Cosmic Crisp Apple Review
"The Most Overhyped Apple of All Time"
The Cosmic Crisp Apple is not a bad apple. And for an ordinary apple, such a tepid review would be perfectly acceptable. However, the Cosmic Crisp is no ordinary apple. Nay, it may be the most extraordinary apple our capitalist society has ever manufactured. And the word “manufactured” is all but too accurate as the Cosmic Crisp has been in development for decades. It has been taste-tested, focus-grouped, and cross-bred to become a marketable fruit darling akin to a teenage pop star singing songs written by a computer. And just like those grating songs you can’t get out of your head, the scales have been tipped in favor of the Cosmic Crisp via a hype machine boasting a $10 million initial investment.
The result? A beautiful-looking apple worthy of a Wes Anderson prop that could not live up to the lofty expectations set before it. With an above-average crunch, but below-average sweetness, this apple screams mediocrity. And as for that drop-dead gorgeous exterior? The debt is paid for such beauty with a thicker than expected skin that lingers like the disappointment of apple fans everywhere.
BONUS POINTS: +1 Beauty
- FLAVOR PROFILE -
SWEETNESS
2.5/5
TARTNESS
0.5/5
INTENSITY
2.5/5
COSMIC CRISP BIO
PARENTAGE
Enterprise x Honeycrisp
ORIGIN
Wenatchee, Washington – USA
YEAR
2019
AVAILABILITY
Late Fall – Early Winter
BEST USES
Munching, Baking
Eat These Apples Instead
Cosmic Crisp Is Better Than
- Red Delicious Apples
- Ruby Frost Apples
- Breeze Apples
Samesies. Not a bad apple, but nowhere near the hype. Not going to beat any of the top runners.
Today, January 22, 2022, I ate my first Cosmic Crisp apple and it was extremely disappointed. The aftertaste nasty and made me concerned about pesticides remaining o the skin. I got online and see that there were alot of similar complaints posted in 2021. I bought them at a QFC in Portland, OR. I won’t buy them again. I need to decide what I am going to do with the remaining 5-6 because I am not going to eat them. Maybe I’ll return them to QFC.
I agree and so did my husband .
There was a problem in the 2021 crop associated with a fungicide used in storage of many apples. It left the mentioned bad aftertaste. I believe that was eliminated for the 2022 crop. Try again …
I bought four of them Friday night (06 JAN 2023), and shared one with my wife. I rinsed and wiped it dry with a paper towel then quartered the apple. The crunch was great, but the taste reminded me of having my mouth washed out with soap when I was in 1st grade. I felt bad for the grower, as well as the tree. Best of luck, the Cosmos is not ready for the Cosmic Tango.
I just bought a bag last week & they have sick a bitter flavor, it really blows because the first bag I bought were pretty good.
I ate my first Cosmic Crisp apple raw today and thought it delicious. Tonight I fried 2 apples in butter and sprinkled with brown sugar. Absolutely wonderful. Anyone who is disappointed, you can send your apples to me. I have been told they are long keepers!!!
I like them too! I actually seek them out for some welcome variety in my daily lunchtime apple.
I ate my first Cosmic Crisp today and I loved every bite, was the best apple I’ve EVER eaten no kidding & I’m old! Loved the crispness, the tart and sweet taste and the skin was not bad either. It will be my apple of choice from now on.
That’s ok in my book!
I whole heartedly agree with you. They are now my favorite apple and my boss’s as well.
Same here! Best apple I’ve ever tasted!
I agree with you Patti. We tried a side by side taste test with envy, honeycrisp and cosmic. Couldn’t believe the difference and how much sweeter and juicier the cosmic apples were.
The first Cosmic Crisp apples that we bought were not appealing – bland and sour. HOWEVER, all of the Cosmic Crisps that we have bought this year were so wonderfully sweet (with a touch of tang) that I ran out and bought three trees. I have read that these apples are not tasty right off the tree – you need to let them rest for a couple of weeks after picking them to rebalance the flavor.
