Minnesota-based apple breeder Honeybear Brands hopes a new apple cultivar will follow in the footsteps of the Honeycrisp, its parent variety.

Speaking with www.freshfruitportal.com, the group's VP of marketing Don Roper said he was confident the Pazazz variety would be a big hit on the market, after taking nearly 10 years to develop.

"Where a lot of our time and energy is spent has really been in identifying what is a really good apple you want to bring to the market," Roper said, adding the developers always sought to look through the consumer's lens.

"The consumer is really looking for flavor and again I think the best thing about the Pazazz is that it’s got such a great flavor: a nice complex flavor of sweet and tart, and you match that up with an excellent crisp, snappy texture and a really eye-appealing apple and all of a sudden you’ve got a pretty dynamic apple."

For the last 20 years, the company has been taking seeds from its Honeycrisp variety, planting those in various test orchards, and going through an intricate process in order to find a competitive and appealing apple that can be brought to market.

"The whole key for us was starting with Honeycrisp. What we appreciated about Honeycrisp was its texture," he said.

"So we knew we wanted that crisp, delicate cell structure. But then when you have a new variety, there are so many flavors and attributes you can start working on from there, and that’s where we found the Pazazz."

Honeybear is currently growing the apple in Washington State, the Midwest, the Northeast and in Nova Scotia. The group has also just begun developing test orchards in Chile.

The apple is a proprietary variety that was test-marketed in some 500 stores.

"Texture-wise the apple would compare to the Honeycrisp, but flavor-wise it stands on its own," Roper said.

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