Despite battling some weather and other issues (COVID-workers etc) the Washington State Apple crop is said to be strong this year.

John DeVaney, Presdent of the Washington State Fruit Tree Association, said late last week the crop appears to be very similar to last year's, (2020) which was down about 7.2 percent from 2019 but not bad. The WSFTA statement said in part:

"The 2021 forecast is for a crop of just under 125 million standard forty-pound boxes of fresh apples.  This would be a 2.3% increase from 2020’s 122 million box crop, but down 7.2% from the 2019 crop of 134.5 million boxes."

As for what kinds are grown, and the mostly widely grown (popular) apple, we were surprised.

You've probably heard of the new Cosmic Crisp apples, which appear to have taken off big time in popularity. While they only make up 3 percent of all apples grown in our state, this new arrival has grown by 114 percent and is likely to keep increasing.

After that, a variety I had not heard of, the Cripps Pink, was at 6 percent of the crop.

 Fuji came in next lowest at 13 percent. They are perhaps best known for being used in baking.

Just ahead of Fuji were Honeycrisp and Granny Smith apples, tied at 14 percent of the crop. Granny Smith are the green apples, most commonly associated with pies and cobbler.

The next highest was Red Delicious, which was a little surprising, since they've been around perhaps the longest (as opposed to newer types such as Cosmic Pink). Their percentage of the crop was 16 percent.

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And finally, THE most grown (popular) apple grown in WA state was the Gala Apple, making up 21 percent of the entire crop.  They're the reddish-orange colored apples, used for eating, cider, and other processes.

That kind of surprised us because we often think of the bright dark Red Delicious as being the most popular.

WA remains the #1 producer of apples in the U.S., with millions of boxes sold overseas as well. So now you know what kinds people like.

 

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