A fair and dutiful assessment. Cosmic Crisp is a serviceable apple. Most of the disdain comes from the hype it could not live up to.
Try again with this years crop.
I didn’t know that you could buy the trees. I thought only growers in Washington could buy them. Where did you buy them?
The first Cosmic Crisps I had about a year ago were incredible. First of all, they were absolutely enormous. Like eating a child’s head, but with the perfect crunch and an immaculate balance of sweet and tart. Beautiful exterior as well. But then, I dunno, something went south with this new varietal. They shrunk in size, the texture and taste became mediocre, and even the exteriors looked like shit, all beaten up and haggard like they’d gone to hell and back. They’ve regained some of their glory recently, so maybe it’s a seasonal thing. At the top of their game, they’re very similar and comparable in quality to Envy.
I had the opposite experience here – see my comment below. I think only some growers know how to do it justice.
One of the goals of the Cosmic Crisp apple was to be an available alternative to more popular autumnal apples that can bridge the gap between seasons. In order to accomplish this, quite a lot of apples needed to be grown. In fact, a considerable amount of orchard space was dedicated to the Cosmic Crisp before it was even released to the public. This was quite a gamble, as the apple could have been a major flop and it would take many years to switch varieties. Hence the ten million dollar price tag in marketing. This would ensure the apple trees being grown years in advance would have a market. In Washington State, the Cosmic Crisp was licensed to 24 different growers, as a result you are going to get 24 slightly different apples. On the large vs. small front, apples grow different sizes on the same tree, so that could be less to do with how they are grown and more to do with how they were sorted.
If you saw my comment below this was way too big of a difference to write off as just that and others seem to have had the same experience. They don’t resemble the same variety at all except for the sticker. Not only larger but much different color as well as the huge difference in taste. There is no way these new ones came from the same Orchard as the others, and whoever grew the previous ones has no business doing so if they started with the same stock. That’s how you ruin a brand.
Sorry, Cosmic grower here. This is very wrong on many counts. Eat a few more & read more about the variety.
I have eaten three of these apples so far and they’re worth the extra money. Not only is it sweet and satisfying, it’s also filling–most apples just punch a slight hole in the hunger if that’s what you’re after in eating one. I eat just about every bite of this apple because it’s so delicious.
I think it’s an excellent apple and I will bake with it, too.
Had my first Cosmic Crisp today. It was in perfect condition, juicy enough to leave me with wet fingers, slightly tart and slightly sweet. I have no complaints at all. Quite delicious! I paid $1.47 a pound and that was on sale from their regular price of $1.99. I’d buy them again in an instant.
I was so glad to see the cosmic crisp apples in my Kroger store. They are so good and sweet with a light tartness at the end of every bite.Did I mention how juicy they are? Thank’s Washington State.
I had my first Cosmic Crisp this morning with breakfast. Great apple! I had been buying Honeycrisps, but I like this apple more. The Honeycrisps are expensive. These were about the same or less in price, but I liked the Cosmic flavor for an eating apple, even better than Honeycrisp. Like the Honeycrisp, the apple pulp is firm, the flavor both tangy and sweet.
I’ll be buying them again.
The Cosmic Crisp is a good apple and I support your decision.
My husband and I ate one of these for the first time not knowing of the hype, as I pick up a couple of any new apples I see. It was so large I could barely bite it, and cut it in half to share. My husband picked up on the slightly tough skin, but we were both impressed immediately by how delicious it was. I considered it equal to Sweetango, my favorite, in flavor, but it’s just one apple so far.
They’re so huge and showy, I had a comical mental image of an apple fan showing up in heaven and getting knocked over by an angel tossing these.
Like its Honeycrisp parents, these apples can grow to be quite large.
Actually they are mostly smaller sized than Honey’s. They are also more uniformly sized than Honeycrisp. I grow both varieties.
