ELGIN, MN – Honeybear Brands is ramping up its proprietary apple program with a couple new additions to its repertoire.

First and foremost, the company is launching this year’s Pazazz apple crop, an all-new proprietary varietal that has earned “rave reviews from retailers and customers alike” in market testing over the past two years, the company said in a press release.

Speaking with Don Roper, Honeybear’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing, this unique, open pollinated Honeycrisp cross is said to offer the “perfect blend of sweet and tart flavors, as well as exceptional crispness and great texture.”

Roper tells me, “Pazazz is a fantastic apple. It has that great crunch you want in a big apple and the flavor profile is second to none out there right now.  The delicate cell structure of the apple provides that crunch and high brix and the flavor profile has customers coming back for more. One of its key attributes is that it has the delicate cell structure that comes from the Honeycrisp parent, but it has its own unique sweet and tart flavor profile.”

Doug Shefelbine, a Honeybear grower from Holman, WI, originally developed the Pazazz apple about 10 years ago. For the past 20 years he has been planting the Honeycrisp seeds taken from his cider mill to find the next great variety. Doug had discovered the apple out of the tens of thousands of seedlings he planted.

A great apple really needs to have three key attributes to be successful, Roper tells me. First and foremost it must possess great flavor, it has to have a great appearance, and lastly, it needs a great name. Pazazz, Roper says, embodies all of this. “Its name reflects the eating experience you have when you eat it. “Wow, this apple has Pazazz!” he tells me.

This will be the third year Honeybear will roll out the Pazazz apple to retailers this winter. The variety will be introduced and sampled at more than 300 retail store locations this year including Publix, HyVee, Coborns, Wegmans, Kroger, Central Markets-HEB, Smith’s, Fry’s, QFC, King Soopers, Cub Foods and Loblaw.

Pazazz will also be offered in grab-and-go 2 lb. pouch bags.

Honeybear will be ramping up volume very quickly in the years ahead. The company projects it will be shipping approximately 30,000 cases this year, 125,000 the next year, and then 350,000 the following year.

“We’re growing Pazazz in Washington State, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New York, and Nova Scotia, so not only is it a great national apple, but its grown locally in those key markets to focus on mitigating food miles and being first in that market in that geography,” Roper tells me.

RiverBelle, another new proprietary, sweet and tart apple variety from Honeybear, was also launched recently in the Midwest. RiverBelle is an early season variety with a “delicately crisp and juicy texture.”

The company will also be promoting its Honey Cubbies Honeycrisp apples during PMA Fresh Summit this year.

TruEarth^TM, Honeybear’s exclusive grower sustainability program in the Midwest, supports these apple programs by helping farmers focus their attention and resources on growing fruit with limited environmental impact. The program sets strict protocols designed to protect the land, grow healthy, premium apples, and support the economies of local grower communities.