Sunrise Magic Apple Review
"The Orphan Apple"
Originally released in 2011 as WA-2 by Washington State University, this pink-orange pre-cursor to the Cosmic Crisp was destined to inhabit fruit stands as a nameless orphan. That is, until the Apple King of Yakima, WA welcomed this unwanted ragamuffin into its kingdom, endowing it with the moniker: “Crimson Delight.” Five years later, just as this discarded underdog’s new identity took root, WSU emerged from the woodwork like a deadbeat dad looking to cash in on a child’s football scholarship by claiming “WA-2” is actually called the “Sunrise Magic” – and it belonged to them. A masterclass in bungled marketing, the Sunrise Magic / Crimson Delight now finds itself with two names, two fathers, and zero hope.
Not that either name would make a difference. (Sunrise Magic sounds like a poorly conceived brunch cocktail and Crimson Delight sounds like a back-alley sex act.) But more importantly, the fight for custody of this apple is probably not worth the effort in the first place. Its incredible juiciness tastes like water from a public water fountain. Its crispness is undercut by somewhat mealy flesh. Its finicky temperament requires two weeks of room temperature storage to “awaken the flavor.” In other words, regardless of who wins custody, this apple will likely find its way back into foster care where it will languish in obscurity.
- FLAVOR PROFILE -
SWEETNESS
1/5
TARTNESS
0.5/5
INTENSITY
1/5
SUNRISE MAGIC BIO
PARENTAGE
Splendour x Gala
ORIGIN
YEAR
2011
AVAILABILITY
Late Fall – Winter
BEST USES
Munching, Baking
OTHER NAMES
Crimson Delight, WA-2
I happened across this apple and LOVE it. Trying to find where I can buy more!
Where you from. We have them in Union Gap (Yakima) at Fruit City. Good luck
You can find them at The Fresh Approach stall at the Olympia (Washington) Farmer’s market from October to early spring.
I’m eating this apple right now as I’m writing this review (4/30/24). This is one of the more disgusting apple’s I’ve ever had. I had a similar taste happen to Pink Lady apples for 2 years. It must be apples coming out of Washington (what a dirty place) that have this problem. It’s like this weird bitter chemical flavor. It tastes completely unnatural. Like a bunch of woke hipster apple growers injecting the COVID vaxxx into Apples lol. I contacted a Pink Lady apple grower (when I experienced it for 2 years) what the heck that flavor is. They know what it is, but I didn’t get a good explanation. Some sort of chemical used to preserve the apples in storage? I don’t know. I’ve only gotten this nasty taste from apples grown in Washington. NY is doing it right with their apples. I imagine the apple I’m eating was picked in October & was waiting in some miserable warehouse for months on end. I hated Pink Lady apples for 2 years, now they taste normal when I get them. This sunrise magic apple is a complete disaster. I have no idea what it’s supposed to taste like. The line in the author’s review of “Its incredible juiciness tastes like water from a public water fountain” would taste great compared to what I’m eating: “tastes like it exited an experimental MNRA vaccine facility using runoff from the local sewer treatment center”.
A point about taste-testing apples. First, are you tasting the apple from the supermarket, or are you tasting one from the tree, properly ripened. Most apples going through the supply chain system are picked way too early and do not have a representative flavor profile. Most very good apples don’t taste that great as a result. Second, Washington growers generally carry enormous crop loads. This reduces the ability of the trees to fully develop their flavor profile. This system ruins most apple varieties, few exceptions.