Had an interesting experience with the Cosmic Crisp recently. As per my previous comment, the ones I tried a few months back were decent apples but nothing outstanding. However, a few weeks ago a new shipment came in that despite the same sticker looks like a completely different apple – these are the enormous, glowing red beauties others have mentioned, rather than the normal sized, slightly redder than average ones from before. I’m not usually suckered in by looks but since they weren’t bad the first time I decided it wouldn’t hurt to give them another try, and for once the taste matched the appearance. These new ones are every bit as crisp and juicy as I could hope for with a bold, complex flavor that’s well balanced. Up there with the best I’ve had! The only challenge is finishing one since they take after their Honeycrisp parentage in size 😉
I’m not sure what’s going on with this varietal – this was clearly a far bigger difference than just the amount of time in storage could account for, or even a poor year (and it’s still the same season.) I assume this batch is from a different grower and maybe there’s some trick to them that only some have mastered – in which case I recommend others cease production, or possibly sell it under a different name a la Cripps Pink to avoid sullying the reputation of this work of art!
Worst apple I ever ate. Just bpught a bag at walmart. They look beautiful and are firm, but were dound to be coated in wax when debagged. I gently scrubbed off wax with abrasive side of soapy sponge and it barely removes half the wax. Taste was most tart under-rioe flavor like a green banana. Skin was tough. I removed skin and flesh was same bitter tart taste. I will feed the rest to deer in another month when their GI tracts can handle sugar. I can’t believe people would eat these. Sorry I had to give a bad review.
Never but produce at Walmart. It is all low quality.
I had the exact same experience as you. There was a lot of wax, so butter, even with the skin peeled off. I also got them from Walmart. The first bag I bought from there (It was a smaller bag) was delicious. Kind of disappointing.
I just ate a cosmic crisp apple. It was crisp, attractive, juicy and sweet but, as with so many apples lately, lacked apple flavor. I grew up in Washington state and lived in Wenatchee for a time and can remember apples having a distinct apples flavor.
i had a nightmare where my dad was furious with me and he threw cosmic crisp apples at my head until i was bleeding. but the apple tasted fine, i guess. i think it’s too big. i can’t finish the apple in one sitting.
Lol
Honestly, I think you were generous with your review. Maybe I got a bad batch, but the apple is somehow both incredibly dense and a bit sandy. It has an astringent flavor, notes of sweetness at first bite that progressively get taken over by a not even sour, but somewhat bitter taste profile that combines into an almost mouth-numbing finish. I’ll finish the two bags I bought because I’m eating apples pretty much all day long, but this won’t be on my shopping list again.
The Cosmic Crisp has very large crops and so their consistency will vary, especially depending on how far it needed to be shipped and stored. I wonder if I should add “consistency” as an evaluation category?
85% of the Cosmic Crisp apples I’ve had have been the BEST apples I’ve ever eaten. Crisp, sweet, tart – sheer perfection. And they don’t brown nearly as quickly as most apples do. I HAVE had a handful of duds, apples that were either bitter or bland. But that’s to be expected with any fruit. I’ve had some unbelievably sour strawberries in the same batch as some really sweet ones.
This is all very true
It is NOT genetically engineered, it is a hybrid. Their website says it is a cross between the Honeycrisp and the Enterprise varieties. Genetically engineered (GMO) is something totally different, and should not be used to describe this fruit.
Thanks for pointing that out – I’ll update my description
you are correct!
I was duped into buying a Costco-sized case of Cosmic Crisps by an overzealous fan, and my eagerness was quickly replaced with displeasure as I struggled to get through my first bite of thick, bitter skin. After reading Adam’s comment, I’m remembering that yes, it was a bit mouth-numbing too. I suffered through that whole damn case. I’ve had to Honeycrisp and Sugar Bee those memories out of my mouth. After seeing that you rated Cosmic Crisps higher than Sugar Bees, I’ve determined that you cannot be trusted. I’ve yet to have a disappointing Sugar Bee.
They are by far the best apples I have ever had. Honeycrisp and Pink Lady used to be my favorites but they are trash next to this apple.
