The Greenville News from Greenville, South Carolina • Page D6

EDNESDAY ECEMBER 31, 2014T HE REENVILLE EWS 6D greenvilleonline.com paste and fluoride rinses to things There are only so many bites you can tolerate in a he said. can do about six hours, then I get sick of them and have to stop. The worst thing is to keep going, like using a tool out of finely honed palate for apples has shaped the choices available at orchards and in grocery stores in Minnesota, across the country and even across the globe. one of the elite breeders for apples in the said grower John acobson, whose Pine Tree Apple Orchard in White Bear Lake and Preston, is a test site. of his strengths is his ability to take an apple, bite it and project going to be popular that texture, that crunch, that juiciness.

done a fabulous job being able to put all those characteristics edford do the job alone, quick to point out, but as part of a team. He and Jim Luby, the horticultural science professor who directs the fruit-breeding program, ave been collaborating on apple select ion for three decades. During their artnership, the program has released six new varieties: Honeycrisp; SnowSweet; Minneiska (better known by its brand name, SweeTango); Frostbite; and most recently MN55, which as yet to be christened and be a vailable commercially for several ears. But Bedford is the guy who does the day-to-day cultivating, grafting and cloning and who personally tastes all hose mediocre apples in hopes of finding next Honeycrisp, or something ven our front line, making the decisions about what gets thrown said Luby. 99 percent gets thrown XCELSIOR, Minn.

On a crisp late fall afternoon, David Bedford plucks an apple from a young tree, chomps into the fruit and chews thoughtfully. good. Not excellent. Not a He tosses the apple to the round, and renders his verdict with spray paint, a stripe of orange down the trunk that tells the orchard crew to take it down. going to the firewood he tells the tree, with a wry grin that creases the smile lines framing his planed cheekbones and salt-and-pepper goatee.

Bedford, mild-mannered and event empered, is ruthless in his quest to roduce the next great apple. used to be more he said. give a merely OK tree a few ore years to its act But a fter decades as an apple breeder, Bed- ord knows what looking for. And this apple it. If the tree stays, have to taste that same mediocre apple again next he said.

So the tree has to go, to make room for other, more romising varieties at the University of Horticultural Research enter in Excelsior. As research scientist for the apple-breeding program, Bedford tastes a lot of apples. About 500 to 600 a ay, every day, during peak apple season, until his gums hurt. hard on the he admitted. Even though he spits out the pulp, the acidic juice inflames his mouth to the point that he has to use special tooth- the surviving 1percent, Hone ycrisp is the rock star.

Introduced in 1991, now the sixth- largest apple in production in the United States, according to Mark eetin, director of regulatory and industry affairs for the U.S. Apple A ssociation. rapid rise is Seetin said. has exploded in the last five years. a doggone good he apple operation, one of the three major reeding programs, is more than a century old, with 27 apple introduc- ions to its credit, but Honeycrisp put it on the map, in opinion.

they released Hon- eycrisp, they hit it out of the ow Honeycrisp and its follow-up releases are major players in the apple industry, said Charlie Johnson, president of the Minnesota Apple Growers Association and owner of Whistling Well Farm, near Aft on. it for the breeding program, we be in business. he apples developed are really popular with oneycrisp, for example, the taste supposed to have when grown here. Consumers have fig- red that out and do try to buy from Minnesota Bedford breed the first Honeycrisp tree; that was done before he came to the university (app le-breeding is a decades-long process). But he and Luby rescued the apple from oblivion.

a little-known secret of Honeycrisp: It got thrown away by the original breeder it had some inter Bedford said. That first tree was destroyed, but four clones survived. His first taste of the fruit left an indelible memory. tasted millions apples, and I can still remember my first Honeycrisp and my first ther apples evoke less fond memories. Bedford shy about trash-talking Red Delicious, the variety he grew up eating in North Carolina.

