WSU Rolls Out New Apple Name

Washington State University’s newest apple, WA 64, has an official brand name: Sunflare.  Announced Tuesday, December 10th, by WSU apple breeder Kate Evans at the Northwest Horticulture Expo in Yakima, WA, the new name resulted from a public contest that drew more than 15,000 responses.

“Our breeding program exists to give consumers better apples to eat, and Sunflare checks all our boxes,” Evans said.

A tart, crunchy, juicy cross of Honeycrisp and Pink Lady, Sunflare apples are expected to reach grocery stores in 2029. 

Thousands of name entries were winnowed down by WSU faculty and staff as well as public focus groups of apple lovers. The university sought a creative, distinctive name that consumers will remember and link positively with the apple. Sunflare won in part by best reflecting the apple’s physical qualities.

“This name hits all those marks,” said Jeremy Tamsen, director of the WSU Office of Commercialization.  “These pinks, oranges, and yellows stand out against all the red apples on the shelf.”

Winning contestant Ryan Escarcega, 49, Centralia, WA, is a food service salesperson and chef.  He said he was inspired by the variety’s bright hues as well as the powerful solar storms that sparked northern lights visible across North America this spring.

“I looked at the picture of the apple for a long time, fantasizing what it was going to taste like,” he said. “It was a real eye-catcher. I saw a nice relationship between the colors and the name. And the sun has everything to do with the growth of the product.”

Sunflare is the third apple to emerge from the WSU breeding program, which launched Cosmic Crisp in 2019.  Bicolored, with a pink blush over a yellow background when ripe, Sunflare is a crunchy, firm, juicy apple with a sweet and tart balance and complex flavor.  Scientists first bred Sunflare in 1998 when they hand-pollinated a Honeycrisp flower with pollen from a Cripps Pink tree at WSU’s Columbia View Research Orchard. 

“We do what the bees do,” said retired apple breeder Bruce Barritt, who launched the breeding program in 1994. “Sunflare resulted from pollination. It’s not engineered or modified in any way.”

WSU holds a patent on WA 64 and has filed trademark applications for the Sunflare brand name.  The university selected International New-Varieties Network LLC to manage sales of licensed WA 64 trees and budwood to growers and has organized an advisory committee of marketing company representatives to license and market the variety to grocers. This committee will help develop a trademarked logo, color palette, and brand look and feel. 

Escarcega recalled the experience recently with school friends, mentioning that he won the new WSU apple-naming contest. 

“Of course, everybody wants to know the name!” he said. “Now, I can finally tell them.” 

Escarcega received a box of Sunflare apples and will get other WSU-themed prizes, including a can of Cougar Gold cheese, a charcuterie board engraved with the winning name, WSU spice rubs, and a branded coffee cup and water bottle. 

A former executive chef and one-time Coug, he attended WSU his first year of college, Escarcega said he looks forward to eating his prize apples fresh and making apple butter, apple sauce, pie filling, apple chips, or cider with them.

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