Announced by WSU apple breeder Kate Evans on Dec. 10, 2024, at the Northwest Horticulture Expo in Yakima, Washington, the name resulted from a public contest that drew over 15,000 responses. "Our breeding program exists to give consumers better apples to eat, and Sunflare checks all our boxes," Evans said.
A tart, crunchy, juicy cross of Honeycrisp and Cripps Pink—better known as Pink Lady—Sunflare apples will reach grocery stores in 2029. Thousands of name entries were narrowed down by WSU faculty, staff, and public focus groups. Sunflare won by reflecting the apple's qualities. "This name hits all those marks," said Jeremy Tamsen, director of the WSU Office of Commercialization. "These pinks, oranges, and yellows stand out against all the red apples on the shelf."
Winning contestant Ryan Escarcega, a food service salesperson and chef from Centralia, Washington, was inspired by the apple's bright hues and the solar storms that sparked visible northern lights this spring. "I looked at the picture of the apple for a long time, fantasizing what it was going to taste like," he said. "I saw a nice relationship between the colors and the name. And the sun has everything to do with the growth of the product."
Sunflare is the third apple to emerge from the WSU breeding program, which launched Cosmic Crisp in 2019. Sunflare is a bicolored apple with a pink blush over a yellow background when ripe, offering a sweet-tart balance and complex flavor.
Scientists bred Sunflare in 1998 by hand-pollinating a Honeycrisp flower with pollen from a Cripps Pink tree at WSU's Columbia View Research Orchard. "We do what the bees do," said retired apple breeder Bruce Barritt. "Sunflare resulted from pollination. It's not engineered or modified in any way."
WSU holds a patent on WA 64 and has filed trademark applications for the Sunflare™ brand name. International New-Varieties Network LLC will manage sales of licensed WA 64 trees and budwood to growers. A marketing advisory committee will help develop branding for the variety. Royalties from sales of Sunflare will support future WSU apple research. Development was funded by the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission, the Washington State Department of Agriculture's Specialty Crop Block Grant Program, and other sources.
Escarcega, a former chef, and WSU attendee received a box of Sunflare apples and WSU-themed prizes, including a charcuterie board engraved with the winning name. He plans to use the apples for apple butter, sauce, pie filling, chips, or cider. "I am so excited to be part of this," Escarcega said, "and even happier that the only apple I will ever eat, as of 2029, will be the best-tasting apple I have yet had the pleasure of eating."
For more information:
Jeremy Tamsen
Washington State University
Tel: +1 509 335 6881
Email: [email protected]
www.news.wsu.edu