Pink Lady

Bred in 1973 by John Cripps in Australia and commercially released in 1989, Pink Lady (botanically registered as Cripps Pink) is a renowned crossbreed of Lady Williams and Golden Delicious. Grown on highly vigorous, upright trees that act as efficient cross-pollinators, it yields medium-sized, oblong-conic fruit averaging 68 to 78 millimeters in diameter and 170 to 200 grams in weight. Its distinctive smooth skin features a striking, uniform hot-pink to reddish blush layered over a clear greenish-yellow background. Requiring a lower 400 to 500 winter chilling hours but an exceptionally long growing season, it thrives best in mid-elevation Himalayan belts between 5,000 and 6,500 feet, where warm, extended autumns allow it to finish fully before extreme frosts hit. Harvested ultra-late from early to mid-November, it delivers an intensely fizzy, refreshing, and highly balanced sweet-tart flavor profile. The dense, exceptionally crisp, creamy-white flesh resists bruising flawlessly, yielding elite storage capabilities that retain maximum pressure for up to six months in standard refrigeration and a full year under controlled atmosphere parameters.