They are great for eating raw and even better for dehydrating. There is no need to dunk them into a water/citrus mixture because they do not brown during the dehydrating process and they taste great.
I don’t know about cooking them as I hate cooked apples. Cooking apples is an abomination against nature.
I am fortunate to live in Washington state because I can buy a tree and put it in my yard.
I also want to add that you never want to eat apple peels. It doesn’t matter if it is organic or not. Take them off.
I use a spiral slicer that also peels and cores and that is the best way to eat an apple. Eating a whole apple around other people is rude and dangerous to you because of the toxins in ALL apple peels.
Thanks for your positivity! I’m puzzled by the negative, some quite negative reviews.
I can almost live on apples, dislike a day without at least one.
I am delighted how crisp and juicy this apple is, plus astounded it does not go brown!!! Even sitting out naked at room temperature, not even a tissue hiding it: not a trace of brown even 36 hours later!!!
And it’s certainly up there with any other apple sweetness I’ve experienced in my nearly three quarters of a century.
My only disappointment is it doesn’t seem to be available as organic, at least not here in N California.
Agree with your assessment. It would appear that many of the negative comments, including the ‘snobbish’ “Pretty Good” result have more to do with those that bought them in a bag, rather than picking up the produce individually, proper washing and the occasional like any fruit or vegetable, a dud. There are also likely some trolls on this site that really prefer to make negative comments just because they can and that it would influence some that would otherwise jump at the chance to have what I believe is one of, if not the best on the available market. Are there better apples? Sure but are they available to a large population or just available in small farmers market operations?
Cosmic crisp gets high marks in our house; it’s the one worth fighting for. 😉
I tried a Cosmic Crisp for the first time and it was so bad that I find myself writing a review of an apple for the first time in my life. It was so bitter, if I were blindfolded I would have thought I were eating an aspirin. This apple was given to me by an equally dismayed coworker. She couldn’t believe how bad it was. It was quite crisp, though. Something seriously needs to be done about the taste.
Some of the 2021 crop got exposed to a fungicide in storage that created a bitter taste. I believe that issue was corrected. Try one now – it will be from the 2022 season.
Like any fruit, an individual apple can be less than the rest of the bunch. With Cosmic Crisp apples the bunch is amazing. It’s got the crispness and most of the tartness of a Granny Smith, while having a smoother, sweeter overall flavor. These apples also don’t brown when the interior is exposed to the air nearly as quickly as regular apples do. I’ve tried many kinds of apples, but, for me, the Cosmic Crisp apples are by far the best.
I enjoy the Cosmic Crisp apples so much that I give them to strangers in the airport and stop people buying other apples in the store and recommend the Cosmic Crisp. I always carry at least 3 apples and other fruit when I fly to keep me from buying food in the airport.
it’s pretty good, love the size and texture. was looking for something closer to my home state of NY’s Macintosh , this has a little bit of the bite Excellent texture, I prefer a medium sour not as tart as the granny smith but not overly sweet like honey crisp or red delicious. Cosmic Crisp is a refreshing balance a little sweeter then i was looking for but well balanced, , I don’t mind the skin personally I like the firmness and crunch a lot. it’s a fair substitute for my elusive NY macs.
I have eaten very good ones, but most have a horrible chemical taste. When they don’t have that taste they are wonderful, but 5 out of 6 has been horrible. I am done with them.
This apple is NOT genetically engineered, in fact!
I first tried a Cosmic Crisp this September 2022, and found it better than most of the Honeycrisps and all of the SweeTangos I’ve gotten in my area this season. The rest of the shipment that I came back to purchase from the same chain grocery store (purchases in 3s and 4s) was similarly excellent and made me actually crave an apple so badly I went to the grocery store just to get more of them, something I hadn’t done since my first-ever Honeycrisp. Sounds like I may have lucked out, especially for an early fall example! The SweeTangos available to me this year keep disappointing me with a mealier texture than I’m told they should have, so until I get to try one of the ones that earned them their high praise, I think Honeycrisps and Cosmic Crisps are the ones for me. Cosmic Crisps give me more of the tartness I want but otherwise do a great job replicating the Honeycrisp texture, juiciness, and sweetness.
