I had the privilege of working many years at the Summerland Research Station, for the British Columbia Certified Budwood Association.

This was a small, yet incredibly vital part of the tree fruit industry whose sole purpose was to provide the genetic material, the ‘bud’, of fruit trees to nurseries who would insert the small bud into rootstock which would in turn continue to grow the bud into what we would recognize as the fruit tree whether it was a varietal of nectarine, plum, apple, cherry etc.

The association supplied the fruit industry with nearly any variety (buds) that has existed in the Northern Hemisphere so as a summer student, all the employees had the opportunity to sample a veritable Garden of Eden.  The fruit variety breeding program, which began in 1924, was another valuable part of the Summerland Research Station which boasts the development of some of the most popular varieties of tree fruit in the world.  Most of the cultivars developed at the Summerland Research Station, begin, characteristically, with the letter ‘S’.

The Spartan apple is the most recognizable but there are many other cultivar types you may recognize at your grocery store or fruit stand.  Examples include:  Sierra (pear), Skeena (cherry), Shamrock (apple), and one of the newest apple varieties, the Aurora Golden Gala, whose name, I understand, was chosen from a naming contest.

However, there is one variety of apple that deserves a little story of its earliest days before it got its name.  It is an apple that to me, is called the 8C-27-96.  I worked with a work crew of about 6 summer students, who enjoyed bouncing around in the back of an old Toyota pick-up truck and who frequently picked from any and all trees, sampling their wonderful fruit.  The 8C-27-96 was one such tree, which was part of the tree fruit breeding experiments, and for all intents and purposes was ‘hands off’ as the fruit was used to test for fruit hardiness, colour, texture, and flavour profiles.

Despite understanding the importance of leaving the forbidden fruit alone, our crew would routinely pick the tree almost clean and bring the apples home to family, raving about how incredible they were.  Well, it didn’t take long before the Breeding Scientist caught wind of our transgression and sternly chided my boss to never pick any of his experimental fruit.  My boss, a very practical man, simply reminded the scientist that finding a wonderfully, tasty apple was the priority of the apple breeding program so he had his public response to this variety; we couldn’t keep our hands off of it.  The scientist admitted that yes, he too was surprised at how good the apple was.   It didn’t take very long before the 8C-27-96 got its final stamp of approval and was given its name, the Sunrise apple.

Look for it at your local fruit stands.  As a variety, is crispy and delicious, but unfortunately, it doesn’t keep longer than a few days after picking; it is relegated to being a great fruit stand apple.

Picture supplied by BC Tree Fruits