There's an apple that spent 22 years quietly becoming a legend, and it was born right here in Washington.

Meet the Cosmic Crisp. Before it had a name, it was known simply as WA 38, a cross between the Honeycrisp and Enterprise varieties bred by horticulturist Bruce Barritt at Washington State University's Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center. The goal was ambitious: create an apple that tastes incredible, looks beautiful, and holds up in storage so we can enjoy it long past the fall harvest.

Mission accomplished. The Cosmic Crisp is both sweet and tart, high in sugar and acid, which makes it just as good baked into a pie as it is eaten straight off the counter. That high acid is also its quiet superpower: it keeps the apple from browning and helps it store beautifully for months, which is how a fall apple ends up on shelves year-round.

So where does the cosmic name come from? Look closely at the skin and you'll notice tiny pale flecks, the apple's pores, scattered like stars across a night sky. It was too poetic to pass up.

When Professor Kate Evans took over the breeding program after Barritt retired, the university made a generous call. Rather than license the apple to a single grower, they opened it up to Washington orchards of every size. In 2014, growers entered a drawing for 600,000 trees, and demand was so strong that within a year there were enough for everyone who wanted in. By the time the Cosmic Crisp made its official grocery store debut in December 2019, it arrived at a scale the apple world had rarely seen, launching into instant volume rather than trickling out slowly.

Here's something worth knowing, because it's usually the first question people ask: the Cosmic Crisp is not a GMO. It comes from traditional breeding, the same patient crossing of varieties humans have practiced for centuries. Just a very good version of it.

The bigger picture is a nice reminder of why Washington and apples go so well together. Our state grows about 95 percent of the country's apple exports, thanks to volcanic soil, long hours of sunshine east of the Cascades, cold winters that trees need to set buds, and dry air that keeps East Coast fungal troubles at bay. It's a landscape practically built for orchards.

Tastes have shifted over the years, too. The Red Delicious once ruled the state's crop, then shoppers drifted toward Honeycrisp, Fuji, Gala, and other varieties with a little more personality. The Cosmic Crisp landed right in that sweet spot, a homegrown apple with genuine character and a story to match.

For a fruit that took more than two decades to reach your kitchen, it turned out to be very much worth the wait. Next time you spot one at the market, you'll know you're holding a little piece of Washington history.

This post was based on information found on Seattle Met.