SweeTangos have been hit and miss this year and o have deducted two points from their score
I knew I wasn’t crazy! Both that two points had been deducted, and that SweeTangos (god I hate that name) have been on-and-off mealy this season. But damn, when they’re on, they’re on.
So true
Apples you are in September 2022, were actually from the 2021 harvest.
Definitely a hit or miss apple. Their are either really crisp and tasty or mealy fodder for the trash bin.
one time i was curious about how long they could keep so i cut off a slice and left it on the counter for 24 hours and it never turned yellow. still a crisp white. whatever that means
Hahaha – excellent work! I think it means that it would work well in a salad.
I worked in a steakhouse a few years ago and served the self-proclaimed creators of the Cosmic Crisp apple celebrating the official launch. A bunch of rowdy business bros in suit and tie– not sure if any of them have stepped foot near an orchard before, but that’s beside the point. They cut one of the apples with a pocket knife and demanded I try it in front of them. The apple was good, but I was apparently not as impressed as they had hoped. While not the most obnoxious table I’ve served, they were definitely the kind of group that expected a song and dance, and then proceeded to tip 12% for a huge bill. For purely subjective reasons, I am requesting a 2-point deduction! Thank you for your consideration.
Haha – wow. Amazing intel! I will most definitely take this into consideration when I re-evaluate. Thank you for letting me know!
I’ve been an apple snob since childhood. An apple variety must consistently have the right tang, the right flavor, the right crispness, all of it, for me to approve. Most do not pass the test. To my very pleasant surprise, Cosmic Crisp meets my taste standards! It’s been years since I enjoyed a new variety of apple! Yum, yum, crunch, crunch!
For me there is no better apple. Most apples are mealy or flavorless. Having grown up in upstate NY, I have had many varieties. Cartland’s were always my favorite, this is now by far the best.
A really crisp red delicious with your annual dose of pesticides. I could have picked from a bad tree, but I had such a bad experience that I don’t want to waste my taste buds on that again
No need to force it – There’s better out there
You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about,, cosmic crisp is the GOAT. How about u get a life instead of ranking apples all day ??? I focus grouped this whole Website and they said it’s a dump and should be taken down
You take jokes way too seriously, friend.
I first learned about the cosmic crisp after listening to my favorite apple rating, scrumping and sports podcast. I finally had the opportunity to try one and I would rate it as slightly above average when eaten by itself. However, they are out of this world when eaten as a topping on my homemade pancake waffles.
Y’know when the cosmic crisp first showed at my store it was genuinely the second worst apple after the Red Delicious in terms of quality. I’ve honestly refused to touch it and even steered customers away from it for last few years. I mostly joked it was a bootleg honeycrisp with aggresive marketing.
Has the taste of it really improved that much?
Yup, you must have had a bad bunch.
They are amazing at the moment
Like Sweetango and Sugarbee, these were meh last year (but better than either those two). I did find that like Hunnyz, it improved the longer it stored or the later in its availability I purchased it. (And in general, I find that the apples I purchase at Aldi are sourced better/eat better than both bigger box stores and more local farmer’s market offerings. Aldi has fantastic Piñata this year).
I’m really enjoying them this year, but that said, it’s definitely over-hyped. Yes, it will finally shake sense into anyone who still buys red delicious (seriously, why?), but it’s only a better than ordinary apple when other better than ordinary apples aren’t available, and Envy seems to have seated itself as always available via various growers, so when I can splurge for Envy instead, I will, every time.
Cosmic crisp apples are my favorite. The ones I’ve eaten are very crisp and incredibly sweet. Honey crisp apples are mealy and flavorless.
