The Striking Washington Apple That's Flavored Like Berries

Apples are an easy and delicious go-to for many reasons. They're a healthy and quick snack on their own, and they also serve as a wonderful base for an apple sauce, a super salad inclusion, and a mouthwatering addition to a wide variety of apple desserts. From Golden Delicious and Honeycrisp to Fuji and Empire apples, there are so many popular types of apples to choose from these days. But there's one especially captivating apple variety that is capturing the hearts and taste buds of Americans whenever they happen to find them: the Lucy Glo. 

This precious fruit has a vibrant red interior and soft, thin yellow skin that allows the darker flesh to almost glow through (hence the "glo" in the name). And we tend to eat with our eyes first, don't we? So, imagine the wonder when you bite into this crisp apple and taste ... sweet berries, candy, a tantalizing tang, cranberry, and a little rose in the background. Lucy Glo apples were actually meticulously hand-crafted over a period of 25 years. They are a hybrid fruit that took the best of sweet Honeycrisp and red-fleshed Airlie apples and married them into this gorgeous modern apple that is both eaten fresh and used in cooking.

Lucy Glo apples were created from the vision of Washington State plant pathologist Bill Howell, who fell in love with the dynamic appearance of red-fleshed apples, but found that they didn't follow through with the flavor. So, in the 1990s, he used his orchard as an experimentation field, planting a host of Airlie trees — which produced red-fleshed apples — along with Honeycrisp trees, which were known for producing sweet-flavored apples. The trees pollinated freely with each other, and several new apple varieties were created. 

Howell then took seeds from his favorite apples from the group and planted them. And, thus, the first wave of improved blush-colored apples was born. For 13 years Howell studied the trees, and finally, in 2009, he selected two, naming them "Howell TC3" and "Howell TC2." These became the Lucy Glo and Lucy Rose apples, which were trademarked as such by Howell and the marketing company Chelan Fresh in 2018. 

A few growers in Central Washington were brought on board to produce Lucy Glo apples, which are now sold in select stores and restaurants across the U.S. and Europe, including Trader Joe's. If you're as intrigued as we were by these luscious lip smackers, you can also find them in a handful of restaurants in the States. And if you manage to get your hands on some Lucy Glos, you can enjoy these unique apples on their own — or as a vibrant salad or cocktail garnish. They would also work well in a spiced baked apple crumb recipe, and you could even follow these tips for making an excellent apple pie with a colorful twist.