Keeping with the Arctic Apple discussion.
The Arctic Apple is supposed to be like no other apple in that they have
turned off a gene so that it does not turn brown like all other apples.
That statement is misleading since there are apple varieties/cultivars
among the thousands of varieties that can be sliced and the pieces do
not turn brown. These are natural bee pollinated genetics, not
scientifically manipulated. I wonder why they would spend so much money
developing a non-browning apple when they could easily do it the benign
way? I think there is more cost in marketing hype here than in the
actual genetic work.
For example, here in New Brunswick, Canada we have the Tangowine apple,
dark purplish skin, snow white sweet flesh with attractive pink streaks,
and cut pieces can be set on a table for days without turning brown. It
is also very resistant to scab. It was an open pollinated apple found
growing in a gravel pit.
In their promotion of the Arctic apple they added a challenge, "Now if
we could just get rid of the seeds!" Well, we have seedless apples here
in New Brunswick too.
Daryl Hunter
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