I actually really love Cosmic Crisp apples, they’ve been my favorite since I discovered them! I love Honeycrisps too, but I like that Cosmics (at least around here) tend to be a little smaller. I haven’t had any issues with chemical taste or thick skin like I’ve seen in the comments here, honestly the big trait that stuck out to me was the crispness. They have a “faster” bite than any other apple I’ve ever had. You can bite it and it’s like your teeth are in fast-forward, it’s incredible! They really are cosmic CRISPs. Maybe I’m just a simp for CC’s, idk, but they’re my favorite. 😀
The shelf life and anti browning of these apples make them perfect for depressed college students. I can forget this apple is on my counter for a month, eat a few bites, then forget again for a few hours, then come back and finish it, all with a perfectly tasty apple experience. Yall high functioning, neurotypical fucks can choose whatever fancy apple you want, this will be my workhorse until I get my shit together
Cosmic’ as are by far the most delicious apple ever!! I’ve tried them all and Cosmic’s are a true 10! I eat three every day I crave them, they are heavenly in my mouth, sweet but not overly sweet, medium tart super crispy, juicy oh yes so lovely in my mouth
I have had several bags of cosmics that were wonderful. Then the last bag that was bland. I just bought 3 more giant ones from Walmart that were pretty good but not as good as the ones in December.
Bought one today ; cut the skin off because everyone here says it sucks, it keeps changing flavor ? First I tasted red delicious, then I tasted granny Smith, now I’m tasting honeycrisp ? Truly Wonka’s full course meal gum but for apples
I recently had a Cosmic Crisp that was accidentally flavored with garlic. Surprisingly, it was fantastic. I usually have my apples plain or with tajin, but this was a whole new level of fruit flavoring. Somehow, the Cosmic Crisp’s flavor paired perfectly with a thin flavoring of garlic that had attached to my knife, making what I think was a strange new durian flavored apple. If you’re into fruit experiments, try it out.
Cosmic crisp is one of the juiciest and crunchiest with a really thin easy skin. I put this one up with honey crisp. One of the best and I’ve had everyone of your best.
It’s suprising how much variability there is in any produces flavor and palatabilaty, and sometimes if you want and apple out of season or from another country the chances of duds are much greater. I had a cosmic crisp today and it seemed like it was watered down. God knows the food chain it took to get this to my hand. Wish I would have just got the envy instead. Never had a bad time with pink lady, or contrary to this place a, cripps pink. Produce in season, local and grown by a farmer whose got an A game can be mind blowing. To bad apples don’t do well in my area.
as someone who is not much of an apple connoisseur, i recently got a bunch of these apples. I’m eating one right now and this thing’s MILES above the grocery shelves of red delicious, granny, and gold.
Had my first Cosmic Crisp and loved it! The skin is nice and thick , which I like and it tasted better than the Honeycrisp that I usually get. Will be buying more.
Why are these apples so hit or miss? I just tried them for the first time ever this past week.
The first apple I tried was one of the best apples I ever had.
The second apple had that strange bitter effect going on… I threw it away because I thought either the apple was bad, contaminated, tampered with, too much wax on it, or residual pesticides or something… after doing research it seems that the bitter taste is likely due to tannins, and perhaps these apples can have more tannins due to the thicker red skin? Although, I’ve honestly never experienced that from any other apples before.
I tried a third apple, which was pretty good. And now just tried a fourth cosmic crisp and it has the bitter taste again… seems to be more bitter at the lower portion of the apple… I would guess that might indicate the bitterness is from tannins or some natural aspect of the apple?
Will probably never buy them again if it’s a ratio of 50% good apples to 50% bitter apples. I guess the King Honeycrisp just can’t be beaten. Tried some other new varieties that I’ve never tried before as well, and they also aren’t as good as honeycrisp.
Do any experts on here have deeper insight into the bitter issue of these apples? Hoping it’s because of tannins from the thick skin and not because these are loaded with pesticides and herbicides or something. I used a fruit spray to wash it before eating though. I’ve just never experienced bitterness from eating any other apples before. So strange. It seems like it’s common with cosmic crisp based on the other comments.