Don't Sleep On This Sweet Honeycrisp Alternative You Can Find At Trader Joe's - Tasting Table

"While you have plenty of tasty substitutes like Cosmic Crisp, Fuji, or Gala apples, there's one variety that is woefully underrated: SugarBee apples. One bite and you'll get the hype. It's sweet and crunchy with notes of molasses, caramel, and honey. And up until recently, they were a seasonal treat, but as of early 2024, you can enjoy them year-round."

"Developed by chance in the 1990s, an orchardist found that his Minnesota Honeycrisp orchard had a new variety growing in its midst. After a bit of digging, he discovered that bees nearby had pollinated his Honeycrisp blossoms with an unidentified tree, and that's how the SugarBee lineage began. Today, they're an increasingly popular variety that you can tell apart from Honeycrisp due to their adorable honeycomb sticker and deeper red color."

SugarBee apples offer a sweet, crunchy flavor profile with notable molasses, caramel, and honey notes that make them a strong alternative to Honeycrisp. The variety originated in the 1990s when bees pollinated Honeycrisp blossoms with an unidentified tree, resulting in a new lineage. SugarBees feature a deeper red color and a honeycomb sticker for identification. Harvest traditionally occurs in fall, but increased production, improved storage, and expanded growing in Washington have extended availability year-round. Trader Joe's has offered SugarBees seasonally, and they are sold by other retailers. They work well for snacking, dipping in nut butter, or baking in pies.

Read at Tasting Table