The big red apples, tough of skin a nd mealy in texture, dominated the marketplace during his childhood and convinced him he care for apples. He remembers opening his metal lunchbox to overpowering smell of an overripe Red Delic He trade it away. was the lowest thing on the scale. A nd the lowest thing on Halloween as getting an apple, a Red Delic ut as a student at Wheaton College in Illinois, where he went to study biology and experience now Bedford had an apple epiphany. A friend brought a bushel of Michigan apples and invited Bedford try one.

was crisp. what Inever had. Crisp and juicy. I ate half a bushel After college, Bedford worked at a nursery for a few years and found plants so fascinating that he decided to go back to school to study horti- ulture, earning his degree rom Colorado State. A propagation ob opened up at the University of Minnesota, and Bedford took it, in- tending to stay only a few years.

But soon he got the opportunity to do some reeding, and he was hooked. universe just exploded there was so uch potential. I realized apples could be so much Sampling apples with Bedford is a bit like tasting wine with a sommelier. A he shares each slice, he points out apples that taste like cloves or cherry ifesavers, fruit with floral notes or earthy, herbal undertones. He looks for 20 characteristics when sizing up apples, but some traits carry ore weight than others.

priority is to make an apple a memorable ating he said. Appearance is secondary. and flavor a re the two most important He learned that lesson through his own experiences as a grower and seller. and his wife, Shilon, own a small orchard in Carver County. The apples grown there are now sold wholesale, but for years, Bedford sold them himself at the Minneapolis Mark et.

no better school in the he said. are so olite. They rarely say, a terrible But it became clear that what registers with people is texture a nd flavor. seared into my To achieve that perfectly textured, flavorful apple, Bedford pairs different parent trees in pursuit of superior offs pring. always a long shot, but DNA testing has taken breeding a big step forward.

MN55, the latest release, is he child of Honeycrisp and an Arkansas variety, resulting in an apple that tastes much like Honeycrisp but is ore heat-tolerant and ripens earlier. Jacobson was convinced that MN55 was a winner when he spotted a red, ipe apple in his orchard in mid-August. cow! I ate it, and thought, is really He shared his enthusiasm with Bedford who was his usual, laid-back self. just told me, gotta do a ittle more testing on Bedford also was the voice of calm eassurance when nervous growers eppered him with questions during ast polar vortex, Jacobson said. We had a winter that cold since introduction), and people were asking, you think these are oing to make David said, should be OK, because of the He was right.

He get attled. He knows his Bedford, 63, has no desire to retire anytime soon. intrigue, that last cross you made. It keeps you coming he said. are nowhere near reaching the limit of how far we can So he hopes to keep breeding app les long as physically said.

Then he smiles. an apple a ay keeps the doctor away, live Looking for the next apple RENEE JONES David Bedford is pictured at the University of Minnesota apple orchard in Excelsior, Minn. He has helped determine the choices of apples available at orchards and grocery stores. Minnesota br eder help ed bring Honeycrisp to market By Kim Palmer Star Tribune (Minneapolis) (TNS) priority is to make an apple a memorable eating experience. Texture and flavor are the two most important things DAVID BEDFORD The Supper Swap Girls are getting the New Year tarted right with a tasty appetizer recipe that is perfect for any party.

The lavors burst with the tang of the pickled okra and the olives and the spice of the ed pepper, all of which is mellowed by the sweetness of the balsamic vine- ar. Enjoy it with good friends and in good health. herever you celebrate the New Year, and however you celebrate onight, may this year be a happy one for you! Get more Supper Swap irls recipes at Greenvil- leOnline.com/supperswap- girls. Warmed Olives 3tablespoons olive oil 2 bell peppers (yellow), cut i nto chunks 5 cloves garlic, peeled and alved 1 teaspoon crushed red epper can small pitted black olives 1jar almond-stuffed green olives jar kalamata olives jar pickled okra 1 jar capers 3 sprigs fresh rosemary 2 tablespoons good uality balsamic inegar Heat olive oil in skillet. Add bell pepper, garlic and red pepper a nd saute for 10 minutes.

Add olives, okra, apers and rosemary and saute for 10 more minutes. Turn off heat a nd add balsamic vinegar. Serve warm. Kim Eades and tephanie Burnette The Supper Swap Girls Ring in the New Year with this foodie App.