Kudos™ to the University of Minnesota on its 29th apple variety release, MN33
September 21, 2023
The University of Minnesota announces its 29th apple release: the MN33 variety, which will be sold under the brand name Kudos™.
Fans of the University of Minnesota’s Honeycrisp, Zestar!®, and SweeTango® apples, are going to love the newest addition to their family tree: Kudos™ brand MN33 apples.
Kudos™ is a beautiful red apple with a unique combination of traits including an excellent crisp, juicy texture and a sweet, well balanced flavor with occasional tropical overtones. It was developed by crossing the U of M hits Honeycrisp and Zestar!®, making it a sibling of the popular SweeTango® apple.
“Eating a Kudos™ apple is like having a crunchy, juicy tropical party in your mouth,” says University of Minnesota apple breeder David Bedford. “It has the crisp, juicy texture of Honeycrisp and the rich flavor of Zestar!® but with a slight tropical twist.” Read David Bedford's Q&A talking apples with University Relations.
After years of testing at the University’s Horticultural Research Center located at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum and in orchards across Minnesota and top apple producing states, Kudos™ trees have proven hardy up to USDA Zone 4, with fruit ripening in late September.
While apple enthusiasts may be eager to taste Kudos™, apples will not be widely available in the marketplace for 2-3 years as commercial orchards plant trees and allow those trees to mature and bear fruit.
For commercial growers interested in purchasing and planting trees, Kudos™ has been released as an “open variety” (tree royalty only) and orchards may purchase trees directly from nurseries licensed by the University of Minnesota. Visit mnhardy.umn.edu/kudos for a list of licensed nurseries and more information.
Additional information about Kudos™ and the University of Minnesota’s 28 other apple varieties is available at mnhardy.umn.edu.
About apple breeding at the University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota apple breeding program has been developing cold hardy apples that are both high quality and high yielding for 115 years. The program is based in the Department of Horticultural Science at the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences. Most of the apple breeding and evaluation takes place at the Horticultural Research Center at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chaska, Minnesota.
