Can You Pick Out the New Apple Variety?

In this newsletter, I am sharing about new apple varieties that I recently learned about.

Apr 21, 2025

I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend. Because of the holiday, my typical Monday podcast episode is going to be pushed back to Tuesday this week, but I want to connect with everyone today to share about some new apple varieties.

I am going to give you 3 different names and I want you to tell me which one of these you think is a real name for an apple variety.

Red Zeppelin
Scruffy
Ludacrisp

Aren’t those all fun sounding names?

Well this is a trick question because each of these is a name for an new apple variety developed by the Midwest Apple Improvement Association.

By name alone which apple variety would you want to try first?

The Midwest Apple Association or MAIA for short has been doing some amazing work in bringing new apple varieties that are specifically tailored for the needs of Midwest apple growers.

Their most popular apple to date is the Evercrisp apple, which a lot of you have probably had by now. It’s a cross between Honeycrisp and Fuji.

Sweet Zinger and Rosalee are another two varieties they have released and I have been able to try both of these at an apple orchard in Ohio.

I did a fun interview with a while back for my podcast Eat Shop Waste Not with Karen Burkhart from MAIA. You can read through the interview or listen to it on my blog.

Back to the fun names of apples from the start, I did get to try Ludacrisp apples and think they are a fantastic crisp apple with an unique flavor that improves in storage.

What Apples to Buy in the Spring?

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If you are interested in learning more about the best apples to buy at each grocery store, check out this page. The guides are available for our premium subscribers.