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Planet Money
Planet Money

Branded fruit: How produce got “Honeycrisp-ified"

August 28, 2026 • 33m

Summary

⏱️ 9 min read

Overview

Planet Money explores the 'Honeycrisp-ification' of the produce aisle, examining why grocery stores are now filled with branded, premium fruits and vegetables. Hosts Kenny Malone and Dan Pashman visit a Rutgers University experimental farm to learn about the new Scarlet Sunrise grape tomato and investigate how changes in laws, incentives, and consumer tastes have transformed the agricultural research landscape from commodity crops to specialty produce with patent protections and premium pricing.

The Rise of Superstar Produce

The produce aisle has undergone a dramatic transformation, now featuring branded superstar fruits and vegetables like Honeycrisp apples, Cotton Candy grapes, and Cuties mandarins. These products stand out with higher prices, trademarks, and patent-like protections. To understand this shift, the hosts travel to New Jersey with food podcaster Dan Pashman to explore Rutgers University's new Scarlet Sunrise grape tomato and discover what's driving this produce revolution.

  • The produce aisle is now full of superstar fruits and vegetables with branding, trademarks, and patent protections
  • Honeycrisp apple, Cotton Candy grape, and Cuties Mandarin orange are examples of this trend
  • The hosts visit a Rutgers University experimental farm 30 miles outside Trenton to investigate the new Scarlet Sunrise grape tomato
" Jersey fresh, New Jersey tomatoes. It sounds like a joke when you say it every time. Well, I'm here to tell you that it's not a joke. "

Rutgers' Tomato Legacy and Dan's Grape Tomato Skepticism

Nearly a century ago, a Rutgers scientist working with Campbell Soup Company developed what became the platonic ideal of the tomato, dominating the market for decades. Now Rutgers has created a new grape tomato variety, though Dan Pashman admits he's skeptical of grape tomatoes in general, preferring the juicy pop of cherry tomatoes over what he considers the hard, pulp-less nature of grape tomatoes.

  • A Rutgers scientist created a slicer-style tomato that became the dominant variety for decades, descended from a plump, red, platonic ideal
  • Rutgers has now developed a new grape tomato called the Scarlet Sunrise
  • Dan Pashman prefers cherry tomatoes because they pop with sweet, tart juiciness, while grape tomatoes are too hard with little pulp
" A grape tomato, to me, is always very hard. Because it's like almost all firm, hard stuff and very little pulp. To me, the cherry tomato, you bite into it, it pops. You get that rush of sweet, tart, juiciness in your mouth. "

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