Many breeders around the world have been trying for years to develop apples with sweet red flesh, pigmented, like red apple skin, with antioxidant-rich chemicals called anthocyanins. Such varieties would be novel and attractive, the breeders hope, and could be touted for their reputed health benefits.
Bill Howell, a plant pathologist in Prosser, Benton County, about a two-hour drive south of Rock Island and Wenatchee, the epicenter of Washington’s apple industry, has produced several hybrids of Honeycrisp and older, red-fleshed varieties that are — cue the trumpets — sweet and crunchy, with a distinctive cherry-berry flavor.
