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Cultivar · Apple cultivar

Honeycrisp

Also known as: MN 1711 (breeding selection number)

Honeycrisp is a dessert apple released by the University of Minnesota in 1991, famous for its distinctively coarse, crisp, juicy texture. It was formerly protected in the United States by a plant patent that has since expired.

Dated referenceLast reviewed: 2026-07-12Updated: 2026-07-12
Illustrative diagram · AgricultureID (original)

Record

Cultivar / variety
Variety of
Apple
Botanical taxon
Malus domestica
Type
Cultivar (clonal)
Breeding method
Cross-breeding (controlled hybridization)
Origin
Minnesota (University of Minnesota breeding programme), United States
Released
1991
Breeder / institution
University of Minnesota
Registry status
Protection expired · United States · as of 2026-07-12Formerly protected in the United States by USDA/USPTO Plant Patent PP7197 (University of Minnesota), which has since expired. A plant patent on a clonally propagated variety is distinct from a utility patent, and plant-variety protection is jurisdiction- and date-specific.
Registries
Intended use
Fresh eating (dessert)

Registry listing or variety protection is jurisdiction- and date-specific and does not by itself indicate current commercial availability, universal cultivation approval, patent status, or a recommendation.

Honeycrisp is a dessert apple developed by the University of Minnesota apple breeding programme and released in 1991. It is celebrated for an unusually crisp, coarse-celled texture that fractures readily, giving a juicy, "explosive" bite, together with a balanced sweet-tart flavour.

For many years its parentage was reported as a cross of Macoun and Honeygold. Later DNA-based parentage analysis showed this was incorrect: one parent is the University of Minnesota cultivar Keepsake, and the other is an unnamed, unreleased Minnesota selection (recorded as MN1627). As a clonal cultivar, Honeycrisp is propagated by grafting.

Origin and history

Honeycrisp originated in the University of Minnesota apple breeding programme, from a cross reportedly made in 1960, and was released in 1991. Under the programme’s numbering it was the selection MN 1711.

The originally published parentage (Macoun × Honeygold) was later corrected through DNA analysis, which identified Keepsake as one parent and an unnamed, unreleased Minnesota selection (MN1627) as the other. This is a well-documented example of a cultivar pedigree being revised once molecular tools became available.

Fruit and eating quality

  • Texture distinctively crisp and coarse-celled, fracturing to release juice
  • Flavour balanced sweet-tart with a mild aroma
  • Skin mottled red over a yellow ground
  • Keeps well under refrigeration relative to many apples

Protection and status

In the United States, Honeycrisp was protected by a plant patent (PP7197) assigned to the University of Minnesota. That patent has since expired, so the cultivar can now be propagated in the United States without a plant-patent licence. Plant-variety protection is jurisdiction- and date-specific, and a plant patent on a clonally propagated variety is distinct from a utility patent.

Official variety registration

Entries recorded for this denomination in official variety registers. Registration is a legal fact about marketing or ownership, separate from where the variety is grown or whether seed is available.

Current entries (2)
RegisterStatusSpecies as publishedRegister reference
AustraliaPlant breeder’s rightOwnership of the varietyGRANTEDMalus domestica1995/097
CPVOCommunity plant variety right — fruit speciesOwnership of the varietyRegisteredMalus domestica (Suckow) Borkh.PBR/FRU/QZ/MALUS_DOM/19961289

A variety registration permits marketing; a plant variety protection right is ownership. They are granted by different bodies under different law and are never added together.

Entries are matched to this cultivar by identical denomination and by matching botanical species. Registers do not publish a global variety identifier, so a same-name entry in the same species could in principle be a distinct variety.

Registration is jurisdiction-specific, is granted under a particular legal instrument, and changes. A variety absent from a register may still be grown; confirm the current position with the responsible authority before acting on it. How registration is recorded.

Relationships

Evidence-backed connections in the knowledge graph.

Adapted to climate

Adapted to soil

Scope & limitations

Geographic scope: Global overview of a modern cultivar. Fruit quality and growing behaviour depend strongly on region, rootstock, nutrition, and crop-load management.

  • The originally published parentage (Macoun × Honeygold) was later shown by DNA analysis to be incorrect; the corrected parentage is Keepsake × an unnamed Minnesota selection (MN1627).
  • Honeycrisp is widely reported as challenging to grow, being prone to bitter pit and biennial bearing; these depend on site, rootstock, nutrition, and management rather than being fixed traits.
  • Plant-patent status is jurisdiction- and date-specific; the expiry noted here concerns the United States plant patent (PP7197) and does not describe every jurisdiction.

Sources

This article draws on the following authoritative sources. See our sources & methodology for how they are selected.

  1. [1]GRIN-Global / National Plant Germplasm System (opens in a new tab)

    USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS)

    Authoritative

    Cited for: Cultivar/germplasm record and placement within Malus domestica

    Type:
    Official registry
    Jurisdiction:
    United States / Global
    Accessed:
    2026-07-12
  2. [2]GBIF — Global Biodiversity Information Facility (opens in a new tab)

    Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)

    High

    Cited for: Taxonomy of the parent species Malus domestica

    Type:
    Reference database
    Jurisdiction:
    Global
    Accessed:
    2026-07-12
  3. [3]University of Minnesota Extension — Crop and pest resources (opens in a new tab)

    University of Minnesota Extension

    High

    Cited for: University of Minnesota origin, release, and documented growing considerations

    Type:
    University extension service
    Jurisdiction:
    United States (Minnesota)
    Accessed:
    2026-07-12

Related topics

Crops