduced to cut costs.

What is the incentive here?

I don't want to live in a world where fruit is bastardized into candy, meat is missing amino acids in the protein, and everyone has fucking diabetes as a result and dies at 40.

We don't even need gene editing to have seen this game played before. It happened throughout the previous century. Look at the history of iceberg lettuce and other watery slop like cheap tomatoes.

by sublinear

3/8/2026 at 9:42:19 PM

My GMO concerns are all centered around the vulnerability of monoculture crops. Having a variety seems to make the food supply more resilient.

by detourdog

3/8/2026 at 11:17:52 PM

There's some compelling reasoning that dwarfism to maximize produce size has contributed substantially to the reduction in nutrients.

Because when the tree fruits, it pulls nutrients out of the rest of the plant. And if there's less plant, then you get produce that's more water and carbon and less nutrient.

by hinkley

3/8/2026 at 7:43:02 PM

The Economist tries hard to normalize GMO food, without ever raising the issues and addressing them.

Whatever one thinks of that issue, this technique is deception: It decieves people into thinking that it's normal, that there are no issues; it makes it easy to just follow, hard to question. People follow norms, and that's how you convice them to put aside their concerns.

> Over thousands of years of domestication, humans have moulded fruit to their liking. ... As Pairwise’s blackberries and cherries show, advances in gene editing are allowing fruits to be altered in new ways. crispr, the most popular such technique at the moment ...

> The European Union’s Parliament and Council, the bloc’s governing body, reached a provisional deal in December to “simplify” the process for marketing plants bred through new genomic techniques, such as by scrapping the need to label them any differently from conventional ones. That seems an appropriately fruitful approach.

But there is this interesting tidbit, purely from the money-making perspective:

> ... unlike existing genetically modified crops, those made using crispr do not require dna from a foreign organism to be inserted—a practice that experience shows puts customers off.

by mmooss

3/8/2026 at 9:16:28 PM

I could agree to a point, the most commonly planted GMO crops are Roundup-Ready grains and soy, which encourage spraying even more atrazine on fields[1]. That does of course also mean increased yields, but the tradeoff is not unambiguously good. However the varieties discussed in this article clearly don't have that problem, knocking out genes to emphasize desirable characteristics seems much more appealing, though I suppose I'd rather see increasing nutrient density over making seeds less chewy, even if that meant adding DNA from other plants[2].

1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roundup_Ready

2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_tomato#Biotechnology

by blacksmith_tb

3/8/2026 at 8:00:19 PM

Your comment presupposes the benefits of GMO agriculture are outweighed by the costs. If we make assertions, we should back them up.

by linkregister

3/8/2026 at 8:50:57 PM

> The Economist tries hard to normalize GMO food, without ever raising the issues and addressing them.

And you also did not raise any issue, just asserted that there are some. GMO is amazing.

by azan_

3/8/2026 at 8:09:53 PM

>Whatever one thinks of that issue, this technique is deception: It decieves people into thinking that it's normal, that there are no issues; it makes it easy to just follow, hard to question. People follow norms, and that's how you convice them to put aside their concerns.

Should every article about vaccines also include a disclaimer about how some people think they cause autism?

by gruez

3/8/2026 at 8:51:10 PM

If your goal is to help allay the fears of people who hold that view, then obviously, yes!

If your goal is constantly punch down and find a class of people you're "allowed" to bully for thinking differently, then by all means, proceed as you have.

by themafia

3/8/2026 at 8:08:02 PM

Glad I live where growing this unnecessary genetically engineered shit is illegal. Patents on food shouldn't exist.

by comrade1234

3/8/2026 at 9:29:23 PM

Plant patents predate GMOs. If you cross-pollinate or graft into a new cultivar, you can patent it.

Here's a climbing rose patent from 1930: https://patents.google.com/patent/USPP1P/en

by Cpoll

3/9/2026 at 4:05:49 AM

What makes this 'shit' for you compared to the fruits we've conventionally engineered into unnatural forms via selective breeding?

by Hammershaft

3/9/2026 at 3:37:45 AM

[dead]

by ihavekids