The Cosmic Crisp apple hit produce aisles across America on Dec. 1, 2019.
The variety came out of Washington State University’s breeding program, which has been developing the apple for more than 20 years.
There are thousands of different kinds of apples on the market, and 2,500 of those varieties are grown in the United States, like the Granny Smith, Fuji, Honeycrisp and America’s favorite, the Gala, which just beat out the Red Delicious variety for the first time ever.
Scientists are still developing new varieties.
But it’s not just breeding programs making hybrids of the fruits and vegetables nearly everyone is familiar with.
There are also scientists across the globe working on creating new varieties, whether they’re apples or berries, mushrooms, or even crops like rice and wheat. In fact, crops have been crossbred to produce new varieties for hundreds of years.
Watch the video above to find out more about how horticulturists and scientists create new varieties of fruits and vegetables, and why there’s space in the produce aisle for innovation.
