[ravedave5]

Something's going on with honey crisp. For the first few years it was VERY consistent. Large crispy apples that were juicy. Now sometimes I go to the store and there are Honeycrisps half the size of what they used to be. I stick to the large ones and they seem better.

[skybrian]

Because they're so popular and pricey, a lot of orchards started growing them, even in places where they don't do so well. So, quality has gone down.

[zwily]

Agreed, when I see a batch of large Honeycrisps I pick some up. I’m excited to try this new Apple, given its lineage.

[hosh]

Back when I lived in Seattle, the Honeycrisp at the farmer's market down the street were ginormous. I had never seen them that size anywhere else in the country.

[MisterOctober]

For what it's worth, apple size is largely a function of how hard the grower 'thins' the developing crop. If they remove most of the fruitlets early on such that there is fewer than one apple left on the tree per blossom cluster, huge fruits can result. Thinning to one-per-cluster is kind of average, and those little "lunchbox" apples are grown 2+ per cluster.

[hosh]

Fair enough. Maybe that is why the smaller orchards and packers have larger fruits.

From what I understand, not only do consumers not want larger apple sizes, because the honeycrisp bruise so easily, larger honeycrisps are a PITA to manage.

[germinalphrase]

I’ve heard folks in Minnesota say that it is because it doesn’t get cold enough in places (like Washington) that started growing them in larger amounts.

[hammock]

You sure you aren't looking at the organic ones? They are smaller.